How to play TuneGuesser

1. Press play and listen

The first recording of the first country starts when you tap Play. It is a 15 second cut from a real field recording or an old record, loudness matched so quiet archives and loud bands sound alike. Replay as often as you want; replaying never costs points.

2. Type a country

Start typing and a short list of matching countries appears over the page. Enter or a tap on a name sends the guess at once. If you would rather look at a map, tap the dotted word country in the question: a zoomable world map with every country name opens, and a tap on a country offers it as your guess.

3. Read the closeness list

A wrong guess is not the end. It drops into a list under the input with the distance in kilometres from your guess to the answer, an arrow pointing toward the answer and a closeness score from 0 (the other side of the planet) to 100 (next door). The list sorts closest first, like Semantle does with words. Each wrong guess costs 10 points.

Distances are measured between the centres of the two countries, so a guess of France for Belgium reads as a few hundred kilometres, not zero.

4. Unlock a second or third song

Every country in the game has three recordings. If the first one is a lone flute and you have no idea, press Next song from this country: a different recording from the same country plays, for 15 points. After the third song the button turns into Give up, which reveals the answer and scores 0 for that country.

5. Take a hint when you are stuck

Hints are optional and appear only when you press Show a hint. They come in a fixed order and cost 10 points each: the region of the world, whether the country is landlocked or has a coastline and how many neighbours it has, its size compared with a country you know, and the first letter of its capital. Hints never contain the country name or its flag.

6. Score, compare, share

Each country is worth 100 points minus your costs, so three countries make 300 at most. After the third country you see your total, how it compares with everyone who finished the same day, and a share text with your points and an emoji per country, never the country names, so friends can play the same set without spoilers.

What to avoid

• Guessing a region, not a country. Only sovereign countries are in the list, so type Bosnia, not the Balkans.
• Skipping the second song. Fifteen points is cheaper than three wrong guesses.
• Playing with the sound off. The game is the sound.