How to play Plain

Open today’s puzzle to begin. Every player gets the same seven rounds, with a fresh set at midnight in New York. Five rounds ask for a named answer from a category; two ask for a number you estimate yourself. There is one scored flight per day. You can start as a guest, and an account can keep your progress across devices.

Read the category, target and unit before typing. If the category is country population, name a country whose saved population is close to the target. If it is a chemical property, choose an element. The aim is the closest valid value you can think of. Matching ignores capitals, accents and punctuation, recognises aliases and accepts small typos. An unknown or ambiguous answer does not spend the round, but the clock keeps running.

These rounds accept a number rather than a name. Check the unit and think of a familiar reference point: a rough order of magnitude is more useful than an elaborate calculation you cannot finish. After submitting, you see the saved answer and an explanation. Past answers become available after the daily puzzle closes.

Closeness is measured by ratio: a value twice the target is as far away as a value half the target. The base score runs from 0 to 100. A Dialed answer earns another 25 points; for ordinary number categories, that means within 1% of the target. Round three is the Golden Round, which doubles both base points and the bonus. Each point gives your balloon 10 metres. Read the scoring guide for exact examples and rounding.

Each round lasts 30 seconds. The first three seconds are a grace period; after that, your balloon loses four metres for each second you take. A timeout has no answer points. Your running altitude never falls below zero. A thoughtful quick guess can therefore beat a slightly closer answer that takes much longer.

The result shows how close you were and reveals the accepted value. Named categories use saved, attributed datasets: definitions and reference years can change what counts as close. Land area, for example, is not the same as total surface area. Use the source links to understand a surprising answer instead of assuming the current real-world value is the one in the puzzle.

Your current and best streak track completed days. You earn a streak freeze every seven streak days, up to two. A freeze protects a missed day. Friends and groups compare daily climbs; share a result when you want to bring someone into the next puzzle. Reminders in Profile are optional.

Browse completed puzzles to inspect their targets, closest candidates and reference values. Archives are read-only: old puzzles do not award another daily score. For a broader introduction, visit the daily guessing game guide; for a disputed value, check the source list and note the puzzle date and round.