JigsawDeserts of the World Quiz
Free map quiz on the deserts of the world, with trivia questions and answers and “which is bigger?”. Easy and hard, for kids and adults.
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About this quiz
Each round has ten questions from every corner of the planet. In most of them a river, lake, sea, mountain range or volcano lights up on the map and you pick its name from four. Others are quick trivia questions, like which river flows through Paris, and some play like a game of higher or lower: which of two places is longer, deeper, higher or bigger, from the longest rivers to the highest mountains.
After every answer you see a short fact about the place and, when we have a puzzle photo of it, the photo too: tap it to play the same place as a jigsaw puzzle. The Easy level keeps to the best-known places; All adds hundreds more.
It is a free physical geography quiz and map game for anyone: the Easy level suits kids, students and beginners, while All is a real test for adults and geography fans. Play it on your own, against a friend with the challenge link, or in class on a big screen.
The figures come from standard references such as Britannica and are rounded. Where experts disagree, as on whether the Nile or the Amazon is longer, we say so instead of picking a side, and we leave out places whose names are disputed.
Maps: Natural Earth (public domain). The photos are credited under each picture and on their puzzle pages.
Sample questions and answers
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Which is the largest hot desert?
Answer: Sahara. The Sahara is almost as big as the United States.
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Which is the largest desert of all?
Answer: Antarctica. A desert is a place with very little rain or snow. Antarctica gets so little that it is the largest desert, at about 14 million km².
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Which is the driest desert outside the poles?
Answer: Atacama. Some weather stations in the Atacama have never recorded any rain.
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The Gobi lies in which two countries?
Answer: Mongolia and China. The Gobi is a cold desert: in winter it can drop below −40 °C.
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Which desert is thought to be the oldest in the world?
Answer: Namib. The Namib is thought to be the oldest desert in the world, at least 55 million years old.
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Death Valley, where the hottest air ever was measured, is in which desert?
Answer: Mojave Desert. Death Valley, in the Mojave, holds the record for the hottest air ever measured: 56.7 °C.