Scoring version 1.3 · natural-earth-ca96624a56bd

How the Country Drawing Score Works

Think of the score as four questions about your outline. Did the border follow the right route? Did you remember the important bends? Did the two filled shapes overlap? Did you keep the country’s overall width and height?

The score in plain language

Four checks make one score

The game first centers and resizes your drawing so that drawing big, small, left, or right does not help or hurt you. It then combines the four checks below. Border fit matters most because this game is about remembering the country’s boundary.

50%Border fitDoes your line follow the reference border?
20%Contour detailAre the memorable corners, hooks, and bulges present?
20%Area overlapHow much do the two filled shapes share?
10%ProportionIs the width-to-height ratio believable?

TRY THE SCORER

Make one drawing wider

100/100100% matched · 0% extra

Only width changes here. The example calls the same scorer as the game, so you can see how one proportion mistake changes several metrics.

Before comparison

Why canvas size and position do not change the score

The scorer performs the same three preparation steps every time. It never stretches width and height separately, so a country drawn too wide stays too wide.

1

Find the shape

The game ignores the empty canvas around your line.

2

Center and resize

Your shape and the reference fit the same comparison square.

3

Try small rotations

The game checks −12° to +12° and applies a small tilt correction.

Read your result

What every metric means and what to do next

Use the metric that is weakest to choose your next change. A number is useful only when it leads to a clearer redraw.

Border fit50%

How close is the whole border?

The scorer measures from your border to the reference and back again. It combines the average distance with the worst 10% of the route, so one badly misplaced side still matters.

Improve it: move the side named in the written tip inward or outward.

Contour detail20%

Did you remember the signature bends?

The scorer looks outward in 36 directions and compares the farthest point in each direction. Hooks, corners, long peninsulas, and large bays affect this number.

Improve it: add one memorable feature after the main silhouette is correct.

Matchedarea

How much real country did you cover?

Green is reference area that also falls inside your drawing. Missed is the rest of the reference, so Matched plus Missed always equals 100%.

Improve it: extend your line toward the largest Missed patch.

Extraarea

How much did your drawing add?

Purple area is inside your drawing but outside the reference country. It is divided by your drawn area, so a large invented bulge is easy to spot.

Improve it: pull the matching side inward on the next attempt.

Common drawing situations

What happens to open lines, crossings, and islands

The game tries to score a recognizable attempt instead of rejecting an imperfect hand movement.

Open outline

A faint dashed line joins the final endpoint to the starting point. That added edge becomes part of the scored shape.

Interrupted stroke

If the next stroke begins close by, the two pieces join before scoring. You do not have to draw without lifting your finger.

Crossed line

A crossing is filled with the even-odd rule and receives the accuracy it earns. It does not block the result.

Island or separate part

A distant stroke remains a separate filled land part. Its size and placement are compared with the complete group.

Limits and changes

What the score cannot tell you

A score is a repeatable game comparison against one simplified map geometry. It is not a measure of intelligence, artistic skill, or geographic truth. Tiny islands may be omitted; projection and simplification affect the border; disputed boundaries require an editorial choice.

The reference uses Natural Earth data pinned to commit ca96624a56bd078437bca8184e78163e5039ad19.

Try the scorer with a country

Interrupted strokes behave like one outline

Nearby endpoints join before closing and scoring. Distant strokes remain separate land parts. Only the final outer gap is previewed.

v1.2 Border-first scoring introduced

Added the 224 × 224 mask, 50/20/20/10 weighting, average plus 90th-percentile border distance, 36-direction contour detail, and ±12° rotation search. Crossings and long closing edges became scoreable.

v1.1 and v1.0 Earlier weighting

Version 1.1 used 65/25/10 border-overlap-proportion weighting and 4° rotation steps. Version 1.0 weighted area overlap at 74% and border similarity at 26%.