North America · Central America
How to draw Panama from memory
Panama is dramatically wider than it is tall, and that ratio is where most attempts fail. People instinctively draw it too square, which caps the score before any coastline detail matters. It ranks among the hardest countries to draw: the border carries far more detail than a freehand stroke can capture, so anything above 50 is a strong result.
- Difficulty
- hard
- Population
- 4.2 m
- Code
- PAN
- Attempts
- 500
- Avg score
- 10
- Best
- 10
Draw Panama
Practice · draw from memory
Panama
A four-step strategy for Panama
- 01
Draw a wide, shallow guide box in your head first — Panama is much wider than tall, and getting that ratio right is worth more than any single coastline.
- 02
Anchor one unmistakable feature — the straightest border section or the sharpest cape — and draw outward from it in a single continuous stroke.
- 03
Close the loop back to where you started. An open shape gets filled unpredictably and drags your score down.
- 04
Submit, read the nine-sector grid, and redraw immediately. The sector readout names the region you under-drew, and a second attempt typically gains 10–20 points.
SlateHawkQuick facts
- Continent
- North America
- Subregion
- Central America
- Outline pieces
- 1
- Detail score
- 6.45
Three things that go wrong when people sketch Panama
Each one is measured off the outline the game scores, not copied from a reference atlas: the proportions, the straight sections and the way the shape breaks into pieces are all properties of the coordinates your stroke gets compared against.
Not one straight edge to anchor the shape
The longest unbroken run in the whole outline is under 8% of the perimeter, and the coast folds back 1.59× on the smooth ring that would wrap it. Choose two deep inlets and one sharp promontory as anchors, and let everything between them stay approximate.
Panama is wider than it is tall
The finished outline holds a ratio of about 2.43 to 1, a horizontal shape. Most failed attempts come from defaulting to a squarish blob — and unlike position, aspect ratio is never normalised away by the scorer.
Close the loop before adding detail
Panama occupies a 440×181 unit box on the game canvas. Fill that box with one continuous closed stroke first: the scorer compares filled area, so an open outline loses the interior it never enclosed.
Answer key: the real shape of Panama
- Box on the canvas
- 440 × 181 units
- Width to height
- 2.43 : 1
- Separate landmasses
- 1
- Longest straight run
- Nothing over 8% of the perimeter
- Coast against silhouette
- 1.59× the wrapping outline
Open it after you have drawn Panama at least once. Seeing the shape first replaces the recall the score is meant to measure with tracing, and tracing always scores higher than remembering.
Why Panama is scored this way
Country Drawing does not compare your sketch to a picture of Panama. It scales and centres both your stroke and the real border into the same box, fills them, and measures how much of the two shapes overlap relative to their combined area. That means you are never punished for drawing Panama small, off to one side, or rotated slightly — only for getting the shape itself wrong. The nine-sector grid then splits the real border into a 3×3 mesh and reports coverage per cell, which is how it can tell you that you lost the whole coastline rather than just handing you a number.
Panama by the numbers
Panama covers 75,417 km², which makes it the 115th largest of 190 countries in the game and the 7th largest in North America. The capital is Panama City at about 9°N, 80°W, and it sits in Central America. It touches Colombia and Costa Rica, and 100% of its area sits in one main landmass. The rest of the perimeter is water.
Next to Panama: its land neighbours
Size is what the outline has to fill, so comparing the countries that share this border side by side is the fastest way to get the proportions into your head before you draw.
| Country | Area | Population | Capital | Pieces | vs Panama |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Panamathis page | 75,417 km² | 4.2 m | Panama City | 1 | — |
 Colombia | 1,141,748 km² | 50.3 m | Bogotá | 1 | 15× |
 Costa Rica | 51,100 km² | 5.0 m | San José | 1 | 0.68× |
Draw these next
Countries near Panama share border conventions and coastline styles, which makes them the most useful follow-up practice.
Working through one country at a time is slow. Take the blank map of north america and label the whole region from memory — it shows you which neighbours you have never actually seen.
Panama drawing questions
How big is Panama?
Panama covers 75,417 km², ranking 115th of 190 countries here by land area and 7th in North America. About 7% of the area of Colombia.
What is the capital of Panama?
The capital is Panama City at about 9°N, 80°W. The game scores the shape of the border rather than the position of any city, so the capital and its coordinates are here to help you place Panama on a blank map.
Is Panama hard to draw?
It is rated hard, and carries more outline detail than 84% of the 190 borders in this game. The shape has to be placed as 1 landmass, with no straight edge longer than 8% of the perimeter to anchor it.
Which countries border Panama?
Panama shares a land border with Colombia and Costa Rica. The remaining perimeter is coast, which is the part that usually costs points.