Breakdown
Guess how a real total splits into slices, then see the true shares.
Every day: One numbered question a day, the same for everyone, about how a real whole splits up, such as the world's oceans by surface area: drag the dividers to guess each share, then see the real figures and their source. New puzzle: 04:00 UTC (midnight US Eastern daylight time).
Breakdown asks one question a day about how something divides up, for example how the world's ocean surface is shared between the five oceans. You drag dividers on a bar to set your guess for each slice, reveal the real numbers with their source, and score points for every slice you got close.
About Breakdown
Breakdown is a daily estimation game about proportions. Each puzzle names a whole and its parts: what the universe is made of, where the world's people live, where household water goes, how big each ocean is. The parts sit in a single stacked bar, and you drag the dividers between them until the sizes match your guess.
When you press Reveal, the bar slides to the real shares and every slice is scored on how close you came, from nothing up to five points, with a little slack for small slices. Your total earns a verdict from Foggy through Solid and Sharp to Oracle, and you can share the row of coloured squares. Each answer names its data source, so the game doubles as a short lesson.
The game is by Kai Stevenson and has run since September 2026, with a new numbered puzzle at 04:00 UTC each day. Past puzzles are in the archive and a stats page tracks your results by slice size. It is free, has no ads and needs no account. It suits people who like charts, rough numbers and finding out that their sense of the world is a little off.
How to play Breakdown
- Read the day's question and the parts the whole is split into.
- Drag the dividers on the bar to set the share you expect for each part.
- Press Reveal to see the real shares and their source.
- Read your points for each slice and your total verdict.
- Share the result or play earlier puzzles from the archive.
Tips
- Settle the biggest slice first; the small ones have less room to go wrong.
- Small slices are scored with a cushion, so a near miss on a tiny share still earns something.
- Use the archive to get a feel for how lopsided real data tends to be.
Questions
When does a new Breakdown puzzle come out?
Every day at 04:00 UTC, which is midnight on the US East Coast in summer time.
How is Breakdown scored?
Each slice earns 0, 1, 3 or 5 points depending on how close your share is to the real one, and the total gets a verdict from Foggy to Oracle.
Can I play past puzzles?
Yes. Every earlier puzzle since 11 September 2026 is in the archive.
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