Headcount
The map shows the world at night, where every warm dot is people. Headcount gives you a population target and asks you to draw a shape that holds that many.
Opens the real game on flightq.app. Free, in a new tab.
How Headcount works
Read the target. Each round gives a number of people to catch.
Read the dots. Cities glow brightly, deserts and oceans are dark.
Draw your shape. Trace a loop around the people you want. Switch to Move to zoom and shift it.
Lock it in. See how close the real number inside is to the target.
Score examples
- 9.4 million against a 10 million target: 97.3 points
- Half the target: 69.9 points
- Double the target: 69.9 points
Think in cities
Learn a few city sizes and use them as building blocks. If you know a large metro holds around twenty million, a target of twenty five million might be that city plus its neighbours. Building from known pieces beats drawing a loop and hoping.
Common Headcount questions
What is the Headcount game?
A daily population guessing game. You get a target, such as 10 million people, and draw a loop on a map of the world at night that should hold that many.
Where does the population data come from?
From GHS-POP, a population dataset from the EC Joint Research Centre.
How close do I need to be?
Scoring follows a ratio curve. 9.4 million against a 10 million target scores 97.3, while half or double the target scores 69.9.
Can I practise?
Yes. You can keep practising after the five daily rounds.
Does it cost anything?
No. It is free with no sign up.
Headcount strategy
- Big targets are easier with a whole region, small ones with part of one city.
- Hug a coastline to leave out empty sea.
- Close counts a lot. Within a few percent scores in the high 90s.
- Overshooting and undershooting cost the same. Double the target scores 69.9, exactly like half of it.
Headcount in numbers
- Rounds
- 5 a day
- Task
- Draw a loop holding the target population
- Score
- Up to 100 a round, 500 total
- Map
- A night view of real population density
- Made by
- FlightQ
- Category
- Geography games, maps and globes
Facts checked on 2026-11-09. Headcount belongs to FlightQ. Megadle is not linked to it.