How to play Lineup — free online ranking and ordering game
Five things, one scale. Rank them — closest order wins.
- Players
- 1–4 (solo too)
- Length
- ~6 min
- Type
- Order
- Price
- Free
Lineup gives you five things and a scale — lightest to heaviest, oldest to newest, cheapest to priciest — and asks you to put them in order.
It scores by pairs rather than by the whole sequence, so getting the middle muddled doesn't wipe out the fact that you knew the two ends. That partial credit is what keeps it playable when the topic is one you only half know.
Free, no app and no sign-up to join — players hop in with a 4-letter code on their own phone.
How to play Lineup
The host picks the round count
Eight rounds is the default at about 30 seconds each.
Five items and a scale appear
The scale's two ends are labelled, and the five items arrive scrambled.
Drag them into order
Rearrange as much as you like until the clock stops.
Every correct pair scores
Your order is compared pair by pair against the true order, so a near-miss still banks real points.
The true order is revealed
The reveal lines up the right answer against yours.
What Lineup looks like
How scoring works
You score for every pair you placed in the correct relative order. With five items there are ten such pairs, so scores are granular rather than all-or-nothing.
That means a sequence that's right except for one swapped adjacent pair scores very nearly full marks — which is the intent.
Points accumulate and the highest total wins.
Tips for winning Lineup
- Place the extremes first. You're usually confident about the biggest and smallest, and that alone locks in several pairs.
- Don't agonise over the middle. The middle items contribute the fewest pairs, so time spent there has the worst return.
- Sanity-check the direction of the scale before you finish. Ordering it perfectly backwards is the single most expensive mistake available.
- Commit even when unsure — an unordered list scores nothing, and a guessed order usually gets several pairs right by chance.
Frequently asked questions
How many players do you need for Lineup?
One to four. It's self-scored so it plays solo.
Do I have to get the whole order right?
No. Scoring is per pair, so partial knowledge banks partial points.
How long is a game?
About 6 minutes at the default eight rounds.
Is it free?
Yes, free to play and free to host, with no account needed to join.
Free, no app and no sign-up to join — players hop in with a 4-letter code on their own phone.