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Genius or Goof is a voting game for your browser, free and with no download. A famous person appears on a card. You vote genius, goof, or don't know if you have no idea who they are. Then the game shows how everyone else voted and whether you agree with them. There are no right answers and no timer, so a round takes a few seconds. This note describes version 0.3, and you can play it now in another tab while you read.
How does a round work? #
Each round has three steps:
- A card shows a person: an athlete, a singer, an actor, a scientist, a writer, a business founder or an internet star, from today or from history.
- You vote. Genius and goof are your verdict on them. Don't know is for names you cannot place.
- The card gets a stamp with the crowd's verdict, a meter of 20 notches filled from the left for genius and from the right for goof, a percentage for each option, and the number of votes. A line under it tells you how you did.
The game has no score to chase, only a streak, so it suits a few minutes with friends more than a long session alone. The crowd's numbers come from the site's server: if the game cannot reach it, the card says so, and your vote may not have been counted.
What do the stamps mean? #
The verdict goes to whichever of genius and goof has more votes. It reads Tie when they are level. It reads Who? when more people voted don't know than genius and goof together, which is the game's way of saying that most players did not recognise the name.
Who's this? #
Most cards carry a photo taken from the person's Wikipedia article, and only photos under a free license are used. Without one, the card shows initials. Tap Who's this? on the card to read when they lived, what they are known for, and who took the photo.
How do the controls work? #
On a phone or tablet, tap the three buttons, then tap Next, or tap anywhere on the screen to go on.
On a computer:
| Action | Keys |
|---|---|
| Genius | Left arrow or 1 |
| Don't know | Down arrow or 2 |
| Goof | Right arrow or 3 |
| Next person | Space, Enter or Up arrow |
| Who's this? | I |
| How to play | ? or H |
| Pause | Escape |
The game also pauses when you switch to another tab or app.
What is the streak? #
The streak counts votes in a row that agree with the crowd, and it shows at the top once it reaches 1. Going against the crowd resets it to zero. Every other vote leaves it alone: don't know, the first vote on a person, a vote that breaks a tie, and a person whose only votes so far were don't know.
The comparison uses the votes cast before yours, so your own vote never moves the crowd you are measured against. Your profile keeps votes cast, how often you agree with the crowd and your best streak. The music also speeds up a little as the streak grows.
How many people are there? #
The game keeps 355 people in total. Players in English see the 199 who are known around the world. Players in Spanish see all 355, because 156 are known mainly where Spanish is spoken and appear only in Spanish. Switch with EN and ES in the menu; the game starts in the language you use on the site.
The next person is drawn by category first (seven of them), so a category with many names does not crowd out the others, and you do not get the same category twice in a row while others remain. Each person comes up once on your device. When you have voted on everyone, the game says so and tells you more are on the way.
Does it save my progress? #
As a guest, your votes, streak and settings stay in this browser on this device. With a free account they follow you to every device where you sign in: see your account page. The leaderboard ranks players with an account by votes cast and by best streak with the crowd. The crowd's totals count only votes: nothing in them says who cast which one.
Trivia fans who like to play against friends can try Mindlap, which runs rooms of up to 20 players. To keep this game one tap away, see how to add browser games to your home screen.
