Bearing
Dig for treasure — each try only tells you which way to go.👆
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Play to set a score, then submit it to the board.
About Bearing
Bearing is a treasure hunt with a stingy metal detector: every dig answers with a compass direction toward the hidden cell and never a hint of distance. The clever part is how much that one word encodes. Each answer is two separate facts, one about columns and one about rows, so a northeast reading rules out every column at or west of your dig and every row at or south of it in a single stroke, and the board dims everything that is no longer possible. A plain N or E is sharper still on one axis, pinning the treasure to exactly your column or your row. That makes the game a two-dimensional binary search, and the scoring is built around it: par is the number of digs a perfect halving strategy needs — five on the Normal 9×9 field — and a find earns a win bonus, a par bonus, and 100 extra points for every shovel still unused. Easy is a 7×7 field with eight shovels; Hard stretches to 13×13 on the same nine shovels as Normal, so a lazy edge dig can sink you. Newcomers chase the arrow; seasoned diggers aim for the middle of whatever rectangle is left. A shared Daily board keeps a streak going.
How to play
- A treasure is hidden somewhere on the grid, but you cannot see it directly.
- Dig any cell (click, tap, or arrow keys + Enter) and you get a compass direction pointing toward the treasure — N, S, E, W, or a diagonal.
- A direction only tells you which way to go, never how far — each dig rules out a whole region of the grid, not just one cell.
- Keep digging closer using the directions you have gathered. Find the treasure before you run out of shovels to win.
Strategy & tips
- Treat every dig as ruling out a whole half (or quarter) of the grid, not just missing on one cell — the dimmed region shows exactly what is left.
- A diagonal direction (like northeast) is more informative than a pure cardinal one, since it narrows two axes down at once.
- Dig near the center of your remaining region rather than the edges — a central dig splits the remaining area more evenly.
- Harder difficulties use a bigger grid with a tighter shovel budget, so plan each dig to cut the search area as much as possible.
FAQ
How do you play Bearing?
Dig a cell (click, tap, or arrow keys + Enter) and you get a compass direction toward the hidden treasure. Use each direction to narrow down where it could be, then dig again.
Why doesn’t the game tell me how far away the treasure is?
That is the whole puzzle — you only ever get a direction, never a distance, so you have to triangulate the exact cell using multiple digs.
Can I play a fresh puzzle every day?
Yes — Daily mode gives everyone the same seeded board each day, with a streak counter for playing on consecutive days. Practice mode gives you a fresh random board at any difficulty.