Search the straw, not a menu
People look up a find the needle game when they want a short search they can finish on a phone. This page is that search. The picture is straw, drawn here, and the needle is one cell in the grid. You do not buy a level pack and you do not wait on a lobby.
Start on the daily field if you want the same puzzle as everyone else today. Switch to Easy if you want a smaller stack and an exact distance word. Hard adds more straw, a fuzzier word, and bits of wire that are not the needle. The home page uses the same field. Today's puzzle shows the countdown to the next UTC date.
Pan by dragging. Zoom with a pinch or the mouse wheel. On a phone the field starts close in, and the corner map jumps you across the stack. Uncover one tile with a tap or a long press. After each new tile the page names how close you were. Freezing and Cold mean keep ranging. Warm means stay in this area. Hot and Burning mean slow down and check neighbors. A phone may vibrate on those words when the browser allows it.
The clock and the try count are the whole score. When the needle shows, copy a line of squares to send to a friend, or use Share if the device offers a share sheet. The first finish of a UTC date is the one that counts for the streak. Practice runs are for learning the colors. The rules page lists the gestures, and the about page says what stays on the device.