Issue 01Quiz desk54 countries09 October 2026
Capital Run African capitals quiz

Ten questions. Fifty-four capitals. One board.

Capital Run asks you for the capital of ten African countries, drawn fresh from a bank of 54 — Algiers to Windhoek, Praia to Dodoma. Four options each, no going back once you've picked. Make an account and your best round of ten is kept, then measured against everyone else on the board.

Four steps, about two minutes

A round is exactly ten questions. Each one names a country and offers four capitals; one is right. The countries are shuffled out of the full bank every time, so no two rounds run in the same order and you can't learn the sequence — only the map.

You answer, you see the verdict immediately, and the correct capital is shown either way. That's the teaching moment: the ones you get wrong are the ones you'll remember next round. There's no timer and no penalty, so a slow, careful round scores the same as a fast one.

At the end you get a score out of ten. Signed in, that score is saved against your account and your best round is what counts — play as often as you like, only the high-water mark stays on the board. Guests can play freely; the score just isn't kept.

Top five right now

Nobody has saved a score yet. Play a round and you'll be first on the board — the top ten is waiting for its first name.

See the full top ten · 0 players have saved a score.

What's in the bank

54 countries across the five regions of the continent. Tap a region to see the countries it covers.

01North Africa6 countries

Algeria · Egypt · Libya · Morocco · Sudan · Tunisia

02West Africa16 countries

Benin · Burkina Faso · Cape Verde · Côte d'Ivoire · Gambia · Ghana · Guinea · Guinea-Bissau · Liberia · Mali · Mauritania · Niger · Nigeria · Senegal · Sierra Leone · Togo

03East Africa18 countries

Burundi · Comoros · Djibouti · Eritrea · Ethiopia · Kenya · Madagascar · Malawi · Mauritius · Mozambique · Rwanda · Seychelles · Somalia · South Sudan · Tanzania · Uganda · Zambia · Zimbabwe

04Central Africa9 countries

Angola · Cameroon · Central African Republic · Chad · Congo (Brazzaville) · DR Congo · Equatorial Guinea · Gabon · São Tomé and Príncipe

05Southern Africa5 countries

Botswana · Eswatini · Lesotho · Namibia · South Africa

The small print

01Does it cost anything?Read

No. Playing, accounts and the leaderboard are all free — there's nothing to buy and no ads.

02What do you need from me to sign up?Read

A username and a password. No email address, no confirmation link — you're playing within seconds.

03Can I play without an account?Read

Yes. You'll get your score at the end of the round, it just won't be saved or appear on the board.

04Which capital counts for South Africa?Read

Pretoria — the administrative capital, and the one the bank uses. South Africa is the one country here with three capitals, so it's the fair call.

05Can I change an answer?Read

No — once you pick, the verdict shows and you move on. That's what makes the score mean something.