Needle in a HaystackHow to Play Needle in a Haystack
Everything you need to know in two minutes. Ready already? Play now
The goal
Somewhere in the haystack is one steel needle. Find it and click it. Your time is how long that takes, plus any hint penalties.
Controls
Mouse (PC, Mac, Chromebook)
- Drag with the left button to move across the haystack.
- Scroll the wheel to zoom in and out toward your cursor. Trackpad pinch works too.
- Double-click to zoom in 2× on a spot.
- Click the needle to grab it.
Touch (phone, tablet)
- One finger drags the haystack.
- Two fingers pinch to zoom.
- Tap the needle to grab it.
Keyboard
Click the haystack once to focus it, then use the ← ↑ → ↓ arrow keys to move and + / − to zoom.
Buttons
On the right side: + zoom in, − zoom out, ⤢ show the whole haystack, ⛶ fullscreen. Along the top you will see your mode, timer, straw count and zoom level.
Why you have to zoom in to grab it
When the whole haystack fits on your screen, each pixel covers dozens of straws and the needle is far thinner than a pixel. If you click right on it from that distance, the game tells you something shiny is there but you need to get closer. Zoom in until you can clearly see individual straws, then grab.
Modes
- Daily Haystack — one shared puzzle per day, 1,000,000 straws, streaks.
- Easy / Normal / Insane — a random new haystack each time with 100K, 1M or 5M straws.
- Timed — 100K straws and a two-minute countdown. Run out and the game shows you where it was.
Hints
The Hint button unlocks 30 seconds into a round. Pressing it adds 30 seconds to your time, flies the camera over to a dashed red circle, and zooms so the whole circle fills your screen. The needle is somewhere inside — never right in the middle — and the circle stays until you find it.
Hints recharge after 45 seconds. Each extra hint draws a new circle half the size of the last one, so a second or third hint narrows the search a lot more.
Next: learn the search pattern fast players use on the tips page.
FAQ
What does the needle look like?
A thin, straight, silver-grey line, slightly longer than an average straw, with a tiny dark eye at one end. Straws are yellow and gold, so the needle is the only grey thing in the stack.
Does the hint give away the exact spot?
No. It flies the camera to a dashed red circle that contains the needle — but the needle is never at the centre. The circle stays on screen until you find it, and each extra hint halves its size.
What happens when I click the wrong place?
Nothing bad — you just get a small 'just hay' message. There is no penalty for wrong clicks.