How the crowd draws

3,143 drawings of its land border and 3,229 drawings of its coast, from memory on Borderline’s US map, 24 September 2026 to 27 October 2026.

Draw Illinois

RealThe crowd’s

In numbers

Last updated on 28 October 2026

	The real one	The crowd’s
Area	146,000 km²56,000 sq mi	146,000 km²56,000 sq mi0.1% smaller
Outline	1,958 km1,216 mi	1,839 km1,143 mi6.1% shorter
Centre	89.20° W, 40.04° N89.2° W, 40.0° N	89.15° W, 40.02° N89.2° W, 40.0° N4 km south-east3 mi south-east
Westernmost	91.51° W, 40.18° N91.5° W, 40.2° N	91.45° W, 40.18° N91.5° W, 40.2° N5 km short3 mi short
Easternmost	87.50° W, 38.75° N87.5° W, 38.7° N	87.38° W, 40.47° N87.4° W, 40.5° N10 km beyond6 mi beyond
Southernmost	89.16° W, 36.97° N89.2° W, 37.0° N	89.18° W, 37.04° N89.2° W, 37.0° N7 km short5 mi short
Northernmost	90.61° W, 42.51° N90.6° W, 42.5° N	87.80° W, 42.48° N87.8° W, 42.5° N3 km short2 mi short

Near the land border, 49% of the crowd’s lines run inside Illinois. Near the coast, 52% run inland.

Borders and coast

5 neighbours

Border with	In the game	The crowd’s
Missouri	576 km in the game	519 km the crowd’s9.9% shorter
Indiana	519 km in the game	514 km the crowd’s1.0% shorter
Iowa	344 km in the game	317 km the crowd’s7.8% shorter
Wisconsin	233 km in the game	228 km the crowd’s2.1% shorter
Kentucky	210 km in the game	175 km the crowd’s16.7% shorter
The coast	94 km in the game	92 km the crowd’s2.1% shorter

Watch the drawings

See every line on The Drawn USA →

The worst 20% and the best 20%By how close a drawing comes to the stateDownload (1.5 MB)

Another country and the USFrom where are you from; no answer left outDownload (1.3 MB)

The fastest and the slowest thirdBy time spent drawingDownload (1.7 MB)

Quickest and slowest to startBy time before the first lineDownload (1.7 MB)

Where drawings start and endStarts teal, ends pink, piled up blackDownload (0.3 MB)

The drawings stacked as blocksWhere many drawings pass, the stack growsDownload (2.3 MB)

How it is measured

The crowd’s Illinois: every few km along the real line, each drawing’s nearest point, inside Illinois 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 6,372 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 6,372.

Measuring how far the crowd moves the centre was Matt Forrest’s idea (forrest.nyc).

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