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.