How to play Meridish

The basics

Every day there's a new seven-course tasting menu: aperitif, street food, starter, soup, rice & noodles, main and dessert.
Everyone gets the same menu on the same day, so scores compare directly.
For each dish, tap the map where it was born: the town or city it comes from, not just the country.
A new menu arrives every day at midnight UTC. That's midnight UTC where you are.

Read the clue and look at the photo. Clues hint at the place but never name it.
Zoom with a pinch, a double-tap, your scroll wheel or the + and − buttons, then tap or click the spot you think is right.
Know the place but not where it is on the map? Use the magnifying glass, Find a place, to type a city, town or country.
A card names the place you tapped, such as "Near Wellington, New Zealand", so you always know where your guess is. Tap somewhere else to move it.
When you're happy, tap Serve it. A served course can't be changed.
Tap Aa to show or hide place names, and the round button to see the whole world again.

With a keyboard: press Tab to reach the map. The arrow keys move it (hold Shift for bigger steps), + and − zoom, 0 shows the whole world, and Enter or the space bar places your guess at the crosshair in the middle. Then Tab to Serve it.
With a screen reader: each course reads out its dish, clue and a description of the photo. Use Find a place to type your guess. Your guess, each result and the bill are read out as they happen. On the map, the place under the crosshair is read out as you move it.
Bigger text: zoom your browser up to 400%. The game rearranges itself and the page scrolls.
Less motion: if your device is set to reduce motion, the map and cards stop animating.
Light or dark: the moon button switches to the dark look, and Meridish remembers it.
There's no clock: take as long as you like over every course.

Each course is worth up to 100 points, so a perfect menu is 700.
Land within 25 km of the hometown for all 100 points.
Beyond that, points fall with distance: quickly at first, then gently, so a guess on the wrong continent still earns a few.
15,000 km or more scores 0. That's roughly the other side of the world.

Points for a guess, by distance from the dish's hometown.

Distance from the hometown	Points

Every served course gets a verdict. The same emoji appear on your bill and in the results you share, one per course, in order.

Emoji	Verdict	Points	Distance

After each course, you see how your guess stacks up: "Closer than 72% of players", and how far away everyone else's guesses landed on average.
The map then shows everyone else's guesses as small dots around the hometown, so you can see where the world thought the dish came from. They only appear once you've served the course, so they never give an answer away.
On the bill, you see the share of today's players you beat and your place among everyone who has finished so far. Early in the day, percentages wait until a few other players have served.
Today's results has the country league: today's average score for every country with at least three finished menus.

After dessert, you get the bill: your total out of 700, a rating, and every dish with your points.
Ratings run from Burnt toast (under 200) through A neighbourhood bistro (200+), A one-star kitchen (350+) and A two-star kitchen (500+) to A three-star kitchen (630+).
Tap a dish on the bill to fly to it on the map and see your guess beside its hometown.
Share your result as text or as an image card. Shared results show your verdicts and the share of players you beat, never the answers.

Your streak counts the days in a row you've finished the menu. Miss a day and it starts again.
Your stats track menus played, your best score and your average. They're on the bill and on Today's results.
Your progress belongs to this browser or this app. Clearing your browser data or reinstalling the app starts you fresh.

Practice serves a random menu whenever you like. It doesn't count toward your stats or streak, and practice guesses never leave your device.

Each dish is pinned to the town or city most widely credited with creating it.
When two places claim a dish, it's pinned at the more common claim, and the clue mentions the rival where there's room.
Dish photos come from photographers on Unsplash and Wikimedia Commons and are credited under each photo in the game.

Think a hometown is wrong? Tell us at hello@meridish.com, ideally with a source. Bug reports and dish ideas are welcome too.