Quiz: See How Well You Can Draw All 50 States

July 5, 2017 8:34 PM

It is addicting. To come: gifs of many attempts to draw the same state
posted by readery (53 comments total)

I'm not nearly as good at this as Senator Al Franken.

(Video of Franken drawing the entire US map on his own with odd music choice.)
posted by JustKeepSwimming at 8:55 PM on July 5, 2017 [12 favorites]

A got a gentlemen's B+ once or twice...otherwise, unimpressive. Luckily, this is unlikely to show up on a job application or a tax return or another important document.
posted by kozad at 8:56 PM on July 5, 2017

NOTE: When drawing map of Rhode Island, eliminate Narragansett Bay
posted by TWinbrook8 at 8:57 PM on July 5, 2017 [4 favorites]

When in doubt, draw a square.
posted by ckape at 9:00 PM on July 5, 2017 [29 favorites]

I think every state except California looks like a potato.
posted by betweenthebars at 9:01 PM on July 5, 2017 [2 favorites]

Foreigner thoughts on looking at the first screen: "'States Remaining:51'... the hell? There are only... ah, right. Even there they often get shortchanged."
posted by ricochet biscuit at 9:02 PM on July 5, 2017

I did a few states and was all wiggly and detailed, then I decided that South Dakota was basically a rectangle so I just did that. I got a better score than I did for the states I did draw (and I know them fairly well - I have a very good sense of geography and space). So I started again, with every state drawn either as a rectangle, or a crude dong-and-balls ("the Florida codicil"). I was hoping there would be an aggregate result at the end; I had probably something like a C average. I was surprised how hard I found it to do the states that were conspicuously and obviously like rectangles with minor variations, like Utah and Oklahoma, my gut was screaming at me to add that panhandle. By the way, I don't think I ever got better than a D for a penis drawing, so I don't recommend it as a tactic.
posted by Homeboy Trouble at 9:20 PM on July 5, 2017 [5 favorites]

I did better than I thought I would.
posted by SisterHavana at 9:32 PM on July 5, 2017

That was addictive. I've been around and around the 48 connected states, at least 7 (or is it 8?) times in each one so far, but am a) terrible at drawing and b) even worse at drawing with a mouse. Kept waiting for Colorado or Wyoming to appear, to raise my grade point average. (Definitely got an F with Hawaii, where I've only been once, for 48 hours.)
posted by LeLiLo at 9:37 PM on July 5, 2017

The more shitty and fast I drew them, the better my scores were
posted by Vic Morrow's Personal Vietnam at 9:51 PM on July 5, 2017 [2 favorites]

Ok I'm sorry but my first two were Rhode Island and Alabama and I don't know what either of those things looks like and I got a B and a B+. I can't wait for Florida!
posted by turbid dahlia at 9:56 PM on July 5, 2017

NEXT ONE IS LITERALLY FLORDIA
posted by turbid dahlia at 9:56 PM on July 5, 2017 [2 favorites]

I die.
posted by turbid dahlia at 9:57 PM on July 5, 2017 [5 favorites]

Seriously. This quiz is a test for how quickly the user can be trained to draw rectangles.
posted by janell at 10:45 PM on July 5, 2017 [3 favorites]

Oh man, this was awesome

Basically everything looks like a box, a potato, or a home plate to me

I am most proud of Idaho

IDK what happened with Michigan up there tho

I was trying to capture the two prongedness of the state and achieved lobster claw status instead
posted by Hermione Granger at 10:46 PM on July 5, 2017 [2 favorites]

I got so many states backwards. Michigan, Tennessee, New Mexico, Vermont AND New Hampshire...

Am... am I in the mirror universe? IS THIS WHY TRUMP IS PRESIDENT.
posted by Rhaomi at 10:55 PM on July 5, 2017 [10 favorites]

Gah. Dangit, Vermont-New Hampshire, why can't you be an N instead of an И?
posted by Sys Rq at 11:10 PM on July 5, 2017 [4 favorites]

I'm from California...my memory for the rest of these states are hilariously poor. I like how my state looks tasty and suitable for a state fair delicacy.
posted by yueliang at 11:21 PM on July 5, 2017 [1 favorite]

I got my best scores when haphazardly drawing a large rectangle and letting the scaling thing do the rest.
posted by gloriouslyincandescent at 12:01 AM on July 6, 2017

As usual, something's gone terribly wrong in Florida.
posted by gennessee at 1:02 AM on July 6, 2017

I don't think this algorithm is very good. Sure, this is not a perfect rendering of Virginia, but F? Really? I think I got the basic gist of the state. Plus, drawing with a mouse is the worst.
posted by Rhomboid at 1:11 AM on July 6, 2017 [3 favorites]

I agree with the wonky algorithm comments. Some of my Fs were better than my Bs. Finally got an A on Kansas!
posted by p3t3 at 1:24 AM on July 6, 2017

Addict-IVE.
Addict-IVE.

Say it with me.
posted by GallonOfAlan at 5:36 AM on July 6, 2017 [1 favorite]

(Video of Franken drawing the entire US map on his own with odd music choice.)

OK, that's pretty impressive.
But than again, he must have gone through that rigorous Freshman senator training, right?
posted by sour cream at 5:52 AM on July 6, 2017 [2 favorites]

I can never remember if it's Vermont or New Hampshire that's skinny at the bottom.
posted by Mr. Bad Example at 6:00 AM on July 6, 2017 [1 favorite]

I'm not sure if I don't know my states or if I suck a drawing.
posted by zzazazz at 6:19 AM on July 6, 2017

How about a similar site challenging people to draw the Republicans' gerrymandered voting districts?
posted by Paul Slade at 6:49 AM on July 6, 2017 [4 favorites]

I can never remember if it's Vermont or New Hampshire that's skinny at the bottom.
V-shaped? Vermont!
posted by Homeboy Trouble at 6:51 AM on July 6, 2017 [7 favorites]

If I'd had a stylus I'm sure I would have gone up a grade level or two.
posted by grumpybear69 at 6:52 AM on July 6, 2017

I drew Michigan in mirror-image, with the thumb part on the wrong side. I am so ashamed right now.
posted by naoko at 7:57 AM on July 6, 2017

How about a similar site challenging people to draw the Republicans' gerrymandered voting districts?

The Maryland democratic gerrymandering is even more of a challenge.
posted by numaner at 8:15 AM on July 6, 2017 [1 favorite]

I got an F for my home state of Maryland, which was in a much more detailed shape than any of the other one I drew. I was so mad I ragequitted.

Now I'm going to try again with dongs and rectangles.
posted by numaner at 8:17 AM on July 6, 2017 [3 favorites]

My relative success with Texas is probably solely attributable to the fact that it appears on lots of food packaging and steak/Tex-Mex restaurant signage.
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 8:30 AM on July 6, 2017 [1 favorite]

I got an F on Hawaii for drawing the islands trailing in the wrong direction.
posted by bluejayway at 8:46 AM on July 6, 2017

I got an F on Michigan (which is sad because I grew up next to it) all because I forgot the goddamn Upper Peninsula entirely.
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 9:02 AM on July 6, 2017 [1 favorite]

I think I did a great job (hmmm) Minnesota is taking over the world. or is that Michigan???
posted by supermedusa at 9:35 AM on July 6, 2017

I think I should get credit for capturing the general shapes of the states, even if they were flipped 180 degrees.
posted by univac at 10:05 AM on July 6, 2017

Also, I'm incensed that I was marked down for drawing DC as the actual crab claw around the Chesapeake Bay, rather than the rhomboid political boundary that was apparently expected.
posted by univac at 10:06 AM on July 6, 2017

NOTE: When drawing map of Rhode Island, eliminate Narragansett Bay

I was so mad about that! Don't give me an F when I drew Aquidnick and you didn't, website!

But I also did a lot of the states backwards, including Hawaii.
posted by Ruki at 10:24 AM on July 6, 2017 [2 favorites]

I can never remember if it's Vermont or New Hampshire that's skinny at the bottom.

New Hampshire is upside-down and all the people fall to the bottom and leak into Massachusetts.
posted by maryr at 10:26 AM on July 6, 2017 [1 favorite]

And Vermont is wide at the top as it slowly tries to become part of Canada.
posted by maryr at 10:28 AM on July 6, 2017 [1 favorite]

Vermont. its shaped like a V. now you will never forget again.
posted by supermedusa at 10:39 AM on July 6, 2017

new hampshire
is one thicc bih
posted by Vic Morrow's Personal Vietnam at 11:05 AM on July 6, 2017 [3 favorites]

I had Vermont skinny at the bottom and still got an F.
I got an F on Hawaii (I think) because I drew the other islands too big.
posted by MtDewd at 12:51 PM on July 6, 2017

If you're trying to draw West Virginia, give yourself the middle finger with your left hand and stick your thumb out.
posted by tallthinone at 1:18 PM on July 6, 2017

I did pretty well, although I drew Utah upside down and Montana backwards, both of which are big states I should know better about, so I hang my head in shame.. I did get a "B" on New Jersey just by making a squiggly oblong shape that looks nothing like the state. It looks like the algorithm was working off overlying the drawing and the real state and comparing the amount of overlap, not actual border shape.
posted by AzraelBrown at 2:17 PM on July 6, 2017

That makes sense - I drew a plough shape for Virginia, much like Rhomboid did (above) and we got very bad grades despite that being a human-recognizable "shape of Virginia". My Michigan parts were also not that bad but whoo-boy.
posted by janell at 2:27 PM on July 6, 2017

I strenuously object to the F this thing gave me for Hawaii.
posted by Justinian at 3:48 PM on July 6, 2017

Other flip-flop twins: Mississippi and Alabama, Arizona and New Mexico, Virginia and North Carolina.

I assume *everyone* gets an F for Hawaii. I did and I used to live there and I even included Niihau! okay I forgot Molokai.
posted by TWinbrook8 at 4:38 PM on July 6, 2017 [1 favorite]

occasionally in honor of my Senator Al Franken I'll do this at a bar. Once you pick your starting point it's just filling in a bunch of boxes and rivers/bodies of water.
posted by djseafood at 5:23 PM on July 6, 2017

Foreigner here who followed all the advice in this thread to draw boxes. My first state was Oregon and my rectangle got me a B+! I decided to quit while I was ahead.

Even though I know generally *where* most states are located on the map, the only states I really know the shapes of are Florida (gun-shaped/penis-shaped), Texas (throwing-star shaped), and California (long and skinny).

Related: Here's What Happens When You Ask People to Draw A Map of the USA From Memory.
posted by hurdy gurdy girl at 6:56 PM on July 6, 2017

Screw you, Time, my drawing of Michigan's Upper Peninsula is flawless.
posted by dry white toast at 8:37 PM on July 6, 2017

I somehow managed to draw Kentucky upside down, which looks pretty hilarious in the finished map.

As a cheat, the smaller you draw the more forgiving it seems to be regarding your score. I got a great score on Rhode Island by drawing a roughly 3x3 pixel square.
posted by biogeo at 12:00 AM on July 7, 2017