Scope is a free daily puzzle about a control panel with no labels. A shaded target wave moves across the screen with your own line drawn over it. Turn the knobs and flip the switches until your line sits on the target.
How do you play Scope?
- Look at the screen at the top. The thick shaded wave is the target. The thin line is yours.
- Tap a control to move it one step, or swipe up and down on it. On a computer you can also use the scroll wheel, or the arrow keys on a selected control.
- Watch your line. Each control changes something about the wave, like its height, its position or how many waves fit across the screen.
- Keep adjusting until your line matches the target's shape and moves with it. The screen says "In tune" and your results appear.
The round arrow is Start over. It puts every control back where the day began, and it counts as one adjustment.
How do you work out an unlabeled control?
Every day is a new machine. A knob that changed the height yesterday might change the number of waves today. So you test, one control at a time.
- Move one control one step. Then look only at your line. Did it get taller, slide up, stretch out, change shape or change speed?
- Move it back. Now you know what it does and which way is which.
- Find its ends. Some controls loop back to the start after their last setting. Others stop, and you get a low buzz when you push past the end.
- Don't trust the order. Knobs, sliders, steppers and thumbwheels move through their settings in a line, though not always in the direction you'd guess. A dial or push button can jump around instead.
Here's what the wave can do. Each day, five things about it are in play. Some are basics: its shape (smooth, pointed, square or sawtooth), the number of waves, height and position. Where the wave starts and flipping it upside down are basics too. Others are stranger, like speed, lean, clipping the peaks, stepping, pulsing, swelling and stretching. If your line drifts sideways at a different pace from the target, one of the controls sets the speed.
What are the twists?
On some days the panel has a trick in it. You get at most one of these:
- One control moves two things at once. Turning it might raise the wave and add a cycle together.
- One switch picks odd or even steps for another control. That control jumps two settings at a time, and the switch fills in the gap.
- One switch doubles how far another control moves. Each step of that control does twice as much while the switch is on.
Some days also add a control that does nothing at all. Leave it alone once you're sure.
A switch that seems dead isn't always the do-nothing control. A doubling switch has no visible effect while the control it doubles sits at its zero end. Move the other controls with the switch both ways before you give up on it.
Hint and Start over
Hint highlights one control that is set wrong and shows a ghost of exactly where it should go. It never points at the control that does nothing. There's a five-second wait between hints.
Start over resets the panel to the day's starting position. There is no undo, but you can always step a control back by hand.
Tips for tuning faster
- Learn every control before you try to match anything. Work through the panel one control at a time until you know what each one does. Then set them. Chasing the wave before you know the panel is how the adjustment count runs up.
- Match the big things first. Get the shape, the number of waves and the speed right. Height and position are easy to nudge at the end.
- Watch for coupled controls. If one move changes two things, set it for the harder of the two, then fix the other with its own control.
- Swipe gently on sliders. Every position the control passes through counts as an adjustment.
- Save Hint for the last stubborn control. It's exact, so it's best kept for the one you can't work out.
How is Scope scored?
There's no losing. A timer counts up while you play, and your score is your time. Signed-in players get a daily leaderboard ranked by time, with fewer adjustments breaking ties, plus a friends-only board.
Your results show games played, win percentage, your current and best streak, today's time, best time, average time and average adjustments. Finishing the day's puzzle extends your streak.
How do you share your result?
The Share button gives you two choices. Spoiler free copies the puzzle number, your time and your adjustments:
Scope #10 / 2:31 / 18 adjustments perdiem.games/scope
With spoilers adds a picture of the wave you matched. It shows the finished wave, but nothing about which controls did what.
Common questions
Do I need to know anything about sound or electronics?
No. You only need to look. It's a puzzle about matching a picture, and the controls have no labels to decode.
Does every control matter?
Not always. Some days include one that does nothing. The how-to warns you about it too.
Is the machine the same for everyone?
Yes. Everyone gets the same panel, the same target and the same starting position each day.
Can I play past days?
Yes. Open the week strip on your results screen to go back through the last seven days.
Do I need an account?
No. Scope is free and runs in your browser. An account keeps your streak across devices and unlocks leaderboards and friends.