- Continents: We consider the world to have seven continents; that is, we treat Europe and Asia as distinct continents.
- Oceans: We consider the world to have four oceans, Arctic, Pacific, Atlantic, and Indian. We don't treat divisions like "North Atlantic" as separate oceans, nor a "Southern Ocean".
- Borders: We consider two territories to border each other if they have a land border, even if only at a single point, like Utah and New Mexico. When water separates two territories, we consider them to border each other only if that body of water is spanned by a bridge at some point. So Kentucky and Missouri are considered to border each other because the Mississippi River, which separates them, is bridged in many places (even though no Mississippi River bridge directly connects those two states). But Michigan and Illinois are not considered to border each other, because Lake Michigan, which separates them, is not bridged. This definition is intended to match intuition about borders when we look at a map.
- Abbreviations are fine when writing, though it is safest to stick to unambiguous or standard abbreviations. So if a question calls for states, you could use unambiguous abbreviations like "Miss." for Mississippi and "Mass." for Massachusetts, or use a standard like the Postal Service's abbreviations, so "MA" will count as Massachusetts, "MI" as Michigan, "MS" as Mississippi, etc. "LA" will be considered Louisiana for a question about states, but probably Los Angeles for a question about cities, etc.
- Pronunciation and spelling: English pronunciations are always acceptable. Generally, misspellings and mispronunciations which are less than a syllable and do not create confusion with an incorrect answer will be accepted, but judges' decisions will be case-by-case and final.