This game compares the year a source table says the current sovereign state acquired full sovereignty.

• It is not a perfect synonym for nationhood, state continuity, or the first time people lived there under organized rule.
• Some entries reflect decolonization, some dissolution of empires or unions, and some older continuity claims carried into the present state.
• The source also lists the date of last subordination and the previous governing power, which is part of why this is messier than a schoolbook independence day.
• In each round, pick the country with the later sovereignty year, or SAME when the year matches.

Independence dates look clean only until you ask independence from whom, from what, and for which version of the state.