A daily guessing game for your sense of scale

How big is a country? How heavy is a planet? Which element is closest to a target on the periodic table? Plain turns questions like these into a daily guessing game: seven short rounds, one shared puzzle and a balloon that climbs as your answers get closer.

You do not need to recall every number exactly. The challenge is to place things on a scale. An answer that is reasonably close can still earn a useful climb, and every reveal gives you a reference point for the next time that subject appears.

Play today’s seven rounds or read the step-by-step rules before you start.

Each daily puzzle contains two numeric estimates and five named-answer rounds. A numeric estimate asks you to enter a value in the displayed unit. A named-answer round gives you a target and asks you to name something in its category whose stored value is close to that target.

Those tasks pull in opposite directions. In an estimate, you know the thing and supply its number. In a named round, you know the number and search your memory for a suitable thing. Read the prompt before typing: a population question needs people, while a country-area question needs square kilometres.

Each round has a 30-second limit. After a short grace period, time also reduces the altitude earned. You lock in one accepted answer per round, then see its value and your result. An unrecognized or ambiguous name lets you try another answer while the clock continues.

The question bank covers country area, population and forests; distances between capitals; properties of chemical elements; planetary measurements; and Pokémon height and weight. Specific category labels matter. Country land area excludes inland waters, while surface area includes them. A capital’s distance from Paris is a great-circle distance across Earth’s surface, rather than a scheduled flight route.

For science rounds, the unit is part of the question. Mean radius is different from diameter, seconds are different from hours, and a temperature in kelvin should not be entered as degrees Celsius. Taking a moment to identify the unit often prevents a much larger error than imperfect memory does.

Figures come from a saved, attributed question bank. Country population questions, for example, identify a reference year. Use the sources page to inspect category definitions and publishers instead of assuming every number is a live current estimate.

A new puzzle starts at midnight in New York, using the America/New_York time zone. That boundary follows daylight saving time, so its UTC equivalent changes during the year. Players in other time zones still receive the same daily set.

You can play as a guest. Finishing a day adds a result to your progress; a later day brings a new selection. Past puzzles appear in the read-only archive after their day has ended. The archive shows questions, values and close answers for review; it does not accept new scored attempts at those puzzles.

Start with a few things you already know well. A familiar country, element or planet can act as an anchor. Compare a new prompt with that anchor: is the target roughly half as large, several times larger, or in an entirely different order of magnitude?

When two candidates seem plausible, compare their proportional distance from the target. With a target of 100, values of 80 and 125 are equally close under this game’s ratio-based scoring. They are reciprocal scale errors: one is the target divided by 1.25; the other is the target multiplied by 1.25. The scoring guide explains why this matters.

After a reveal, notice one detail worth keeping: the unit, the approximate magnitude or a surprising nearby answer. This makes each day a small exercise in calibration. You have a concrete comparison to carry forward, even when the answer was far away.