Reboot your brain
A new PEPPIN puzzle every day. Answer clues to crack the locks. Every lock you open adds letters to a final anagram puzzle. If you get stuck you can reveal letters to help you. Guess as many times as you like — but how quickly and cleanly you get there sets your Peppin Performance score. Think you've already worked out the final anagram? Jump straight to it at any time. Pause the game as often as you like.
Add Peppin to your Home Screen
So it's one tap away every day.
Your streak counts the days you turn up, not how well you do. A rotten score still keeps it going — the tier already has plenty to say about that.
Miss a single day and your run survives. Miss two and it starts again, though your best is kept for good.
Stored on this device only. Nobody else can see it and we don't send it anywhere — but clearing your browser data or moving to a new phone will start you over.
One puzzle a day, and a new one every midnight.
A new PEPPIN lands every midnight. Two ways to be told about it — the first takes one tap.
1. Follow PEPPIN on WhatsApp
By far the easiest. Tap below, then tap Follow. Nobody sees your number — not us, not other followers — and nobody can message you. Unfollow whenever you like.
Then turn notifications on — this bit matters. WhatsApp puts channel posts under Updates, not in your chats, and keeps them silent until you say otherwise. Once you have followed, tap PEPPIN at the top of the channel and switch notifications on. Without that the message still arrives, but you have to go looking for it — which rather defeats the point.
Follow PEPPIN on WhatsApp2. Add PEPPIN to your Home Screen
Puts the padlock icon alongside your apps, so it is one tap away rather than something to remember. On iPhone it also unlocks the in-game Daily Reminder, which Apple won't allow from Safari alone.
Pep up your hippocampus. Nudge your neural nodes. Rouse your recall. Reboot your morning brain.
Peppin is a daily game aimed at lovers of the arts and humanities! It’s designed to exercise the brain. It’s all about unlocking parts of your memory that may have gathered some dust. Its quiz questions range from easy to difficult but they are not so excruciatingly tough, and, most answers will be hiding somewhere in the labyrinth of your mind. You just need to tease them out by revealing the letters until your brain ‘unlocks’ the answer. Go on, exercise your brain.
Got a question or topic you would like us to include? Send us a message below.
Thanks — your message is on its way to us!
Peppin has no accounts and no passwords, we don't track you around the internet, and we don't sell anything about you to anyone. Here is everything we handle, in plain English.
Kept on your device, never sent to us
Your game in progress. Whatever you have typed, which locks you have opened, the clock — all of it lives in the page while you play and disappears when you close it.
Today's result. Once you finish, your browser remembers that day's outcome so reloading can't let you replay the same puzzle already knowing the answers. It is replaced the next day.
Your streak and your recent scores. So the game can show a day count, a best run and your best score of the last month, your browser keeps a short list of the days you played and what you scored — the last sixty days, and nothing else. It never leaves your device, we cannot see it, and clearing your browser data erases it.
Your photo, if you take one. “Share with your face” asks your browser for the camera so you can put your own photograph on your score card. The picture is made on your phone and handed straight to your phone’s own sharing menu. It is never sent to us, never stored on any server, and we never see it. The camera is switched off the moment you leave that screen, and if you decline access nothing else about the game changes.
Whether you've seen the latest "what's new" note. When we change how the game plays we show a short note once, and your browser remembers that you've seen it so you aren't told twice. It stores a single date and nothing else. It stays on your device, and clearing your browser data erases it.
First and last day you played. Your browser notes the day you first pressed Play and the last day you did, so the totals we see can tell the difference between a new player and a returning one. If you first arrived through one of our adverts, it also notes the advert's short campaign name (such as “faces-young”), so we can tell whether that advert brought people who keep playing. That is all — no name, no identifier, nothing that could pick you out. It stays on your device, and clearing your browser data erases it.
Whether you've asked for a reminder. If you tap through to follow PEPPIN on WhatsApp, your browser notes that you did, so we stop asking you to sign up. It stores a single day number and nothing else. It stays on your device, and clearing your browser data erases it.
Sent to us, only if you choose
Leaderboards and leagues. These are opt-in. If you join one, we store the display name you pick — it needn't be your real one — along with that day's score and how you got it: time taken, wrong guesses, letters revealed, whether you used the clue. There is also a random ID your browser generates so we can tell one player from another. It is not linked to your name, your email or your device, and it tells us nothing about who you are. Leaderboard names are one per player, so the first person to choose a name keeps it, and the board remembers which random ID it belongs to. We also note which country each score was played from, worked out from your connection, so the board can show a small flag beside your name. We keep only the country, never your IP address or anything more precise.
Daily reminders. Also opt-in. Turning one on creates an anonymous notification token in your browser so we can nudge you when a new puzzle lands. No name, no email, and you can switch it off whenever you like.
The contact form. If you write to us it sends your name, your email and your message, so that we can reply. Nothing more, and we don't add you to any list.
Counting, not tracking
Anonymous counts. We use a privacy-focused analytics tool to see roughly how many people arrive each day, how many press Play, and how many reach the end. It sets no cookies, follows nobody around, and shows us totals rather than people. That now includes how many of each day's players were new and how many came back — again as counts, worked out on your own device before anything is counted.
Spam protection. Google reCAPTCHA guards the contact form so it can't be flooded by bots, and it does set its own cookies. It loads with the page, whether or not you ever use the form.
Web hosting. Like every website, our host briefly sees technical details such as your device's IP address in order to deliver the page. That is how the internet works rather than something we collect.
Want anything removed? Leave a league or leaderboard from inside the game, or write to us through the contact form on the About page and we will sort it out.
Pull a face to match your score, and send that instead of the squares. Here's the idea:
Your photo stays on your phone. It is never uploaded to us or to anyone else.
Get your face in the frame, pull your best DOOFUS, then tap below.
Your badge now always matches your score. Here is what changed and why.
Some of you spotted it: a card reading Wordsmith above a score the Wordsmith band did not contain. Good performances that scored badly were being rescued by lifting the badge and leaving the number alone, which made the two contradict each other.
Those lifts are gone. The same achievements now pay points instead — +100 clean locks, +100 unaided anagram — so your tier is simply the band your score falls in. No exceptions anywhere.
Answer every lock first time with no hints and Genius is yours however long you take — but now you reach it on points rather than by special pleading. A flawless slow game is worth up to 200 points more than it was yesterday.
Every lock right first time, no letters revealed, no clue, no more than two shuffles — and the whole game inside 1 minute 55 seconds. Play it that cleanly at any slower pace and you have Genius; the clock alone decides whether it becomes Savant. The full 1060 needs the same game in 45 seconds or less. See Score Explained.
You can still go for the word early, but only once three locks are open. Crack it quickly from half the letters and nothing scores higher. Sit there guessing and the clock runs on regardless — it is a gamble, and it is meant to be.
Tap any empty space in the final word, then tap a letter. Spotted that it ends in -TION? Put those letters straight at the end and work backwards. Before, every letter had to go in left to right.
Re-deals your letters into a new order, for when you've stared at the same arrangement so long you can't see past it. The first two are free; after that each one costs ten points, and five is the most you can have.
You can still pause as often as you like, and the clock stops dead while you do. Three tries per lock, with near-misses forgiven. And a clean run still reaches Genius however long it takes you — the clock decides how far above that you go, never whether you get there.
Every playthrough is scored algorithmically.
One dot per lock, then a wider dot for the final anagram. The same colours appear as squares when you share your score.
Shared scorecards use the following key for simplicity:
Nothing in a shared card gives away an answer — it shows only how hard the puzzle was, never what it was.
Play is scored algorithmically, on two things: the time you take, and how much help you use — letters revealed, wrong answers, shuffles and the anagram clue.
The first four earn both bonuses and put Genius beyond doubt however long you take — that is the tier for a perfect game played at your own pace. The clock alone decides whether it becomes Savant.
And 1060, the highest score there is? The same flawless game, finished in 45 seconds or less — the whole of the free window and not a second more. Every question and a long anagram in three quarters of a minute — it is a speed record as much as a perfect game, and almost nobody will ever see it.
Every run starts at 860 points. Two bonuses are then available:
So 1060 is the highest score possible, and your results card tells you which bonuses you earned.
From that total you lose:
Your badge always matches your score. Each tier is a straight band of points, listed with its name on the main Score Explained page, with no exceptions, floors or caps anywhere. If you scored 705, you are in the band that contains 705.
Answer every lock first time with no hints and Genius is yours however long you take. Both bonuses together are worth 200 points, which carries a flawless game into Genius even at the slowest pace the clock can charge for. Speed decides how far above that you land, and where you sit on the leaderboard.
Going early is a gamble. Once three locks are open you can jump straight to the anagram and try to crack it from half your letters. But the clock runs on while you stare at it, and every second spent guessing is a second you could have spent opening the locks that would have handed you the letters.
Someone who is possibly having a bad day, struggling to concentrate for more than a few moments. Maybe get some sleep.
A hard slog. Most of the letters revealed, the clue taken, and a long time at it — but you finished, which is more than the puzzle managed.
Plenty of help needed and plenty of time taken, but the word fell in the end.
Solid. Most locks worked out for yourself, a hint here and there, and no great rush.
A good run that leaned on the help somewhere — a few revealed letters, or the clue, or a slower finish.
A strong run with a little help. You may well have taken the clue, but everything else was sharp.
A perfect game — every lock first time, no letters revealed, no clue — lands here however long you take, and that guarantee is the point of this tier. A very quick game with one small slip can reach it too.
A perfect game finished in 1 minute 55 seconds or less. Nothing else reaches it: one revealed letter, the clue, or a third shuffle and Savant is gone. Speed is the only thing separating it from Genius.
Join or start as many WhatsApp leagues as you like — with family, with friends, with your Friday Club — and every day's score you play counts on all of them.
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Three boards: today's Savants, the best scores of the last 48 hours, and everyone's all-time total.
The best scores from today and yesterday, 590 (Wordsmith) and up. Your most recent game is the one that counts.
Joining puts every score of 590 or more straight onto the boards above, and 990 or more onto Today's Savants too. No separate sign-up.
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There are three boards, from today's brightest moments to the long game.
Join once with a name and every score goes onto All-Time automatically, and onto the other two whenever it's high enough.
How a day's score is worked out
Each day starts at 860 points, with two bonuses available: +100 for clean locks (every one first time, no letters revealed) and +100 for an unaided anagram (no clue, no letters). So 1060 is the highest score possible.
From that you lose:
Give up and reveal the answer, and that day scores 0. Play daily, guess cleanly, skip the hints, and solve the anagram clue-free to climb fastest.
Your progress and letters are safe. The clock stops here too.
