· Quick Games · Search trends
Fad or Forever: free trend curve game, spot fads and evergreens
Spike-and-vanish fad or steady evergreen? Read the curve, call it.
What is Fad or Forever?
Each topic comes with a made-up example curve of search interest over five years. Is it a fad that spikes and vanishes, or an evergreen that stays steady? Level 2 adds topics that peak every year, level 3 adds rising ones. Read the shape, call it, for 60 seconds.
Fad or Forever is a free quick game about reading trend curves. Each topic, like “a viral dance” or “how to boil an egg”, comes with an example curve of search interest over five years. Call it: a fad that spikes once and vanishes, or a steady evergreen that people look up forever.
Level 2 adds topics that peak every year, like sunscreen and Halloween costumes, and level 3 adds rising topics that keep climbing, with noisier lines. Every curve is made up and labelled “example curve”: the game teaches the shapes, not real numbers. Screen readers get the quarterly values of each curve.
At a glance
- Category
- Quick Games
- Difficulty
- Easy
- Play time
- 1 min
- Price
- Free, in your browser, sign-up optional
How to play
- Read the curve
- Each topic shows a made-up example curve of interest over five years.
- Call it
- Fad (one spike, then gone) or Forever (steady). Level 2 adds Every year, level 3 Rising. Tap or press 1 to 4.
- Time
- You have 60 seconds. Level 2 starts after 5 right answers, level 3 after 12. A wrong answer costs 2 seconds and resets your streak.
- Score
- Each right answer scores 10, 15 or 20 points by level plus up to 5 for speed, multiplied by your streak: ×2 after 4 right in a row, ×3 after 8, ×4 after 12.
Scoring
Each right answer scores 10 points at level 1, 15 at level 2 and 20 at level 3, plus up to 5 for answering within 4 seconds, multiplied by your streak: ×2 after 4 right in a row, ×3 after 8, ×4 after 12. Level 2 (adds Every year) starts after 5 right answers, level 3 (adds Rising) after 12.
The run lasts 60 seconds. A wrong answer costs 2 seconds, resets your streak and explains the shape. Every curve is a made-up example. Your best score is kept in this browser.
What it trains
- Reading trend charts
- Telling a one-off spike from steady, yearly or growing interest at a glance.
- Signal and noise
- Seeing the overall shape behind small ups and downs.
- Healthy scepticism
- Not mistaking a viral moment for a lasting change.
Strategy and tips
- Look at the ends
- A fad starts and ends near zero. An evergreen never gets close to zero.
- Count the peaks
- One peak is a fad; a peak in the same month every year is seasonal.
- Check the direction
- A rising trend ends much higher than it starts, with no single spike.
- Ignore the wobble
- Small ups and downs are noise. Read the overall shape.
- Use the topic
- A viral dance is rarely forever; “how to cook rice” rarely fades.
Why play Fad or Forever?
Trend charts are everywhere: in news, marketing and planning. Telling a spike from a lasting change, or a seasonal bump from real growth, is one of the most useful chart-reading skills there is, and it takes seconds once you know the shapes.
Frequently asked questions
Is Fad or Forever free?
Yes. It is free and runs in your browser, with no download. Signing up is optional.
Are the curves real data?
No. Every curve is a made-up example labelled “example curve”, drawn to show a typical shape.
What's an evergreen?
A topic people look up steadily all year, every year, like how to boil an egg.
Can I play with a screen reader?
Yes. Each curve has a text alternative with its average for every quarter, and the answers work with keys 1 to 4.