StatesQuest

StatesQuest is a daily comparison game. The board displays six states, each as a card illustrated with its flag and its name, and an instruction at the top asks which one holds the highest value, the lowest value, or the exact announced value. No map, no silhouette: everything depends on what you know of the figures that characterize each state. The header also includes a profile, a leaderboard and leagues.

1. Start the day's game from the PLAY button on the home screen.
2. Read the instruction shown at the top of the board: highest value, lowest value, exact value or odd one out, depending on the round.
3. Choose from the six state cards shown with their flag.

It's a quiz of superlatives, not of locating places, and that shift completely changes the reflexes: recognizing a state on a map doesn't help you know which of six candidates beats the others on a given indicator. The weekly survival, with its single attempt and ten lives, adds a tension that classic daily puzzles don't have.

The Weekly Survival mode gives a clear indication of its penalty: any mistake, as well as any time limit exceeded, costs a life.

Daily puzzle

The daily appointment: find the state that holds the highest value, the exact value or the lowest value.

Weekly Survival

A weekly survival: you start with ten lives, each mistake or time limit exceeded costs one, and you are allowed only one attempt per week, reset on Wednesday.

• Weekly Survival can only be attempted once per week and resets on Wednesday: warm up with the daily puzzle before burning through your ten lives on a poorly started run.
• In survival, running out of time costs exactly as much as a mistake. On a question that doesn't inspire you, decide quickly rather than letting the clock run out.
• The six options are identified as much by their flag as by their name: if the state flags don't mean much to you, get into the habit of reading the label under the thumbnail before clicking.