Fathom
Fathom is a free geography learning game and quiz played on an interactive 3D globe, no account required. Instead of flat maps or plain multiple-choice lists, you spin a photorealistic Earth and click directly on countries, cities, seas, and mountains to answer. Built-in spaced repetition helps you actually remember what you learn.
Learn smarter with spaced repetition
Fathom uses a Leitner 4-box system to track what you know and what you struggle with. Questions you get wrong come back more often; questions you master move to longer intervals. Unlike other geography quizzes that only repeat mistakes within a single round, Fathom's spaced repetition works across sessions, days, and weeks, building long-term memory through repeated review.
Your progress is saved automatically. Play without an account using local storage, or sign in to sync across all your devices: phone, tablet, and computer. When you log in, any progress from anonymous play is merged into your account automatically.
Mastery is not permanent: even questions you have learned well will fade over time if you do not come back to them. After finishing a quiz, Fathom shows a Practice Weak button with the number of items that need attention. Tap it to start a focused mini-session containing only the questions you got wrong or have not reviewed recently. You spend your time where it matters most, instead of replaying an entire quiz to find the few items that slipped.
Keep exploring after every quiz
Fathom's smart recommendation engine suggests what to play next after each round, so you can keep exploring without going back to the quiz menu. Recommendations can take you across continents, quiz types, and difficulty levels, helping you discover something new while still building on what you have already learned.
Finish a countries quiz in Europe and your next recommendation might take you to cities in another continent, a different type of geography, or a harder challenge. Combined with spaced repetition and your existing mastery, the result is a continuous path through Fathom's growing library rather than a collection of disconnected quizzes.
Hints that teach, not just test
Every one of Fathom's 7,700+ questions has its own hand-written hint (a nearby landmark, a bordering country, a piece of history) designed to help you reason your way to the answer instead of guessing. All hints are translated into all 14 supported languages.
Track your progress
Your mastery is painted directly onto the Earth: continents and countries shift from red through yellow to green as you improve. Click any region to see per-quiz accuracy, answer-method breakdowns, trend charts, and leaderboard rank badges. While browsing quizzes, mastery percentages are shown inline so you always know where to focus next.
Mastery decay keeps you honest: items you haven't reviewed fade over time, so your mastery globe always reflects what you actually know right now. Decay alerts show which items need a refresher before they slip.
An activity heatmap shows your daily quiz activity at a glance, similar to a GitHub contribution graph. Click any day to see exactly what you played: quizzes grouped by pack, with answer method and difficulty for each session, individual scores, and completion times. After each quiz, results are broken down per question with sorting, filtering, and your heatmap updated live.
What you can learn
186 quiz packs with over 7,700 questions across 511+ quizzes:
| Category | Content |
|---|---|
| Countries & capitals | 209 countries and their capitals, with regional quizzes for every continent |
| Flags | All 237 country flags shown as detailed SVG images |
| Cities | 1,379 cities across 164+ countries |
| Landmarks | 943 famous landmarks, from ancient ruins to modern icons |
| Waters | 269 bodies of water: oceans, seas, and lakes worldwide |
| Mountains | 271 mountain peaks worldwide |
| Volcanoes | 46 volcanoes across the globe |
| Islands | 126 islands including Greek, Thai, Croatian, Philippine, and Malaysian |
| Deserts | 20 deserts from the Sahara to the Gobi |
| Rivers | 101 rivers across every continent |
| Trivia | 56 trivia questions: superlatives, records, and most populous |
| Regions & states | Provinces, states, and regions for 35 countries |
164+ country deep-dive packs add cities, landmarks, islands, regions, and more for individual countries, from Norway to Nigeria.
How it plays
- 4 answer methods: click on the globe, multiple choice, text input, or distance estimation
- 3 difficulty levels: easy, medium, and hard, tuned per quiz type and answer method
- Three attempts per question. Earn 3 points on your first try, 2 on your second, or 1 on your third. Revealing the answer earns 0 points. Elapsed time breaks ties on the leaderboard
- Smart next-quiz recommendations: after each round, Fathom suggests relevant quizzes across continents, quiz types, and difficulty levels so you can keep playing without returning to the menu
- Quick sessions: play large quizzes in smaller chunks, such as 10 or 15 questions at a time
- Resume anytime. Your active quiz is saved automatically, so you can leave and pick up where you left off
- Customizable gameplay: tune your experience with settings for border visibility, camera behavior after each answer (stay, pan, or zoom), auto-advance with adjustable delay, animation speed, score feedback, hint behavior, timer visibility, and sound effects. All settings are saved and applied instantly during play
Compete and improve
- Daily challenge: the same 10 questions for everyone each day, with shareable emoji results
- Leaderboards: global and per-country rankings for every quiz
- Personal bests. Track your best score on every quiz and beat your own records
- Detailed results. After each quiz, review every question with score, sort by accuracy or name, and filter to see only missed answers
Explore the globe
Browse countries and geography freely on the interactive 3D globe, outside of quizzes. Spin, zoom, and explore the world at your own pace.
Play on the go
Don't have time for all 54 African countries? Split any quiz into shorter rounds of 10 or 15 questions and play a quick session while waiting for the bus. Your progress is saved automatically after every answer, so you can close the app and pick up exactly where you left off.
Fathom runs in any modern browser on desktop and mobile. Spin the globe with your thumb, and install it as an app straight from the browser. It works offline as a Progressive Web App.
Free and multilingual
All 511+ quizzes and 186 packs are available to everyone for free, no account required. The interface and all quiz content are available in 14 languages: English, Norwegian, German, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Chinese, Turkish, Dutch, Polish, and Arabic. An optional premium subscription removes ads and unlocks deep stats: per-question accuracy, weakest items, decay insights, and progress history.
Frequently asked questions
Is Fathom free?
Yes. All quiz content is available to everyone for free. An optional premium subscription removes ads and unlocks deep stats.
Does Fathom work offline?
Yes. Fathom is a Progressive Web App that works offline once installed.
What languages does Fathom support?
Fathom is available in 14 languages: English, Norwegian, German, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Chinese, Turkish, Dutch, Polish, and Arabic. All quiz content and hints are translated.
Do I need an account to play?
No. You can play immediately without an account. Progress is saved locally, and if you sign in later, anonymous progress merges into your account automatically.
What is spaced repetition?
Fathom uses a Leitner box system to schedule review. Questions you get wrong come back sooner; questions you master appear at longer intervals. This helps build long-term memory rather than just short-term quiz performance.
How does Fathom recommend what to play next?
After each quiz round, Fathom's recommendation engine suggests a relevant next quiz. Recommendations can span different continents, quiz types, and difficulty levels, helping you continue exploring without returning to the quiz menu.
What content does Fathom cover?
186 quiz packs with 7,700+ questions: countries, capitals, flags, cities, landmarks, mountains, volcanoes, islands, bodies of water, trivia, and regions for 164+ countries. New content is added regularly.
Can I play on my phone?
Yes. Fathom works in any modern browser on both desktop and mobile. You can also install it as an app directly from your browser — it works offline as a Progressive Web App.
Does Fathom have a daily geography challenge?
Yes. Every day there is a new Daily Challenge with the same 10 geography questions for everyone. You can share your emoji result and compare your performance with others on the leaderboard.
Can I play Fathom in short sessions?
Yes. Large quizzes can be split into quick sessions of 10 or 15 questions. Your progress is saved automatically after every answer, so you can stop and continue later.
How is Fathom different from other geography games?
Fathom combines an interactive 3D globe with 511+ geography quizzes, spaced repetition, persistent progress tracking, and smart recommendations that guide you from one quiz to the next. Unlike traditional map quizzes, you answer directly on a 3D Earth. Unlike location-guessing games, Fathom focuses on building and retaining geographic knowledge over time.
Who makes it
Fathom is built by Nicolay Kjærnet, an independent developer in Norway. The 3D globe, country borders, and quiz engine are built with Vue and Three.js, and run entirely in your browser. Map data comes from Natural Earth and OpenStreetMap (full attribution).