Word Chain
A word game with places: every country or capital has to start with the last letter of the one before.
How to play
If the chain is on Japan, the next one has to start with N, such as Nepal; then something with L, and so on: Japan, Nepal, Laos, Senegal, Libya. You have 15 seconds per turn. If time runs out or you repeat a place that was already used, you lose the round. If you type a place that doesn't start with the right letter, nothing happens: it just isn't accepted and you keep trying.
Words are in the game's language, without accents, so the chain changes with the language: in English Germany ends in Y, while in Spanish Alemania ends in A.
Opponents and word lists
You can play Against the app on Easy, Normal or Hard; on Hard it knows every place and thinks two moves ahead. In Same phone, 2 to 4 people pass the device around. And in Solo chain you build the longest chain you can in 90 seconds with 3 lives: a mistake costs a life and the chain restarts from a new word.
By default Countries + capitals are allowed. Countries only is the hard option, because there are fewer words for each letter.
Scoring
Each of your links is worth 10 points. There are bonuses: +2 if your country borders the previous country and +1 for a capital on the same continent as the previous place. In Solo chain, every second left at the end is worth 2 points. Records are kept per language, because chains change from one language to another, and the mode has no ranking.
Tips
The awkward letters decide the game. In English plenty of names end in A or N, so it pays to know several that start with those letters. Whenever you can, end on a letter that leaves your opponent few options. Against the app on Hard, save the rare answers for later, because the app knows them too.
What you learn
Names of countries and capitals you rarely use, because the letter forces you to dig for them. In game theory this game is called Generalized Geography, and finding a perfect strategy for it is famously hard.