Redacted Maps

Redacted Maps shows you one map a day. It is a choropleth, the kind where each area is shaded by a value on a scale from low to high, but its title is hidden. Your job is to work out what the colours mean.

You type a guess and press Enter. You also get three peeks: tap any area of the map to see its real value. Each wrong guess unlocks a clue. The first gives the category (Sport, for example), the second the unit, and the third a written hint. If a guess shares a word with the title, that word is revealed, and an amber CLOSE tag tells you a wrong guess is on the right track. The fifth guess is multiple choice, and you can skip straight to it if you are stuck.

The maps change region from day to day: the whole world, one continent such as North America, Europe or Africa, a part of the world such as the Caribbean or the Middle East, or the US by state or county. The subjects are the kind you find in atlases and data stories, from elevation and internet use to a country's main industry or national sport. A new numbered map comes out every day at midnight New York time.

Past maps are kept in an archive you can replay, the game keeps a streak, and you can share your result. Players can also colour in a map of their own, hide its title and send it to friends as a five-letter code. There are no ads, and no account is needed to play.

It suits players who like geography and data, and anyone who enjoys reading a map for patterns rather than finding a single place on it.