About

Play. Learn. Evolve.

LowKey Games is a free collection of quick biology and chess games from CRV Science. No downloads, no ads and no sign-up: open a game on any phone, tablet or computer and start playing.

The games

A Daily Challenge features a different biology game every day, the same puzzle for every player.

Built on real science

The biology games use 543 real species across 18 broad groups of the Tree of Life. Every species carries its real scientific name (Genus species), and every answer reflects current research on how living things are related: players learn which groups are each other's closest relatives, not just which ones look alike.

Puzzles are checked before they reach you. Chess positions and move ratings were analysed with the Stockfish chess engine, every FoldLab level's best fold was proven by a computer that tried every possible shape, and the cladograms show where scientists still disagree.

Species photos are openly licensed and credited to their photographers. A handful of species have no usable photo of a living animal; their pictures are clearly labelled as specimen photos, scientific illustrations or AI generated images, and we replace them as better photos become available.

Free, ad-free and light on data

There are no ads and no purchases. Instead of an account, each player gets a random Player ID and a secret Recovery Code, so scores and badges follow you between devices without a name or email address. Read the privacy policy for the details.

Who makes LowKey Games

LowKey Games is made by CRV Science (Corvallis Science), an independent science communication, education and design initiative founded in 2022 in Corvallis, Oregon, by biologist Bryan White. Through biology-themed art and apparel, an open knowledge wiki, science news and browser games, CRV Science works to make rigorous science engaging and accessible.

Get in touch

Have an idea for a game, spotted a bug, or found a species we got wrong? Contact us. Journalists can find announcements on the Press page.