Pick 5 (OEC)

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Name the top five exporters of the day's product, scored by real trade data from the OEC.

Play Pick 5 (OEC)

on oec.world

Today's Pick 5 board on OEC: guess the five countries that export the most Light Pure Woven Cotton, with a 0.00% score bar and bronze, silver and gold marks

Pick 5 is a daily trade-data game from the Observatory of Economic Complexity. Each day it names one product and asks you to choose the five countries you think export the most of it, then awards a bronze, silver or gold cup depending on how much of the real top-five trade your picks cover.

About Pick 5 (OEC)

Pick 5 is one of the games on the Observatory of Economic Complexity (OEC) site, the trade data platform that also runs Tradle. It turns the OEC's export statistics into a short daily quiz: a product is chosen for each date, from everyday goods like brooms to specialist ones like nickel mattes, and everyone gets the same one.

A day's round is a single question. You read the product, pick five countries you believe are its largest exporters, and the game compares your choice with the actual figures. If the export value of your picks adds up to more than half of the real top five's total you win a bronze cup, more than 75 percent earns silver, and more than 90 percent earns gold.

Because the score is based on trade value rather than exact matches, you can still win gold without naming the precise top five, as long as you pick the heavy hitters. You can play as a guest without signing up; an OEC account is offered for a global leaderboard that the game marks as coming soon. It suits people who enjoy geography and economics, and anyone curious about which countries actually make and ship the things around them.

How to play Pick 5 (OEC)

Open the game and read the product of the day.
Choose the five countries you think export the most of that product.
Submit and compare your picks with the real top five exporters from OEC data.
Collect a bronze, silver or gold cup depending on how much of the top-five export value your picks cover.

Screenshots

Pick 5 on a phone after one pick: China ranks first for Light Pure Woven Cotton, the bar reads 58.68% and the bronze cup is lit

Tips

Large exporters such as China, Germany and the United States are often safe picks for manufactured goods, but raw materials can favour very different countries.
Think about where the input comes from: minerals, timber and crops are usually exported by the countries that mine or grow them.
You do not need the exact five for gold; covering most of the top exporters' value is what counts.
Each pick updates the score bar straight away, so you can see how close you are to the next cup before making your last choices.

Questions

When does a new Pick 5 product appear?

Every day at 00:00 UTC.

How are cups awarded?

If the combined exports of your five picks exceed 50 percent of the real top five's total you get bronze, above 75 percent silver, and above 90 percent gold.

Do I need an account?

No. You can play as a guest. The game invites you to register with OEC for a global leaderboard, which it describes as coming soon.

Where does the data come from?

From the Observatory of Economic Complexity's trade data, which also powers its other games such as Tradle.