How to play Password panic

Every round shows a truly cursed password hint, the kind people actually leave for themselves, like my cat plus my birth year. Four candidate passwords appear below it and a ten second timer starts draining. Only one candidate matches the hint exactly, down to every capital letter and digit. Tap it before the timer empties. Every fourth round flips the rules: instead of matching a hint you pick the strongest password of the four, and a correct pick pays double. Wrong picks and timeouts cost one of your three lives, and the rounds keep getting shorter.

Tips

• Read hints literally, capitals and word order are part of the answer
• The decoys are one character off on purpose, so scan carefully
• In bonus rounds, length and randomness beat symbols every time
• Fast answers earn a time bonus, so trust your first read

About Password panic

Password panic is a reflex game built on a sad truth: most password hints give the whole password away. Each round hands you a hint someone really should not have written down, and challenges you to crack it in ten seconds flat. The decoys are almost identical to the real answer, so the game is equal parts speed reading and pedantry. Every fourth round is a strength check where you pick the password that would actually survive an attack, which sneaks a little security lesson into the panic. The short explanations after each round tell you why the answer holds up or falls apart. It is fast, silly and weirdly educational. Free in the browser, no login, no actual accounts were harmed.

More action games

• Math sprint: Solve as many math problems as you can in 30 seconds.
• Snake: The classic, played straight: eat berries, grab timed apples, dodge bombs and don't bite your tail.
• Aim trainer: Click as many targets as you can in 30 seconds.
• Reaction time: How fast can you click when the screen turns green?
• Mole mash: Bonk the moles before they pop back into their holes.
• Stroop test: Read the colour, ignore the word. Brain twister in 30 seconds.

Browse the full arcade →