What is Beat Darwin?
Beat Darwin is a daily wildlife identification game built around a deliberate constraint: one photograph and nine species names, all from the same taxonomic family. A snake puzzle is not snake versus lizard but nine colubrids, and you choose between a Baird's Ratsnake, a Cope's Vine Snake and a Jan's Cliff Racer based on a single field photo. Charles Darwin appears as an animated portrait who taunts you after each wrong answer. Each puzzle is numbered and resets at midnight UTC.
How to play Beat Darwin
Examine the iNaturalist field observation rather than a studio photograph. The habitat in the frame is often the most useful clue. Choose one of the nine species; you have four attempts per puzzle. Review the feedback after every guess, including wrong ones.
Every incorrect choice returns the scientific name, a Wikipedia summary and a behavioral fact about the species you picked. A four-guess loss still delivers four species worth of information. The same-family constraint transforms the game from random guessing into a real identification problem that teaches transferable pattern recognition. The game is free, requires no account, and stores your streak locally. Developer Jonathan Clegg states that the species pages with IUCN conservation status are the point, not the puzzle. The Darwin character keeps it from feeling like homework.
Reading the feedback
A wrong guess prints the species you selected underneath with its scientific name and an encyclopedia-style summary. Guessing Striped Swampsnake earns you a paragraph on Liodytes alleni and its diet of crayfish. Darwin delivers rotating taunts such as "Adding you to my research on failures" or "Maybe stick to house pets?" Losing all four attempts triggers "Darwin Wins!" followed by the correct answer and a shareable row of red squares.
Modes
Today's animal
The only real mode. One species, four attempts, reset at midnight UTC. The game notes it is one challenge per day per browser.
Past Animals and Browse All Species
Two footer links into the back catalogue. They serve as reference pages rather than replayable puzzles, but every species has its own page with full taxonomy and IUCN conservation status.
Tips for stronger guesses
Read the habitat before the names. Field photos include leaf litter, sand, bark or water that eliminate several of the nine options faster than any hint will.
Burn a guess early if the family is unfamiliar. The second hint is the genus, which on a nine-option grid of near-relatives often collapses the answer to one or two candidates outright.
The hints describe the mystery animal, not your guess. A line like "Rarely spotted, only 253 recorded observations" tells you today's species is obscure, which is a reason to distrust the most familiar-sounding name on the grid.
Popular questions
How many guesses do I get and when does the puzzle reset?
Each puzzle is one species with four attempts. The daily challenge resets at midnight UTC and the game notes it is one challenge per day per browser.
What are the "Past Animals" and "Browse All Species" links?
Those footer links lead to the back catalogue and species reference pages rather than replayable puzzles. Every species page includes full taxonomy and IUCN conservation status.
What happens when I make a wrong guess?
A wrong guess shows the species you picked with its scientific name and an encyclopedia-style summary. The game also displays a taunt from the Darwin character. If you lose all four attempts the verdict is "Darwin Wins!", followed by the correct answer and a shareable row of red squares.
Do I need an account and how is progress recorded?
The game is free and needs no account. It keeps your streak in the browser, local to that browser.