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How the crowd draws

2,138 drawings of its land border and 2,869 drawings of its coast, from memory on Borderline’s US map, 24 September 2026 to 27 October 2026.

Draw Washington

In numbers

Last updated on 27 October 2026
The real oneThe crowd’s
Area175,000 km²68,000 sq mi170,000 km²66,000 sq mi3.0% smaller
Outline2,890 km1,796 mi2,446 km1,520 mi15.4% shorter
Centre120.44° W, 47.39° N120.4° W, 47.4° N120.30° W, 47.38° N120.3° W, 47.4° N11 km east7 mi east
Westernmost124.73° W, 48.16° N124.7° W, 48.2° N124.43° W, 48.15° N124.4° W, 48.2° N22 km short14 mi short
Easternmost116.92° W, 46.00° N116.9° W, 46.0° N116.92° W, 46.17° N116.9° W, 46.2° N1 km short0 mi short
Southernmost122.28° W, 45.54° N122.3° W, 45.5° N122.28° W, 45.62° N122.3° W, 45.6° N9 km short5 mi short
Northernmost120.03° W, 49.04° N120.0° W, 49.0° N120.65° W, 49.01° N120.6° W, 49.0° N2 km short1 mi short

Near the land border, 54% of the crowd’s lines run inside Washington. Near the coast, 66% 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 NOAA (coasts, 1975), the International Boundary Commission (Canada) and the USGS (Mexico), 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. Great Lakes shores are not in NOAA's figures.

The boundary commission’s lengths with Canada include the line through the Great Lakes and the straits, which the game does not draw; where that is most of a state’s border (Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania), no official length is shown.

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.

Washington and Canada: 417 km in the game, 687 km officially.

Washington’s coast: 1,590 km in the game, 253 km officially.

3 neighbours
Border withIn the gameThe crowd’s
Oregon602 km in the game574 km the crowd’s4.7% shorter
Canada417 km in the game687 km officially415 km the crowd’s0.5% shorter
Idaho340 km in the game342 km the crowd’s0.6% longer
The coast1,590 km in the game253 km officially1,152 km the crowd’s27.5% shorter

How it is measured

The crowd’s Washington: every few km along the real line, each drawing’s nearest point, inside Washington 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 5,007 drawings that scored 10 or more on Borderline’s US 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. The map lays the 1,000 most recent; the heat map, the crowd’s shape and every figure use all 5,007.

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