Guide
How to play Perfection
Perfection is a precision drawing game. A shape appears as a dotted outline. You trace it in a single continuous stroke, and the moment you lift your finger, your trace is scored to four decimal places.
The basic rules
- One stroke. Put your finger, stylus or mouse down on the outline and trace all the way around without lifting. Lifting submits your trace.
- Closed shapes end where they start. For a square, star or circle, finish back at your starting point.
- Open shapes go end to end. Seven shapes, such as the parabola, zigzag and spiral, are open paths. They show a dot at each end. Start on one dot and finish on the other.
- Score above 99.9001 to pass. That bar is the same on every level and every shape.
How scoring works
When you lift, Perfection compares your line with the true outline in both directions: how far your line strays from the shape, and how much of the shape your line actually covered. Skipping part of the outline costs as much as wobbling off it. The result is a score from 0 to 100, shown to four decimal places, so two good traces can still be told apart.
A trace that is perfectly on the line scores 100.0000. As your line drifts, the score falls, slowly at first and then quickly. A trace that is right at the edge of what the level allows scores exactly 99.9001, which is not quite enough. You need to beat it.
Checks that apply at every level
Some mistakes fail a trace no matter how accurate the rest of it was. Perfection tells you which one you made:
- You missed part of the shape. At least 90% of the outline must be covered.
- You rounded off a corner. Every sharp corner on the shape must actually be drawn. A quick circle will never pass for a square.
- You didn't close the shape (closed shapes) or didn't reach both ends (open shapes).
- Too much extra line. Going around twice or scribbling to cover the outline doesn't count.
Levels: how the grading tightens
Challenge mode has 70 shapes and 100 levels, for 7,000 challenges in total. The pass bar never changes. What changes is how far your line is allowed to drift and still reach it. Each level is the same percentage stricter than the one before it.
| Level | Average drift allowed* | What it feels like |
|---|---|---|
| Level 1 | 7.3% | Clearly the right shape, a little wobbly, still passes. |
| Level 10 | 5.5% | A careful but relaxed trace. |
| Level 25 | 3.5% | You need to stay on the line most of the way round. |
| Level 50 | 1.6% | Steady, deliberate tracing. Wobbles start to cost you. |
| Level 75 | 0.8% | Small drifts are enough to fail. |
| Level 90 | 0.5% | Almost no room for error. |
| Level 100 | 0.3% | About one screen pixel on a phone. A near-perfect line. |
* Measured as a share of the shape's size. Every shape is drawn at the same size, so no shape is secretly easier because it happens to be smaller.
Each level runs through all 70 shapes in the same order, starting with the square and ending with the spirangle. Clear all 70 and the next level unlocks with every shape graded more strictly. See the Shape Guide for all 70 outlines and tracing tips.
Tries and extra lives
- Challenge mode: 3 free tries a day, refilled at midnight Pacific time. Clearing a shape refills your tries. You can watch a short video for an extra try, up to 2 a day.
- Daily Challenge: 1 attempt a day, plus 1 more with a video. Read more on the Daily Challenge page.
- Streak Freezes: invite a friend from the game's footer to earn a freeze that protects your Daily streak if you miss a day.
After each try you see your trace, your score and two buttons. If you passed, choose Continue; if not, Retry. A short ad plays before you move on. Share never plays an ad.
Leaderboards
Every player who has cleared at least one challenge appears on the Challenge leaderboard, with tabs for this month and all time. Rank combines how many challenges you have cleared with your average passing score, so volume helps but precision is a real multiplier. The Daily leaderboard ranks your average daily score over the month or all time, once you have played enough days to qualify.
Tips from the shapes that trip people up
- Slow down for corners. The corner check is the most common reason a good-looking trace fails.
- Keep an even speed on curves. Speeding up halfway round a circle turns it into an egg.
- Use the whole canvas. Hold your device steady on a table, or use a stylus if you have one.
- Watch the guide, not your finger. Your eyes should lead your hand along the dotted line.