Do I need Icelandic to play Örnefnaleitin?

It helps, but pattern recognition carries you far: common endings like -fjörður, -vík, -fell and -jökull repeat, and learning them is half the point of the game.

How many place names are there per day?

Five names a day, split in half. Pair all five and the round is complete. A new set appears every day on kokomo.is.

Kokomo › English › Örnefnaleitin — Icelandic place names

Örnefnaleitin — rebuild Icelandic place names

Örnefnaleitin means "the place-name hunt". Five real Icelandic place names have been split in two. Put them back together and pick up a small fact about each place on the way.

Play Örnefnaleitin →

How to play

Tap a name fragment in the left column.
Tap the piece in the right column that completes it.
A correct pair locks in place and shows you a fact about the place.
A wrong pair shakes, and you try again. Five names a day.

Why place names are worth learning

Icelandic place names are built from ordinary words, which is why they look long but read easily once you know the parts. A fjörður is a fjord, a vík is a small bay (Reykjavík is "smoky bay"), a fell or fjall is a mountain, a jökull is a glacier, a foss is a waterfall. Play this for a week and the road signs on the ring road start talking to you.

Are the place names in Örnefnaleitin real?

They are all real Icelandic place names, and they are ones most people have heard: farms, waterfalls, glaciers, headlands and fjords. Each is a compound of two parts, which is what makes the puzzle possible. ÓLAFS and VÍK make Ólafsvík, GULL and FOSS make Gullfoss, SNÆFELLS and NES make Snæfellsnes.

Every correct pairing brings up a short fact about the place, where it is or what it is known for, so the game doubles as geography. The difficulty comes from the second halves being interchangeable: VÍK, FOSS and NES combine with many first halves, so you have to think about which combination actually exists on the map rather than which one sounds plausible. Five names break apart in each puzzle and the bank holds 600 names across 120 puzzles. A wrong pairing simply shakes and you try again.

Frequently asked questions

Are the place names in Örnefnaleitin real?: Yes, all of them are real Icelandic places, from fjords and glaciers to farms and headlands. The facts shown with each correct pair were written for Kokomo.
Do I need Icelandic to play Örnefnaleitin?: It helps, but pattern recognition carries you far: common endings like -fjörður, -vík, -fell and -jökull repeat, and learning them is half the point of the game.
How many place names are there per day?: Five names a day, split in half. Pair all five and the round is complete. A new set appears every day on kokomo.is.