Can you name the capital of Bolivia?
If you answered no to this question, you should consider playing GeoGuessr—an online geography game where players are randomly placed anywhere on Earth, using clues to determine their location for points—to enhance your geography skills and world knowledge.
The fact is many history classes don’t prioritize geography as a core subject, and therefore, despite knowing the year that Christopher Columbus arrived in the New World, they can’t identify the New World itself.
This problem is recurring and needs to be addressed. There is a strong stigma that Americans don’t understand geography at all, and to be honest, we don’t do much to combat this stereotype.
There’s a plethora of videos online that show Americans being interviewed about geography, with a shocking amount of them believing that Africa is a country (it’s a continent), and a scary number of them unable to find their own country on a map.
However, GeoGuessr gives students a fun way to learn and experience geography at a young age, providing them the tools to become more successful in an ever-so-globalized world.
As more and more history classes stray away from teaching geography, GeoGuessr is becoming more and more commonplace among social media influencers and clubs. Other quiz websites such as Seterra and Jetpunk are also quickly gaining traction.
One of these growing influencers include GeoRainbolt, who has popularized the game among many young fans, and has gotten the attention of other popular influencers such as KSI and Jacksepticeye.
The game itself offers a variety of game modes such as streaks—a gamemode where you are tested to guess the correct country and see how far you can increase your streak—and explorer mode—a mode that allows players to choose their own destination earning medals and badges along the way.
People can also host multiplayer lobbies where players can either work together or battle against one another. The competitive environment gives players an incentive to take risks and test their knowledge, only improving over time.
Students seem to find lots of pleasure out of learning geography in this interactive way, as they’re able to compete with their peers and win prizes.
Many schools have created clubs with a focus on GeoGuessr, including Culver City High School and Venice High School, who have galvanized the accessibility and growth of the GeoGuessr platform. Through these clubs, students are able to be a part of a community where everyone has a shared love for geography.
The AP Human Geography course at our school is a good way to find this passion, as students learn a lot about types of maps and different cultures around the world.
However, it is a very challenging AP course that lots of underclassmen enroll in. When we took this class in 9th grade, GeoGuessr was a huge help for us, as it gave us a better understanding of map interpretation.
Despite GeoGuessr being considered a video game, its educational services should not be brushed aside. Schools and geography and history teachers alike should utilize the platform in their regular curriculum.
We as students should open our eyes to the concept of the world and do our best to leave the negative stereotypes of past generations behind.
The future of GeoGuessr is very promising as it serves as a vanguard of learning and geography knowledge for many young people all around the globe, who can learn about a country’s terrains, their language, but most importantly, their people.
