# How to Play Perceptle | Perceptle

Canonical page: https://perceptle.org/how-to-play
Last updated: 2026-10-16

How to play Perceptle: ten daily perception tests, how each is scored out of 100, the titles, the daily ranking, fair-play rules and tips.

## Key facts
- Daily: 10 tests drawn from 12, the same for everyone on the same date; a new set at midnight local time; they get harder from first to last.
- Scoring: each test scores 0 to 100 by how close the answer is, falling off smoothly with the size of the miss; 10 tests make a total out of 1000.
- Titles: Sharp-Eyed 900+, Keen 800+, Steady 650+, Wobbly 500+, Fooled under 500.
- Reaction test: any reaction up to 200 ms scores 100; tapping before the change, or within 100 ms of it, is a false start.
- Ranking: a finished daily is scored again on the server and compared with everyone who played that puzzle; players see the share they beat, overall and per test.

## How to play Perceptle in one minute

Here is how to play Perceptle. Every day at midnight in your time zone a new puzzle arrives: ten short tests drawn from twelve kinds, the same ten for everyone on that date. Press Start, play the ten tests one after another, and see your total out of 1000 and how you rank. It takes about three minutes.

The tests climb from the first to the last. The opening tests are gentle, and the final ones flash things faster, use closer colors and add decoys.

## The three steps of every test

- Brief: a one-line instruction and the test's name. Read it, then press Go. The first time you meet a test, a short how-to line appears too.
- Play: answer on the board. Tap to place a mark, drag to adjust, and press Lock in when you are happy. Tests that flash something show it once, so watch before you answer.
- Reveal: the right answer appears next to yours, with the gap between them and your score out of 100. Press Next for the following test.

On a computer, Enter presses the main button (Go, Lock in, Next) and the space bar works for the timing tests. On a phone held upright, the board turns to fill the screen; the puzzle and scoring stay exactly the same.

## The twelve tests at a glance

- [Inner Clock](https://perceptle.org/tests/time-perception): hold a button for an exact number of seconds with no timer.
- [Color Recall](https://perceptle.org/tests/color-memory): a color flashes, then find it again on a color field.
- [Spot Memory](https://perceptle.org/tests/visual-memory): colored dots flash, then point to where one of them was.
- [Balance Point](https://perceptle.org/tests/balance-point): tap where an irregular shape would balance on a pin.
- [Glance Average](https://perceptle.org/tests/average-estimation): bars flash, then set a line to their average height.
- [Arrow Lines](https://perceptle.org/tests/line-length-illusion): make two lines equal despite a classic illusion.
- [Speed Match](https://perceptle.org/tests/speed-perception): set a moving dot to the speed of one you just watched.
- [Mirror Point](https://perceptle.org/tests/symmetry): tap where a dot lands when reflected in a slanted mirror.
- [Equal Area](https://perceptle.org/tests/area-estimation): resize a square or triangle to match a circle's area.
- [Arc Center](https://perceptle.org/tests/circle-center): find a circle's center from a short arc.
- [Shade Finder](https://perceptle.org/tests/shade-matching): find where a shade sits on a gradient.
- [Reaction](https://perceptle.org/tests/reaction-time): tap the instant the panel changes color.

Ten of these make up each daily puzzle. Every test also has its own page with the rules, the scoring in detail and tips.

## How Perceptle scoring works

Each test measures how far off you were and turns that into a score out of 100. A perfect answer scores 100, and the score falls away smoothly as the miss grows. Every test has its own typical miss that scores about 61, and half that miss scores about 88, so small errors cost little and big ones cost a lot. Each test's page explains what close means for that test.

| Total out of 1000 | Title |
|---|---|
| 900 and up | Sharp-Eyed |
| 800 to 899 | Keen |
| 650 to 799 | Steady |
| 500 to 649 | Wobbly |
| Under 500 | Fooled |

## How the daily ranking works

When you finish the daily puzzle, your answers go to our server, which builds the same ten tests and scores them again. Your total is compared with everyone who played that puzzle. You see the share of players you beat, overall and for each test, and the share line on your result adds your place, like Top 15%.

The first finisher of the day is told so, and until ten people have played you see how many came before you instead of a percentage. The ranking keeps moving as more people play. Archive puzzles are ranked against that day's players.

## Fair play rules

- Tests that flash something are replaced with a fresh one if you switch tabs while they run.
- Leave in the middle of a test and you get a fresh one when you come back.
- Only your first finished run of each puzzle counts toward the ranking.
- In the reaction test, tapping before the change, or within a tenth of a second of it, is a false start. You get one retry; a second false start scores zero.

## Unlimited, the archive and practice

Knowing how to play Perceptle opens up three more ways to play. [Unlimited](https://perceptle.org/unlimited) deals endless rounds of ten random tests that get harder each round. [The archive](https://perceptle.org/archive) has every past daily puzzle. And every test has [its own practice page](https://perceptle.org/tests), where rounds keep coming at rising difficulty.

Your games, average, best score and streak are kept in this browser. A streak counts the days you finished on the day itself, so archive catch-up adds to your stats but not your streak.

## If something goes wrong

Your progress is saved after every test, so closing the page mid-puzzle is safe: open Perceptle again and you continue from the next test. If you were in the middle of a test, you get a fresh one.

If the ranking can't be reached when you finish, your score is still saved and the page says it isn't ranked yet. It is sent again the next time you open the results online, and only your first finished run ever counts. The puzzle changes at midnight in your own time zone, so a puzzle started late at night still counts for the day it began.

## Tips for a better score

- Read the brief every time. The same test can ask for slightly different things as it gets harder.
- For flash tests, look at the whole board as one picture rather than item by item.
- For drag tests, make a big move first, then small corrections.
- Don't rush Lock in. There is no clock on your answer, only on what flashes.

That is everything about how to play Perceptle. The quickest way to learn the rest is to [play today's puzzle](https://perceptle.org/).

## Related
- [Perceptle](https://perceptle.org/): today's daily puzzle
- [llms.txt](https://perceptle.org/llms.txt): the whole site in brief