How to play Magnitudle Unlimited
Magnitudle is a game about your sense of scale. Every Magnitudle round puts two pictures side by side on a blueprint. The white one is the reference, and its real size is written underneath. The yellow one is the target, and your job is to make it the right size compared with the reference.
- Read the reference size, for example adult person, 1.7 m tall.
- Drag the slider, use the plus and minus buttons, or drag up and down on the blueprint to stretch the target.
- When the comparison looks right, press Lock it in.
- The target snaps to its real size, a dashed outline shows where you were, and you see the true measurement with a source.
- Five rounds make a Magnitudle game, for up to 500 points.
The blueprint zooms so that the bigger picture always fills the board. That means the zoom never gives the answer away: only the comparison between the two pictures matters.
How Magnitudle scoring works
Each Magnitudle round is worth up to 100 points. What counts is how many times too big or too small your guess is, not the difference in metres, so guessing a whale and guessing a bee are judged the same way.
| Your guess vs the real size | Points |
|---|---|
| Within 5% | 100 |
| 20% off | about 90 |
| 1.5 times too big or small | about 73 |
| 2 times too big or small | about 52 |
| 4 times or more | 0 |
Magnitudle examples that surprise people
These comparisons come up in Magnitudle Unlimited and catch out almost everyone the first time.
Blue whale vs school bus
A blue whale is about 25 metres long and a school bus about 12, so the whale is roughly two buses end to end. Most first guesses land closer to one and a half.
Giraffe vs adult person
An adult male giraffe stands around 5.2 metres, about three times the height of a 1.7 metre person. People often guess twice, because the long neck looks thin.
Moon vs Earth
The Moon is about 3,474 km across and Earth about 12,742 km, so Earth is a little under four Moons wide. Space pictures rarely show them at the same scale, which makes this a classic Magnitudle trap.
Magnitudle tips for a better sense of scale
- Count in references. Ask how many references would stack up to the target. A giraffe is about three adult people tall.
- Use the right side. Some objects are measured by height and others by length. The question tells you which: tall, long or across.
- Trust round numbers you know. A door is about 2 metres, a car about 4.5 metres, a school bus about 12. Chain them together for bigger things.
- Push past your first instinct. People tend to shrink very large things and inflate small ones. If your gut says the whale is ten cars long, try a little longer.
- Play Unlimited to calibrate. A few practice rounds before the daily Magnitudle make a real difference.
Daily Magnitudle, Unlimited and Endless
Daily Magnitudle
Five comparisons a day, the same for every player, so you can compare scores and keep a streak going. The daily Magnitudle changes at midnight in your time zone.
Magnitudle Unlimited
New comparisons whenever you want. There is no daily cap, which is the point of this page.
Endless Magnitudle
Rounds keep coming until three of your guesses score under 50 points. Your best Endless total is saved separately.
How this differs from the original Magnitudle
Magnitudle is an independent daily estimation game, and its Size It Up mode made visual size guessing popular. Magnitudle Unlimited is PlayAnytime’s own version of that idea, with our own objects, our own pictures and our own scoring, plus unlimited and endless modes.
PlayAnytime is not affiliated with or endorsed by Magnitudle or its creator. Play the original at magnitudle.com. Pictures on this page are from Twemoji, licensed under CC-BY 4.0.
Why guessing size is so hard
Our eyes are good at comparing things that sit next to each other and bad at judging absolute size. That is why Magnitudle always gives you a reference: without one, a mountain and a molehill can look the same in a photo.
Two habits trip people up most. The first is that area grows much faster than length. A target that is twice as tall also looks four times bigger on screen, so people often stop stretching too early. The second is that very large and very small things get squeezed toward the middle in our heads. A blue whale feels big, but few people picture it as longer than two school buses until they see it on a Magnitudle board.
The good news is that a sense of scale improves quickly with feedback. Every Magnitudle round shows the real size and where your guess landed, so a few games of Magnitudle Unlimited teach you a handful of anchors that make every later guess easier.
Magnitudle questions
Is Magnitudle Unlimited free?
Yes. Every Magnitudle mode on PlayAnytime is free, with no account and nothing to download.
Is there an unlimited version of Magnitudle Size It Up?
Yes, this page. Play the daily Magnitudle round, then switch to Unlimited for as many size comparisons as you like, or try Endless mode.
How does Magnitudle Size It Up work?
Each Magnitudle round shows a reference with its real size and a second object. You stretch the second object until the comparison looks true to life, lock it in, and see the real size.
How is a Magnitudle guess scored?
Each round is worth up to 100 points. A guess within 5% of the real size earns all 100. Points fall off the further you are, and a guess four times too big or too small earns nothing.
Where do the sizes come from?
Every size is a typical real-world value with a source link, shown after you lock in your guess. Animals vary, so we use the typical adult size stated in the source.
Is this the official Magnitudle?
No. Magnitudle Unlimited is PlayAnytime’s own take on the idea, with our own pictures, objects and scoring. It is not affiliated with Magnitudle or its creator. You can play the original at magnitudle.com.