How Plain scoring works

The public formula is points = round(100 × e^(−2 × d)), where d = |ln(answer ÷ target)|. A perfect answer scores 100 before any Dialed bonus. Because the distance is a logarithm of the ratio, 2× and 0.5× are the same distance. That is the mistake I see people make first: a guess that is “only 3,000 too high” on a 6,200 target is not the same kind of miss as 3,000 too high on a target of 40.

Tiers on the official page

Dialed is within 1 percent (98–100, plus 25). Close is up to 10 percent over or 9 percent under (83–97). Warm is up to 35 percent over or 26 percent under (55–82). Cold is within double or half (25–54). Miss is everything wider (0–24). A third-party scoring page repeats the same formula and adds that the Dialed window runs from target ÷ 1.01 to target × 1.01, which is not a symmetric percent. I keep that note as a second reading, not as a replacement.

A different site uses different bands

playplain.org’s how-to-play page describes Warm at 30 percent and Cold at 60 percent, and a per-question ceiling of 1,000 m. The playplain.app page uses Warm at 35 percent and Cold at double, and 1 point = 10 m. I list both. I do not average them. playplain.org also describes itself as made by the creators of Plain. The official site does not say that, so I leave the claim as theirs alone.

Height and the Golden Round

A day tops out at 1,000 points: six ordinary Dialed rounds at 125 and one doubled Dialed round at 250. The published time penalty is at most 108 m per round, equivalent to 10.8 points of altitude. The rules explicitly double points and the Dialed bonus on the Golden Round; they do not say that sinking also doubles. Zero and negative answers are not described on the official page. A third-party page says a zero against a positive target scores 0. That is one source, so I do not treat it as the rule.

There is no calculator on this page. The bands and the mountain table are enough to check a guess by hand. More of the daily rhythm is on how to play. See estimation tips for ways to apply the formula, and the FAQ for reset and streak rules.

Worked examples: one target, seven guesses

These are arithmetic examples using a hypothetical target of 100. Base points are calculated from the published formula; the final column adds the published Dialed bonus where applicable. They exclude time loss and Golden Round doubling.

The paired answers 200 and 50 show why double and half match: both ratios give a logarithmic distance of about 0.693. Their base score is round(100 × exp(−2 × 0.693)), or 25. By contrast, being ten times the target gives 1 base point under this formula, rather than automatically rounding to zero.