Babushka

Babushka is a free browser game by Mayhex, a solo developer in Toronto who makes daily games at mayhex.gg. It takes the idea of Russian nesting dolls and turns it into a quick trivia run against the clock.

Each day the game picks one list with a number behind every entry: countries by population on one day, video games that sold 25 million copies or more on another, with the source and date shown under the title. You start with a single doll labelled with one item from the list and its number. Type the name of something on the list with a bigger number, and a new doll opens, your set jumps inside, and the clock pauses for a moment. Name something too small and your set bounces off while the clock keeps running; that lost time is the only penalty.

You get one run a day, three minutes long, and the same list as every other player. Your score is the number of pieces in your set, so the trick is to climb in small steps rather than jump straight to the top: naming the biggest item on the list ends the run, since nothing can beat it. After the run you can share your result, and the game keeps a day streak in your browser.

There are no accounts, no sign-ups and no ads, and progress stays on your device. A new list arrives at midnight in your own time zone. Babushka suits players who like list games such as naming a hidden top 100 or ordering items by a statistic, and who want something that takes three minutes.