Tap the game to open it fullscreen. On a computer, Esc exits; on a phone, use the ✕ button.

How to play

Words fall down the screen. Tap only those that start with the letter shown at the top: three hits complete a verse, and there are six verses. Each mistake costs four seconds of candle. If it goes out before the sixth verse, the night is over.

The story behind it

In Egil’s Saga, the poet composes the “Höfuðlausn” in one night to escape death before King Eirík. The real poem does not appear in the game. Alliteration, repeating initial sounds, is a true feature of skaldic poetry; the game mechanic is made up. Read the story in Egil Skallagrímsson and the poem that, according to the saga, saved his head.