Flags of the World

A national flag is a country compressed into a rectangle of symbols, and once you start reading them they are hard to un-see. A single red maple leaf can only be one country; a green cedar belongs to another. This quiz turns that visual shorthand into a game of recognition, with a few deliberate curveballs — two flags in the world are square rather than rectangular, and exactly one is not a rectangle at all. Each answer comes with a short note explaining the quirk, because the exceptions are where flags get most interesting. It is a medium-difficulty round: approachable if you have travelled or follow international sport, with enough oddities to keep confident players honest. Pay attention to shape and emblem rather than just colour, since many flags share palettes but almost none share their distinctive marks. By the end you will look at the next flag you pass a little more closely.