Want personalized picks that fit your family?
Set preferences to see our top age-appropriate picks for your kids.
Stack the Countries
Common Sense says
- iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad, Windows app, Windows Phone
- $2.99
- Education
Parents say
Kids say
Searching for streaming and purchasing options ...
Common Sense is a nonprofit organization. Your purchase helps us remain independent and ad-free.
Get it now on
Searching for streaming and purchasing options ...
Common Sense is a nonprofit organization. Your purchase helps us remain independent and ad-free.
A lot or a little?
The parents' guide to what's in this app.
What parents need to know
Parents need to know that Stack the Countries is an educational geography game teaching and quizzing kids on the countries of the world and their shapes, neighbors, landmarks, capital cities, languages, flags, and other geographical facts. The difficulty is both low and high enough for a wide age range, including adults. The game supplies world maps and flash cards with country facts that can be studied before playing the game portion of the app. Gameplay involves reading questions and choosing from four different countries or country shapes as the answer. The game is not timed. If the player answers the question correctly, they get to drop the country onto the waiting pedestal. Kids keep dropping countries on the pedestal, moving or rotating them as desired before dropping, until enough are stacked up to reach the checkered line. Then the player receives a random country that gets placed on the world map. Once kids receive 20 countries, a second game called Map It is unlocked. After 50 countries, a third game called Pile Up is unlocked. Six different profiles can be saved in the game, and there is also a guest player option.
Stay up to date on new reviews.
User Reviews
- Parents say
- Kids say
Stack the Countries Review
Challenging, but fun!
Awesome!
What's it about?
Kids can read the flash cards before playing the game on Stack the Countries. For the main game, kids read a multiple choice question and choose from four different countries or country shapes as the answer. If the player answers the question correctly, the country drops onto a pedestal. Questions keep coming and kids keep dropping countries on the pedestal, moving or rotating them as desired before dropping, until enough are stacked to reach the line. Then the player receives a country that gets placed on the world map. Once kids receive 20 countries, a second game called Map It is unlocked. After 50 countries, a third game called Pile Up is unlocked.
Is it any good?
STACK THE COUNTRIES is a fun way to learn and test knowledge on the geography of the world. Since players can change which parts of the world and types of questions they are asked, the game can be tailored to what players want to learn at any given time. The countries all have happy, smiling faces that look at one another as they sit on the pedestal. Because of the different country shapes and sizes, it can take anywhere from one country to a dozen or more countries to stack up high enough to complete a game. The strategy of stacking the countries as efficiently as possible adds a truly entertaining element to learning geography facts. The game also has nice touches like a changing background that displays several different important locations on the planet, such as the Great Wall of China and Ayers Rock. The pedestal also changes to fit the background theme.
When kids answer a question correctly and are given the country to drop on to the pedestal, the country changes in size to be accurate relative to the other countries on the pedestal. So, for example, Russia and Canada end up very large, and Benin and Montenegro end up very small. Stack the Countries keeps kids' and grown-ups' attention for quite a while, as they test their knowledge and country-stacking abilities.
Talk to your kids about ...
Younger kids may have trouble reading some words in questions or pronouncing the names of unfamiliar countries, so be nearby to lend a hand with reading.
If your kid isn't answering many questions correctly, suggest they read the flash cards first.
App details
- Devices: iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad, Windows app, Windows Phone
- Subjects: Social Studies: geography, global awareness
- Skills: Thinking & Reasoning: memorization, solving puzzles
- Price: $2.99
- Pricing structure: Paid
- Release date: November 13, 2012
- Category: Education
- Size: 188.60 MB
- Publisher: Dan Russell-Pinson
- Version: 2.8
- Minimum software requirements: iOS 7.0 or later
For kids who love to learn with apps
Our editors recommend
Common Sense Media's unbiased ratings are created by expert reviewers and aren't influenced by the product's creators or by any of our funders, affiliates, or partners.