It Took

About It Took

It Took asks one question five times a day in different forms: how many does it take? One experiment wants the number of helium balloons that would lift a cat, another the number of AA batteries that would boil a kettle, another how many people on bikes it takes to power a toaster or how many ice cubes cool a cup of tea. The game has six kinds of experiment: balloons that lift, batteries, pedal power, ice cubes, running fuel and sugar cubes. Each question states its assumptions under it, such as about 10 g of lift per party balloon or about 3 Wh in an AA battery, so you know what is being counted.

You answer on a slider that runs on a log scale from 1 to a million, with plus and minus buttons to fine tune, or you type the number. Press Try it and the experiment is animated with your number: the cat stays on the ground or floats away, the runner stops short or overshoots the flag. You get three tries, the result of each one tells you which way to move, and the ranges you have ruled out are marked on the slider. A guess within 25 percent of the real amount counts as a hit. A first-try hit scores 3 points, the second 2 and the third 1, so a perfect day is 15, and your total earns a rank from Back to the lab to Mad scientist.

After the fifth experiment you can share a row of coloured squares or send a challenge link so a friend plays the same experiments and you compare totals. A calendar of past experiments keeps every earlier day playable; those count toward your stats but not your streak. The site also has a science page that works through an example of each kind of experiment, and a page of every past answer. The game needs no account.

It Took is made by Faven Games, a small independent studio that also makes Tilt, a daily weighing game. It suits players who like order-of-magnitude guessing and a bit of everyday physics in a short daily session. Unlike estimation games that score how close a single guess lands, It Took gives you feedback and a second and third try, so working toward the answer is part of the game.

How to play It Took

1. Open ittook.day and press Play to start today's five experiments.
2. Read the question and the assumption printed under it.
3. Drag the slider, use the plus and minus buttons, or type a number to set how many you think it takes.
4. Press Try it and watch the experiment run with your number: too few, too many or just right.
5. Adjust and try again if you missed; you have three tries per experiment, and a guess within 25 percent counts.
6. After the fifth experiment, share your score out of 15 or challenge a friend with the same set.

Screenshots

Tips

• Think in powers of ten first: decide whether the answer is in the tens, hundreds or thousands before fine tuning.
• Use the result of a missed try as a bound, then split the difference on the log scale.
• Read the assumption line: it gives the unit size you need for a quick calculation, such as 10 g of lift per balloon or 3 Wh per battery.
• The science page on the site works through one example of each kind of experiment.

Questions