A field of straw, one needle
The haystack is a flat field of straw drawn in your browser. A needle sits under one tile. Each tap clears one tile, and a bright color shows how close that tile was.
Drag to look around. On a phone the field starts close enough to tap, and a corner map shows the rest of the stack. Pinch to zoom on a phone, or use the mouse wheel on a desktop. Tap a tile to sweep it, or press and hold if a short tap is hard to land. Dragging does not count. The clock starts at the first sweep and stops when the needle is visible. Each tap counts as one try.
Freezing means the needle is far. Cold is still distant. Warm means this part of the field is worth searching. Hot means you are close. Burning means a neighboring tile may hide the needle. The word is painted in that color, and a phone may vibrate when the browser allows it.
Easy is a small field, and the color word matches the true distance. Normal is the daily field. It is larger, and the word can sit a little off. Hard is a wide field. The word wobbles more, and some tiles hide wire. The color word still measures distance to the needle.
Each UTC date grows one shared field. Players who open that date get the same needle in the same place. The puzzle number counts days since 1 January 2026. A search you have not started switches when the date changes. If you are already sweeping, the current field stays until you load the new one.
The first finish of a date is the daily result. Later plays can improve your personal best, but they do not replace that result or the streak. Miss a date and the next finish starts at one. Practice on Easy or Hard does not touch it. The record stays in local storage on this device. See the privacy note.
The result lists the puzzle number, the time, and the try count, then one square per try. Daily copy uses the daily page. Practice copy uses the page you played. Blue is Freezing, green is Cold, yellow is Warm, orange is Hot, and red is Burning.
Search in a loose grid while the word is cold, then tighten when it turns warm. On Hard, check around a hot tile before you trust it. The full rules, today's puzzle, and the find the needle game page are the other ways in.
How to play
- Drag to pan the haystack, or tap the corner map.
- Pinch, or roll the wheel, to zoom.
- Tap or long-press one tile of straw.
- Read the hint and sweep closer.
- Copy the result when you find the needle.
Questions
Can I play free without a download?
Yes. The game runs in your browser. There is nothing to install and nothing to pay.
Is the daily puzzle the same for everyone?
Yes. The UTC date is the seed. Players who open the same date get the same field and the same needle.
What do the hint words mean?
Freezing is far, Cold is distant, Warm is the right area, Hot is close, and Burning is next to the needle. On Normal and Hard the word can be slightly off.
What does this site store?
Best times, your streak, games played, and the first daily result for each date. They stay in local storage on your device. The site has no account and sends no result to a server.