TYPE 01
The Space Thief
Too close for comfort. Restore breathing room.
A GAME OF OPTICAL JUDGMENT
Every space has a suspect.
LOOK CLOSELY. THINK OPTICALLY.
A letter-spacing mystery for a sharper eye. Inspect the gaps, name your suspects, and restore the rhythm.
YOUR MISSIONInspect any pair. Mark only the suspicious gaps. Then adjust and submit. Some cases have no crime.
UNSOLVED
EVIDENCE A / TYPE SPECIMEN
1INSPECT2RESTORE3VERDICT
00:00OPTICAL AUTOPSY / CASE REPORT
Designed practice targets, not expert-certified answers. Kerning is contextual; a ±3-unit tolerance is accepted.
YOUR DETECTIVE RECORD
Saved on this browser. No account required.
0CASES CLOSED
—BEST SCORE
0DAY STREAK
01 / THE CASE FILES
An eye for the unusual.
30 practice cases · 6 crime types · one sharp eye.
Know your suspects.
TYPE 02
The Great Separation
A gap breaks the rhythm of the word.
TYPE 03
The Diagonal Deception
Judge the triangular space between diagonals.
TYPE 04
The Curve Conspiracy
Round edges change the space you perceive.
TYPE 05
The Domino Incident
Several gaps need a coordinated correction.
TYPE 06
The False Suspect
Sometimes the right decision is to change nothing.
03 / CREATE A CRIMELeave a little
Leave a little
space for mischief.
Choose a word. Disturb one gap. Send the case to a friend. Your untouched word becomes the reference; community cases are not expert reviewed.
No uploads or public gallery. The case is encoded in the link.
04 / TYPOGRAPHY ACADEMY
The space is part of the letter.
What is kerning?
Kerning adjusts the space between a particular pair of letters. A comfortable word has a balanced visual rhythm: the shapes of the white spaces matter as much as the measured distances. This kerning game trains observation before correction. First look at the whole word, then inspect a pair that interrupts its rhythm.
Kerning vs. tracking
Tracking changes spacing across a whole selection of text. Kerning fixes a local relationship such as A/V or T/o. Use tracking for the overall density of a heading, then kerning for troublesome pairs. Applying the same numeric gap to every pair does not guarantee that a word will look evenly spaced.
Why do AV and WA feel different?
Diagonal strokes leave triangular pockets of negative space. Two letters can have close bounding boxes but still appear far apart. Round letters have a different silhouette again. Compare the visible contours and the word’s rhythm instead of treating rectangular letter boxes as the final judge.
A practical logo-spacing check
Start with the font’s built-in kerning, view the word at its intended size, and check the gaps in groups of three letters. Revisit the whole word after each local change. Test small and large versions; a balanced display logo may need a different spacing treatment at a tiny size. Optical judgment depends on typeface, scale, and purpose.
Continue learning: MDN · font-kerning ↗
05 / FIELD GUIDE
Questions from the lab.
How do I play the kerning game?
Inspect pairs freely, and use Mark suspect only for gaps you believe are wrong. Select a pair in the word or the pair buttons. Drag a selected letter horizontally, use the slider, press − / +, or use the left and right arrow keys on a focused pair button. Submit once you are satisfied. If every gap is already balanced, choose No crime.
How is the score calculated?
Finding disturbed pairs earns up to 40 points. Restoring all gaps earns up to 50, with a ±3-unit tolerance. Solving without the ghost reference adds 10. Timing is separate. Scores compare your work with designed targets, not a universal typographic truth.
Are these Hangul spacing exercises?
The interface and lessons are available in English and Korean. The current case library uses Latin letter pairs. Spacing between Hangul syllable blocks involves different principles and is not scored as Latin kerning here.
Privacy, records, and advertising
Game scores, solved-case IDs, and daily streaks stay in local storage in this browser. There is no game account or global leaderboard. Clear site data in your browser to remove records. Shared links contain only the custom word and gap settings. Blogger and Google advertising services may process cookies or identifiers under their own policies.
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