How to play Slice

Slice is a free daily geography puzzle about where people really live. It looks like a test of shapes, but most countries' populations crowd into a small part of their land, so the obvious cut is often far off.

Every day you get four real countries, each with a goal like “Cut off half of Germany's land” or “Cut off a third of Japan's population”. You get one straight line to do it, and a second try if you want it.

1
Read the goal. The label above it says what you're cutting. A Land round is about size: half the land is half the shape. A Population round is about where the population lives: it crowds into cities, coasts and river valleys, so the line that splits the shape in half rarely splits the population in half.
2
Draw your line. Drag across the country, from one side to the other. Drag either end to adjust the angle and position, then press Cut. Only one of the two pieces needs to match the goal: whichever is closer counts.
3
See how close you got. The country splits along your line and the population rises in columns, so you can see where everyone actually lives. Each cut scores out of 100: you lose 10 for every percentage point you're off. Aiming for 33.3% and cutting off 31%, for example, is 2.3 points off, so 77. Not happy? Cut again once: your better cut counts. When you're done, Show perfect cut reveals the ideal line at your angle.
4
Share your score. After four rounds you have a score out of 400. Share it, with each round's score, to compare with friends. It never gives away the answers.

Population: GHSL GHS-POP 2025 (European Commission, JRC), CC BY 4.0. Borders: Natural Earth. Full credits