How to play Downstream

Downstream is a free daily geography puzzle about where rain goes. Water runs downhill along rivers until it meets the sea, and mountains, valleys and huge river basins mean that's often not the nearest one: rain in the Andes can fall a short way from the Pacific and still travel thousands of kilometres to the Atlantic.

1. 1

   Watch the rain land. A raindrop falls on a pin somewhere on the map, and four seas or oceans are labelled around it. One of them is where this water ends up.

2. 2

   Pick a sea and lock it in. Tap a sea to pick it, then Lock in. Not sure yet? Let it flow: the water runs a stretch further downhill and stops, up to three times, before it reaches the coast.

3. 3

   Call it early for more points. Locking in the right sea before the water moves earns 4 points, then 3, 2 and 1 after each stop. A wrong guess earns nothing, and either way you see the water's whole journey to the sea.

4. 4

   Share your squares. Five drops a day. Afterwards, share your row of squares (green, blue, yellow, orange for 4 to 1 points, red for a miss) to compare with friends. It never gives away the answers.

Rivers: HydroRIVERS (HydroSHEDS). Seas: IHO Sea Areas (Marine Regions). Map: OpenFreeMap, OpenMapTiles, OpenStreetMap. Full credits