What is the shortest country for rule 12 in The Password Games?

Chad and Mali at 4 letters each, then Laos and Nepal. Any of the 44 landlocked countries works, case-insensitive, but short names cost fewer characters.

Which landlocked country is best for the later letter rules?

Six landlocked countries contain no letter a at all: niger, kosovo, burundi, lesotho, luxembourg and liechtenstein. Niger at 5 letters and kosovo at 6 are the cheapest of them, which matters if a later rule restricts specific letters. For pure length, Chad or Mali is cheapest.

Directive 12: Landlocked Country (Hints & Answer)

Hint first (no full spoiler): Think of a country with no coastline. The shorter its name, the fewer characters you owe the Committee.

Directive 12 demands geography: your password must contain the name of a landlocked country, meaning a country with no coastline. The Vault Security Committee accepts any of the 44 recognized landlocked nations, case-insensitive. The Committee does not accept islands, oceans, or guesses.

The full solution

Type one landlocked country name into your password as a contiguous string. The cheap picks are the 4-letter names: chad, mali, laos, and 5-letter nepal. Example fragments that pass: chad1221!, Mali-otto-44, nepal1111.

The full approved list:


Afghanistan	Andorra	Armenia	Austria
Azerbaijan	Belarus	Bhutan	Bolivia
Botswana	Burkina Faso	Burundi	Chad
Czechia	Eswatini	Ethiopia	Hungary
Kazakhstan	Kosovo	Kyrgyzstan	Laos
Lesotho	Liechtenstein	Luxembourg	Malawi
Mali	Moldova	Mongolia	Nepal
Niger	North Macedonia	Paraguay	Rwanda
San Marino	Serbia	Slovakia	South Sudan
Switzerland	Tajikistan	Turkmenistan	Uganda
Uzbekistan	Vatican City	Zambia	Zimbabwe

Matching is case-insensitive, so CHAD, Chad, and chad all clear. Spelling counts: the Committee’s atlas has no patience for nepall.

What breaks later

Country choice is one of the biggest letter purchases you make in Act II, so choose with the endgame in mind:

Directive 27 limits total letters. Liechtenstein costs 13 of them. Chad costs 4. Unless you have a personal relationship with Liechtenstein, take the short name.
Letter-restriction tip for later acts: six landlocked countries contain no letter “a” at all. Niger (5) and kosovo (6) are the cheap ones, then burundi and lesotho (7 each), then luxembourg (10) and liechtenstein (13). If a later directive taxes or bans specific letters, that is your escape list. File it away.
Your country is a run of pure letters, so keep symbols out of it. It can even double as raw material: exactly one country on the list carries its own palindrome, and it is kazakhstan, which hides kazak. That clears Directive 11 for free, but it costs 10 letters and three a’s, so it only pays if your budget is unusually healthy. For every other country the palindrome stays a separate purchase.
If a rhyme is still pending, remember Directive 14 also wants letters. Budget both words before typing either.

The Committee thanks the nation of Chad for its continued service to password security. Fern has never seen the ocean either and considers this directive relatable.

Stuck on a different directive? Browse all 30 rule guides or return to the vault. Fern believes in you.

Frequently asked questions

What is the shortest country for rule 12 in The Password Games?: Chad and Mali at 4 letters each, then Laos and Nepal. Any of the 44 landlocked countries works, case-insensitive, but short names cost fewer characters.
Which landlocked country is best for the later letter rules?: Six landlocked countries contain no letter a at all: niger, kosovo, burundi, lesotho, luxembourg and liechtenstein. Niger at 5 letters and kosovo at 6 are the cheapest of them, which matters if a later rule restricts specific letters. For pure length, Chad or Mali is cheapest.