Headcount

Headcount displays the Earth in a night view where each hotspot is real population: cities glow, deserts and oceans stay dark. The game gives a target number of inhabitants and asks you to draw a single loop, in any shape you like, meant to contain exactly that number of people. The official tracing is done blind, without a live counter, and the score follows a ratio curve: 100 is perfect, and being off by a factor of two below costs exactly as much as being off by a factor of two above. The displayed population comes from the GHS-POP dataset of the European Commission's Joint Research Centre, credited under the map.

1. Read the day's instruction at the top of the map: “CIRCLE EXACTLY” followed by the number of inhabitants to encircle.
2. Switch to Pan to zoom and frame the region that seems to contain that population.
3. Switch back to Draw and trace your loop around the bright areas; any shape is accepted, and you can move it by dragging from inside.
4. Submit: this is your single official attempt for the day, and no total is shown while you draw.
5. Continue with Practice, which deals a new target each round and reveals the population contained in every submitted loop.

Because the answer is not a word but a shape. Headcount is one of the rare daily games where you make a gesture, a freehand loop on the night map, and the skill is turning a glow into a number of inhabitants. One shot per day, no corrections possible: the tension lives entirely in the second before you submit.

A score on a ratio curve, 100 corresponding to the exact target. The help panel itself quantifies the curve's severity: 9.4 million against a 10 million target scores 97.3, while half or double the target both drop to 69.9, and a 2% deviation stays above 98. On the official attempt nothing is shown before submission; Practice is what reveals the real population of each trace.

Daily Game

A population target, one loop, a single official tracing, numbered and dated.

Practice

After the official attempt, Practice runs fresh targets each round and reveals the population of every submitted loop.

• The map is not decoration: reading the bright spots is the game itself. A compact conurbation and a stretched coastline can weigh the same, and only the brightness tells you.
• Because the curve is ratio-based, aiming too small is penalized as much as aiming too large. Encircling an entire urban area is often safer than cutting through the middle of another.
• Frame before you draw: since no counter runs during the official trace, everything depends on the zoom you chose in Pan mode.
• Use Practice as calibration. It reveals the population inside each loop, so you can measure the systematic error of your eye.