How to play Higher or Lower: World Stats
Higher or Lower is a quick guessing game about the size of things. The card on the left shows a country, city, mountain or other item together with its number. The card on the right shows another item from the same category with its number hidden. Decide whether the hidden number is higher or lower. Get it right and the number counts up, the right card slides over to the left, and a new card appears. Keep going as long as you can. One wrong answer ends the run.
How to play, step by step
- Press Play. The game starts in Mixed, which switches topics every few rounds. To play one topic, open Options and pick a category.
- Read the left card. It shows the value, the unit, and where the number comes from.
- Guess the right card. Tap Higher or Lower, or press the Up arrow or H for higher and the Down arrow or L for lower. For inventions the buttons say Newer and Older.
- Build your streak. Closer pairs are worth more points, from 100 up to 500. After each answer a short fact shows how the two compare. The game saves your best streak for each category.
The game is meant to stay challenging. Early pairs are far apart, so a giant like Russia might face a small country like Belgium. As your streak grows the values get closer. After about 15 correct answers, most pairs are within about 20% of each other, so you really have to know your facts.
The categories
- Country population and country area for 75 countries.
- City population for 45 world cities, counted inside official city limits (city proper), not the whole metro area.
- Mountain heights above sea level, from Mount Everest to Table Mountain.
- River lengths for 38 rivers on six continents.
- Animal lifespans and animal top speeds, from the mayfly and the garden snail to the bowhead whale and the peregrine falcon.
- Building heights, from the Burj Khalifa to the Leaning Tower of Pisa.
- Year invented, from the wheel to the iPhone. Here you guess newer or older.
Where the numbers come from
Every card names its source and links to it. Populations are World Bank figures for 2024. Areas come from the CIA World Factbook and include lakes and rivers. City numbers come from national census offices such as the US Census Bureau. Building heights use the CTBUH rule that spires count but antennas do not. Mountains, rivers, animals and inventions follow Encyclopaedia Britannica. Numbers are rounded, and “about” marks an estimate.
Some facts are not settled. Scientists still argue about whether the Nile or the Amazon is longer, and an animal's speed or lifespan varies a lot. So the game never puts two items side by side when their values are close enough that the sources might disagree.
Questions
Where do the numbers come from?
Country populations come from the World Bank, which uses the UN World Population Prospects. Country areas come from the CIA World Factbook. City populations come from each country's latest census or official count. Building heights follow the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH), and mountains, rivers, animals and inventions follow Encyclopaedia Britannica. Each card names its source.
Why does it get harder?
The first few pairs are far apart, like a huge country next to a tiny one. As your streak grows the game picks pairs that are closer together, and after about 15 correct answers most pairs are within about 20% of each other.
Can two cards ever be a tie?
No. The game never shows two items with the same value, and it keeps pairs apart by at least the amount the sources could be off, so every question has one right answer.
Why is my city smaller than I thought?
City population means city proper: only the people inside the official city limits. The wider metro area around a big city often has two or three times as many people.
Is my best streak saved?
Yes, in this browser on this device, with a separate best for each category and for Mixed. Nothing is uploaded and there is no account.