Can you beat this round? Five TerraBrawl questions to try

A TerraBrawl duel is simple. Two countries, one stat, eight seconds. Make the call before the clock runs out, and whoever gets to five correct calls first wins the match.

The hard part is that eight seconds isn't long enough to reason things through. You go with your gut, and your gut has opinions about countries that are years out of date.

Below are five questions in the same format the game uses, with numbers from the same data the duels run on. Answer each one before you read on, and keep count.

Question 1: population

Guess first

Which country has more people?

PakistanBrazil

Population questions feel easy until two large countries meet. Plenty of us still carry a ranking learned at school, and the middle of the top ten has shifted since then.

Question 2: GDP per person

Guess first

Which has the higher GDP per person (adjusted for purchasing power)?

IrelandGermany

This one is a classic trap. Germany is the bigger economy by far, and it's tempting to confuse a big economy with a rich one per person. The question is always per person.

Question 3: life expectancy

Guess first

Where do people live longer on average?

Costa RicaUnited States

Life expectancy follows basic healthcare and everyday safety more closely than it follows wealth. Costa Rica, Chile and Portugal all beat the United States. So do Japan and Spain, by more than five years.

Question 4: internet usage

Guess first

Which country has a higher share of people online?

RussiaItaly

Internet usage is a quiet trap. It measures what share of everyone living there went online in the last three months, so a country's age profile matters more than the quality of its networks.

Question 5: population density

Guess first

Which country is more densely populated?

JapanLebanon

Density counts the whole country, empty mountains included. Small countries with a lot of people packed along a coast tend to win.

How did you do?

Count your correct answers.

• Five out of five: a perfect duel. Go and prove it against someone.
• Three or four: a solid score, and in a real match your opponent is racing the same clock.
• Two or fewer: no shame in it. These five were picked to be tricky.

Remember you had as long as you liked here. In a real match you get eight seconds, and the clock is the point. Answering fast is worth more, too. A correct call earns 100 points plus a speed bonus of up to 50, and the last two rounds of a long match count double, so a close game can swing at the end.

Three habits that help

Wrong answers tend to come from a few reflexes:

1. Answering the question you expected instead of the one on screen. "Which is richer?" and "which has the higher GDP per person?" are not the same question.
2. Trusting an old ranking. Populations, incomes and life expectancy all move faster than school textbooks.
3. Picturing cities instead of countries. Density, internet usage and life expectancy describe everyone, including the villages.

If you'd rather warm up first, you can play a quick match against a bot, with no account needed. If you need more time to read, there's a setting that gives every question 15 seconds instead of eight.