Stack the Countries!

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by

Dan Russell-Pinson
in ,
Stack the Countries IconAfter many weeks of hard work, I’m very happy to announce the release of Stack the Countries!After the success of Stack the States, I received many requests to make a similar game for the countries of the world… so I did! Stack the Countries offers the same fun and learning as Stack the States, but also adds many new features giving it a much larger scope.

The game focuses on basic country information such as capitals, landmarks, major cities, continents, border countries, languages, flags and more. You can dive right in and play or brush up on your country knowledge by using the 192 country flash cards and the interactive maps of the continents. As you progress in the game, you earn more countries to add to your personalized map of the world. You also unlock the two free bonus games.

Map It! is a bonus game that’s designed to help players learn where the countries are located on the map. First pick a continent to play with then tap the location on the map where the requested country is located. Pile Up! is another bonus game that helps players identify the countries based on their shape.

Since learning the countries of the world is more difficult than the 50 states, I’ve added a few features that will help ease the learning curve. First, each player can choose to focus only on one continent at a time. Also, each player can choose which of the 8 types of questions are asked.

Stack the Countries Features:
▸ More than 1000 unique questions
▸ 192 flash cards — one for each country!
▸ Interactive maps of the continents
▸ Collect all 192 countries and track your progress on personalized maps
▸ Earn FREE bonus games: Map It! and Pile Up!
▸ Works on both iPhone and iPad – a universal app
▸ Create up to six player profiles
▸ Choose any of the friendly-looking countries as your avatar
▸ High resolution pictures of famous world landmarks
▸ iPhone 4 Retina Display support

See Stack the Countries in iTunes:
http://freecloud.com/c/StackTheCountries

Watch the promo video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FZzzw4ohq-o

Reviews:
The iPhone Mom
Teachers With Apps
PadGadget.com
148apps.com
GiggleApps.com

 
 

Comments

43 responses to “Stack the Countries!”

  1. Marcia Socas Avatar
    Marcia Socas

    I just wanted to thank you for this app. My 5 year old loves it and has learned every country in every continent– you can see her here using your app:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dsIARd87w4I&feature=g-upl&context=G2148e4fAUAAAAAAAAAA

    I really appreciate the work you did in putting this together and making it so much fun for the kids. I will be on the lookout for all your future apps!!

    Reply
  2. Dan Russell-Pinson Avatar
    Dan Russell-Pinson

    Hi Marcia, thanks for your comment! I’m so glad your daughter is enjoying (and learning from) Stack the Countries. She really knows her stuff! Thanks for sharing the video… I love to see children playing my apps. -Dan

    Reply
  3. ngraham Avatar
    ngraham

    Love both stack the countries and stack the states. My 5 year old can place every country in the world and he wouldn’t be doing that without the app. If I could make one suggestion: it would be nice if the name of the country was said aloud when it comes up. My son doesn’t read well yet and I he is basing everything on shape and color which is still great. Also, if you could add a game to the stack the states where you could place the states in their proper place like in stack the countries. Thanks and keep up the great work.

    Reply
  4. Gwen Avatar
    Gwen

    Hi. My 5 year old and I love this app! Quick question, Western Sahara is considered an occupied territory: is this why you did not include it on the map of Africa?

    Reply
    1. Dan Russell-Pinson Avatar
      Dan Russell-Pinson

      Hello Gwen! Thanks for your note. Yes, deciding which countries should be included in the game was a little challenging at first. To make it as clean as possible, I decided to only include the 193 countries that are members of the United Nations. This does leave out a few regions such as Western Sahara, etc., but it does handle the vast majority of what we consider “countries”. I hope this helps! -Dan

      Reply
  5. ndmuth Avatar
    ndmuth

    Not usually one to leave online comments but Stack the Countries is amazing. My four-year-old has become a geography whiz from this game. He has learned the countries, the flags, and has used his love of Stack the Countries to expand his interests in the world, asking about the governments of the countries, the languages they speak. Totally unbelievable. Thank you. I just wish that it was available on Kindle. Now he keeps stealing my iphone to play and I really wish he could play on his Kindle Fire instead. Thank you for an awesome product

    Reply
    1. Dan Russell-Pinson Avatar
      Dan Russell-Pinson

      Thanks for your note! I’m very pleased that your 4yo is enjoying (and learning from) Stack the Countries. -Dan

      Reply
  6. maribel Avatar
    maribel

    it is awesome !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    Reply
  7. eano888 Avatar
    eano888

    I played this game on a friends Iphone and fell in love with it immediately. As soon as I could I bought Stack the Countries and Stack the states on my Windows phone X8. But now both apps cannot be launched :(. It just redirects me to the start screen of the phone. Isn’t it playable on a windows phone perhaps?

    Reply
    1. Dan Russell-Pinson Avatar
      Dan Russell-Pinson

      I’ll be updating the Windows Phone version of both apps soon. Hopefully this will correct this issue…

      Reply
  8. Naomi Sandberg Avatar
    Naomi Sandberg

    Will you make this available for Android? What about in AppUp for Windows computers? My kids love Stack the States! I love that they are playing a great educational game 🙂

    Reply
    1. Dan Russell-Pinson Avatar
      Dan Russell-Pinson

      Hello Naomi! THanks for your interest in Stack the Countries. Stack the Countries is still currently available on the AppUp store. It’s not available for android yet, but I do plan to start working on in sometime in September. Take care. -Dan

      Reply
  9. Nick Avatar
    Nick

    Our 3 1/2 year old has mastered both stack the states and stack the countries. It took him about two weeks of occasional play to get all the countries, and he can name the countries in pile up as they are dropping. We are in awe of his ability… He did ask if there was a ‘stack the seas’ app… So when you have some free time we would love to see a continuation of this great series 🙂 Thanks!

    Reply
    1. Dan Russell-Pinson Avatar
      Dan Russell-Pinson

      Hello Nick! Thanks for your note and for introducing my apps to your family. Your 3.5yo sounds very smart! I do like the idea of an app about the seas of Earth. I’ll put that on my mental to-do list… 😉 Take care! -Dan

      Reply
  10. Lionesss Avatar
    Lionesss

    We would like a number of kids to play with this. Is it possible/easy to reset so each child can start from the beginning?

    Reply
  11. Lionesss Avatar
    Lionesss

    We will want a number of kids using this. Is it possible/easy to reset it to the beginning for each child?

    Reply
    1. Dan Russell-Pinson Avatar
      Dan Russell-Pinson

      Hello! You can delete player profiles in the settings area. From the main menu, tap the (i) button, tap settings and then tap Edit PLayers. I hope this helps! -Dan

      Reply
  12. Lyn Avatar
    Lyn

    Hi, Dan,
    We loved your games. I did want to say that it seems your “Stack the Countries” is based on the Mercator Projection, which makes things farther from the equator seem larger than things closer. I would love for my kids to get a better sense of the relative size of the countries. (Especially since they are so focused on the size so they can pass that line)?

    Thanks.

    Reply
    1. Dan Russell-Pinson Avatar
      Dan Russell-Pinson

      Hi Lyn! Thanks for your note and I’m very pleased that you have enjoyed my games.

      It’s been a little while since I first created Stack the States, so I did a little research. After looking at actual mercator projection maps, the maps from Stack the Countries don’t appear to be quite so exaggerated. Have a look at this comparison: http://freecloud.com/dl/STCMercator.jpg. You’ll see my map of North America from Stack the Countries on the left doesn’t stretch quite like the actual mercator map. I actually had to stretch my map’s image vertically by 160% to get Canada’s height to match the mercator projection. You can also so that Greenland on my map is only half the height of Greenland on the mercator projection map.

      Having said that, I did have to fudge some of the sizes of the countries in the game due to the shear range of sizes from the smallest to the largest. I had to artificially increase the size of some of the smallest countries such as Monaco and Andorra, otherwise they might be only a pixel in size. Likewise, I had to scale down some of the massive countries such as Russia, Canada, Brazil, etc. otherwise they might display at twice the size of the screen. Despite these adjustments, I believe the overall scale of each country is still conveyed to the player.

      I hope this helps!

      -Dan

      Reply
  13. Joe Miller Avatar
    Joe Miller

    Just checked the Mac OSX App store and found this app there. Bought it immediately! There is a classroom full of 7th graders who will be quite happy that you made this app. Thanks for your hard work getting it ported to so many platforms.

    Reply
    1. Dan Russell-Pinson Avatar
      Dan Russell-Pinson

      Hi Joe! Thanks for your kind comment and for purchasing the mac version of Stack the Countries for your 7th graders. I hope they learn a lot from it! All the best. -Dan

      Reply
  14. John Kelley Avatar
    John Kelley

    Are you not making STC for Mac anymore??

    Reply
    1. Dan Russell-Pinson Avatar
      Dan Russell-Pinson

      At this moment I’m only supporting iOS and Android. -Dan

      Reply
  15. Conan Avatar
    Conan

    Kosovo, Vatican City, Taiwan, Palestine, & Western Sahara are all taken up by empty space! Also, could you add an Easter egg where former countries could be collected? Like USSR, Korea, Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia, or East & West Germany?

    Reply
    1. Dan Russell-Pinson Avatar
      Dan Russell-Pinson

      Hello Conan. Thanks for your note. One of the challenges of making Stack the Countries was how do I determine what is a country and what isn’t. In the end, I chose to only include countries that are members of the United Nations. This handles the vast majority of what we refer to as countries although it does leave out certain regions such as Vatican City, Western Sahara, Taiwan, French Guiana, Greenland, etc. I hope this helps! -Dan

      Reply
  16. Courtney Avatar
    Courtney

    We home school and as part of our 7th grade work, or kids memorize the entire world map. Is “Stack the Countries” available for our MacBook Pro computer? Somehow we have “Stack the States” from years ago (my oldest fell in love with that program about eight to tens years ago as a five year old and we got it on everything we had). Thanks so much for your hard work.

    Reply
    1. Dan Russell-Pinson Avatar
      Dan Russell-Pinson

      Hello Courtney. Thanks for your note and for being such a loyal customer! At one time, Stack the Countries was available on the Mac. I have since removed all apps from the Mac App Store in an effort to simplify my business. My main focus is now on mobile devices (phones and tablets). All the best, Dan.

      Reply
  17. Conda Arteaga Avatar
    Conda Arteaga

    How do you change the language on Stack the Countries?

    Reply
    1. Dan Russell-Pinson Avatar
      Dan Russell-Pinson

      Hello Conda. Thanks for your note. To change languages in Stack the Countries, just go to the main menu and tap the flag in the lower-left corner of the screen. Then choose from the three option. I hope this helps! -Dan

      Reply
  18. Randi Avatar
    Randi

    My son loves stack the state’s. Learned everything there was to learn. He is only 5 years old and has been requesting the stack the countries game. I just downloaded it But now I can not find out how to get it to read the questions out loud for him. As he is still learning to read and some of these countries names are difficult to sound out for him how do I get it so the game will read it to him? Stack the state’s already read it to him but I can not figure out how to get this one to do it. Thanks

    Reply
    1. Dan Russell-Pinson Avatar
      Dan Russell-Pinson

      Hello Randi. Thanks for your comment and for introducing my apps to your family. Stack the Countries doesn’t currently have a voice feature that will read the questions aloud to the player. This could be added in the future, but there are no immediate plans to do so at this time. -Dan

      Reply
  19. Ryan Avatar
    Ryan

    Hi so I love geography, and I want to know how to make the end bar higher. With countries like Canada, you get to the bar instantly. Thanks for your apps! Love them

    Reply
    1. Dan Russell-Pinson Avatar
      Dan Russell-Pinson

      Hello Ryan. Thanks for your comment and for playing Stack the Countries! The height of the bar is based on the number of countries you’ve earned. The more you play, the higher it will get. I hope this helps! -Dan

      Reply
  20. Brooke Avatar
    Brooke

    How do I get stack the states to read aloud the questions to my 5 yr d?

    Reply
    1. Dan Russell-Pinson Avatar
      Dan Russell-Pinson

      Hi Brooke. Thanks for your note and for your interest in Stack the States. The read aloud feature has been included in the new version – Stack the States 2. I hope this helps!

      Reply
  21. Declan Avatar
    Declan

    Hi, I’ve been playing Stack the States, Stack the States 2, and Stack the Countries. I really enjoy Stack the States 2 because the states and backgrounds are 3D, and I think it’s pretty cool that when you stack the states, if you get a state and other state that borders the state it will connect them. I think you should make a Stack the Countries 2, which would have the same concepts as Stack the States 2 but with Countries. I think you should be able to connect the Countries like in Stack the States 2.

    Reply
    1. Dan Russell-Pinson Avatar
      Dan Russell-Pinson

      Hello Declan. Thanks for your note, and I’m very happy that you like the new features of Stack the States 2. I don’t have any immediate plans to make Stack the Countries 2 although I haven’t ruled it out entirely. All the best! ~Dan

      Reply
  22. Selena Myers Avatar
    Selena Myers

    My son started playing Stack the Countries a few years back. As a result of playing that game, he has grown into a guy who LOVES all things geography and learning about other countries. He has gone on to learn as much as he can about them. He has become rather knowledgeable in this area now and has a strong desire to travel to many of these countries. Thank you for such a wonderful game that is fun and very educational!!!!

    Reply
    1. Dan Russell-Pinson Avatar
      Dan Russell-Pinson

      Hello Selena! Thanks for your message. It’s wonderful to hear that your son has enjoyed playing Stack the Countries. It makes me very happy to know that my game helped spark his interest in geography. I hope he’s able to see the world. All the best, Dan.

      Reply
  23. McKenna Lence Avatar
    McKenna Lence

    Will there be a Stack the Countries 2 like there is Stack the States 2? Great game and think it could be expanded upon

    Reply
    1. Dan Russell-Pinson Avatar
      Dan Russell-Pinson

      Hello. I haven’t ruled it out, but I don’t have any immediate plans to make a sequel at this time.

      Reply
  24. HatRatio Avatar
    HatRatio

    Hi Dan! I have a question and I didn’t seem to find anyone else who asked this, but, will you add Bougainville in 2027 (assuming it does, in fact, become a UN recognized country) like with South Sudan in 2013?

    Reply
    1. Dan Russell-Pinson Avatar
      Dan Russell-Pinson

      Hello! Yes, I generally attempt to keep the app up to date with any new UN recognized countries.

      Reply

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