TubeCount

A YouTube thumbnail, its upload year, and a single question: how many views? TubeCount asks for neither the title nor the channel, only the number, typed in the middle units, since 800k, 2.5m or 1b all work equally well. Three guesses per video, but they are not equal: the game explains that the first counts for half the score, the second 30%, the third 20%, and that clues only arrive once the big points are banked. Guessing cold from the thumbnail alone is therefore the real skill, and the game puts it this way: « reading the thumbnail cold is the skill ».

1. Open the video of the day from the home screen: the same one for everyone, numbered, with a countdown to the next.
2. Look at the thumbnail and the displayed year, then type an estimate of the view count and press "LOCK IT IN".
3. Take the clue that unlocks: the second guess reveals the title, the third the channel and its subscriber count.
4. On each round, edit your number or keep the previous one with the "Keep" button.
5. Read the verdict: each guess is stamped according to its distance from the actual count.

Guessing a view counter from a thumbnail is an exercise in cultural reading more than memory: the quality of the edit, the face in the thumbnail, the displayed year say a lot before any clue. TubeCount makes an honest game of it by publishing its scoring scale, with half the points for the initial glance, and by refusing to reward someone who waits for the title. The eye score, expressed as an error factor, is the lasting idea: it measures your calibration, not your luck.

The verdict is a colored stamp for each guess, and the game publishes the scale: green if the estimate is within less than 2× the real number, yellow within less than 5×, red beyond that. The consequence is acknowledged by the game, which warns that three yellows can beat a late green, since points are concentrated on the first guess. After a few days the site also gives an eye score expressed as an average error factor, illustrated by its own example: « your eye is 2.1× off ». A warning accompanies the numbers: view counts are as of their date of retrieval.

Daily

One video per day, three guesses, the same for all players: "One video, three guesses. Same video for everyone." A countdown announces the next.

Binge

Five rounds in a row, one guess per video, points based on how close the estimate is. The game says it's playable solo or as a challenge against a friend.

Streak Mode

A thumbnail duel, "Which one got more views?", presented as an endless series: one mistake and the run ends.

• The first estimate is worth half the score: it's the one you should prioritize, even before you know which video it is. The subsequent clues, the game admits, arrive only after the big points have already been played.
• The "Keep" button exists for a reason: when the revealed title doesn't change your reading of the thumbnail, keeping your number is a legitimate choice rather than an admission of laziness.
• The field accepts shorthand notations, k, m and b. No need to line up the zeros.