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How the crowd draws

22 drawings of its land border and 48 drawings of its coast, from memory on Borderline’s Mexico map, 18 October 2026 to 27 October 2026.

In numbers

Last updated on 28 October 2026
The real oneThe crowd’s
Area25,000 km²9,586 sq mi23,000 km²9,072 sq mi5.4% smaller
Outline1,346 km836 mi1,403 km872 mi4.3% longer
Centre92.59° W, 17.94° N92.6° W, 17.9° N92.70° W, 17.93° N92.7° W, 17.9° N11 km west7 mi west
Westernmost94.13° W, 18.21° N94.1° W, 18.2° N94.17° W, 17.94° N94.2° W, 17.9° N5 km beyond3 mi beyond
Easternmost90.99° W, 17.35° N91.0° W, 17.3° N90.97° W, 17.45° N91.0° W, 17.5° N1 km beyond1 mi beyond
Southernmost91.01° W, 17.25° N91.0° W, 17.3° N91.00° W, 17.27° N91.0° W, 17.3° N2 km short1 mi short
Northernmost92.47° W, 18.65° N92.5° W, 18.6° N92.48° W, 18.64° N92.5° W, 18.6° N1 km short0 mi short

Near the land border, 51% of the crowd’s lines run inside Tabasco. Near the coast, 65% run inland.

Borders and coast

Why two lengths?

A line’s length depends on how closely it is drawn. The game’s lines are simplified: they keep a point every few kilometres and cut across small bends. The official lengths, from INEGI (coasts, islands left out), are measured on other lines. A border measured on a finer line, following every bend of its rivers and ridges, comes out longer.

Coasts differ most, and either way. Some official coastlines follow every inlet and island (Canada’s 202,080 km); others are smoothed on purpose, crossing bays and sounds (the United States’ 19,924 km), and can come out shorter than the game’s.

Players draw against the game’s line and are scored against it, so the crowd’s length is compared with the game’s, both measured the same way. Set against an official length measured another way, the comparison would say more about the two methods than about the crowd.

Tabasco’s coast: 200 km in the game, 200 km officially.

4 neighbours
Border withIn the gameThe crowd’s
Chiapas608 km in the game647 km the crowd’s6.4% longer
Campeche307 km in the game326 km the crowd’s6.2% longer
Veracruz223 km in the game237 km the crowd’s6.3% longer
Guatemala110 km in the game106 km the crowd’s3.6% shorter
The coast200 km in the game200 km officially189 km the crowd’s5.5% shorter
Not enough drawings yet
The worst 20% and the best 20%By how close a drawing comes to the state19 of 20 drawings needed on each side
Not enough drawings yet
Another country and MexicoFrom where are you from; no answer left out2 of 10 drawings from another country needed
The fastest and the slowest thirdBy time spent drawingDownload (0.2 MB)
Quickest and slowest to startBy time before the first lineDownload (0.3 MB)
Where drawings start and endStarts teal, ends pink, piled up blackDownload (0.1 MB)
The drawings stacked as blocksWhere many drawings pass, the stack growsDownload (1.1 MB)

How it is measured

The crowd’s Tabasco: every few km along the real line, each drawing’s nearest point, inside Tabasco or outside it; the median over a short stretch is where the crowd puts the line there, and the real outline moved by it is the crowd’s. Where the move folds a narrow inlet over itself, the loop is cut.

The 70 drawings that scored 10 or more on Borderline’s Mexico map, scribbles left out, the real line the game’s own. Area true to scale; the outline copies the real line’s detail, so its length changes only where the shape moves or a loop is cut.

Measuring how far the crowd moves the centre was Matt Forrest’s idea (forrest.nyc).

Draw Tabasco yourself and add your line to the next update.