Exactly Half

Hold to pour, let go at exactly half a glass. By volume, not height: a cone is only half full near its rim. No lines, no markings, three mugs.

Exactly Half is a one-button timing game about pouring half a glass. Hold to open the tap on the Fizz Tank and let go to close it. One pour per glass, and letting go is final. There is no line and no marking on the glass, and half means half the glass's VOLUME, not half its height. That is easy in a straight tumbler and a trap almost everywhere else: The Funnel, a cone, holds less than a fifth of its volume when it is filled to half its height, so its true half sits near the rim, while a round Bulb is half full about a third of the way up. The tap also keeps dripping after you let go, a little longer for squat glasses than for tall ones, so the trick is to let go a beat early. After each pour the reveal shows the half-height line, then sweeps a dotted TRUE HALF line to where half really is, draws the gold band of what counts as a half, and marks your level with the exact percentage. A pour inside the band is a HALF!, within 0.5% it is EXACTLY HALF! and mends a cracked mug, a miss or an overflow cracks one, and when your last mug cracks, the run is over. The band starts at ±6% and tightens with every glass down to ±1.5%. Eight glass families (Tumbler, The Funnel, Bucket, Tulip, Bulb, Hourglass, Goblet and Skull Mug) come in seeded proportions with hidden pour speeds. Every fifth glass has a twist, and from glass 30 on every glass has one: Fast Tap doubles the flow and the drip, Wobbly Tray slides the glass under the spigot, Dark Pour frosts the glass so only a soft glow shows the level, and Leftovers starts the glass part full. Everyone pours the same glasses on the same day (UTC), so a score is a fair challenge. The end screen shows your halves, your best, every glass you poured, the glass that got you and one coaching tip from your misses. Free Pour is unscored practice with a fixed ±3% band. On Goblin Arcade your daily bests save automatically.

By Goblin Originals

How to play

Hold anywhere to pour, let go to stop / hold Space, Enter or ↓ · Esc pauses

Press and hold anywhere on the counter (or hold Space, Enter or the down arrow) to open the tap. Let go to close it. Each glass gets one pour, and letting go is final.

Stop at half the glass by VOLUME. There is no line on the glass, and half the height is rarely half the volume: wide-topped glasses fill slowly at the bottom, round-bottomed ones fill quickly.

The tap keeps dripping after you let go. The drip drops on the glass card show how long it drips (short, medium or long), so let go a beat early.

Land inside the gold band for a HALF!, or within 0.5% for EXACTLY HALF!, which mends a cracked mug. A miss or an overflow cracks a mug, and when your last mug cracks, the run is over. Your score is the number of halves you poured.

Tips

The Funnel is a cone, and a cone is only half full at about 79% of its height. Filled to half its height, it holds just 12.5%.

A Bulb is the opposite trap: its round belly is half full about a third of the way up. The Hourglass is symmetric, so there half the height really is half the volume.

The drip always adds the same amount for a given glass and pour speed, so the right moment to let go is a beat before the level looks right, and that beat is the same on every glass of a family.

Every glass pours at its own hidden speed, so counting seconds will not help. Watch the level rise instead.

The gold band shrinks by 0.4% every glass, from ±6% down to ±1.5% by glass 13. Dark Pour glasses get 1% more.

Is Exactly Half free to play online?

Yes. It is an original browser game that runs in the page with no download, account or app.

Can I play on a phone?

Yes. Press and hold anywhere on the counter to pour, and lift your finger to stop. A long hold never opens a menu, and extra fingers are ignored. Portrait and landscape both work.

Why is half the height not half full?

Because a glass's volume depends on how wide it is at each height. A cone is narrow at the bottom and wide at the top, so most of its volume is near the rim and its true half sits at about 79% of the height. The game shows you exactly where half was after every pour.

Is it the same game for everyone?

Yes. Each UTC day has its own sequence of glasses, shapes, pour speeds and twists, and everyone pours the same ones, so a score is a fair challenge for that day. Pour again replays the same glasses.

Can I play if I am colorblind?

Yes. The reveal marks differ by pattern as well as color: your level is a solid white line, the true half is dotted, half height is dashed, and the gold band is hatched. Every verdict is an icon plus a word, and every number is written out.

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