Good Catch

Good Catch is a small browser puzzle in which an orange cat fishes from a pier. Every day it generates a new lagoon from the date, the same for everyone, and names the fish that is around today, such as a clownfish, a grouper or a pufferfish.

Each square of the 7x7 sea has three properties: a bottom (sand, coral, rock or kelp), a depth (shallow or deep) and a light (sun or shade). Tapping a square reads it, so you can see exactly what it has before you commit. The fish of the day likes one bottom, one depth and one light, and that is what you have to work out.

When you cast, the game tells you how many of the three habits the square has, but never which ones. A cast that hits all three catches the fish. You have six casts, so each one should split the twelve possible combinations as well as it can, much like a code in Mastermind.

The species is flavour: it never changes the habits. Weekdays and Sunday draw from ten common fish shuffled so a week never repeats, and Saturday brings a rare one. Fish you catch go into a collection of twelve, and the game keeps a streak and a strip of this week's days.

After you finish, a village panel shows how many players fished that day, where you rank, and a map of where everyone cast. You can share your result, and a PT button switches the game into Portuguese.

The game is made by Daniel Belarmino. Its help text says every sea is checked in advance, so the counts alone can always lead you to the fish within six casts.