Game Blog

We've all been there. You're staring at the screen, holding an item labeled "Eiffel Tower" in your virtual hand. On the scale, to the left, sits a "Blue Whale". To the right, a "Boeing 747". The category is Weight. Sweat beads on your forehead. Is a tower heavier than a plane? Surely it is. But is it heavier than a whale?

Order It! isn't just a test of knowledge; it's a test of nerve. The game mechanics are designed to induce a specific kind of panic—the fear of the "obvious" mistake.

The Anchor Effect

When the first item is placed (often auto-placed by the game), it acts as an anchor. If that item is an extreme outlier (like "The Sun" in a size category), the game starts easy. Everyone dumps items to the left. But when the anchor is a mid-range item, like "A Honda Civic" in a price category, the chaos begins immediately.

Smart players use the extremes first. If you have "A Pack of Gum" and "A Private Island" in your unplaced items, play them early! They define the boundaries of the scale, making subsequent turns easier for everyone (including yourself).

The Bluff

Sometimes, you just don't know. Did the Titanic sink in 1912 or 1914? When you place an item with confidence, dragging and dropping it swiftly, other players might assume you know something they don't. Hesitation is the enemy. In Order It!, looking confident is half the battle, even if you're just guessing.

One of the most frequent pieces of feedback we received in early testing for Image Guess was about fairness. "I typed 'Dog', but the answer was 'Pug'! Why didn't I get points?" It's a valid frustration. In a fast-paced party game, technicalities can ruin the mood.

To solve this, we introduced the Precision Bonus system. This system allows the game to accept broad answers while rewarding specific knowledge.

How it Works

Behind the scenes, every image in our database has a hierarchy of accepted terms. Let's take an image of a specific car.

• Tier 1 (Generic): "Car", "Vehicle", "Auto". Guessing these will give you the base points for the round. It keeps the game moving and ensures you aren't punished for being generally correct.
• Tier 2 (Specific): "Ferrari", "Sports Car". Guessing these might trigger a "Close!" animation or give a small point boost depending on the difficulty setting.
• Tier 3 (Exact): "Ferrari F40". Bingo! This is the Precision Bonus. You get the base points PLUS bonus points.

This mechanic changes the strategy. Do you type "Bird" immediately to secure safety points? Or do you wait that extra second for the image to clear up enough to recognize it's a "Toucan" for the win? The risk-reward balance is what makes high-level Image Guess play so exciting.