State Borders Are Hard to Draw From Memory

The online game Borderline challenges us to draw map borders from memory. The United States version has proven to be quite popular. Drawing each state's borders is not easy when you've never done it before, no matter how well you know the US map. Some people are astonishingly good at it. Then you remember that no one is going to try the game unless they think they can do it. 

A compilation map of how all players drew those lines is fascinating. Matt Forrest brings us some insights about that map, specifically that the states with the most complicated borders turn out to be the easiest states to place. The hardest are those with simple, straight borders because they are all together in the American West. (via Laughing Squid)