Needle in a Haystack Game

A haystack game you can play in your browser

In Find the Needle, the haystack is the whole game. You clear it pile by pile for coins and spend them on farmhands and machines that dig for you. A needle is hidden in the big haystack at the bottom of each layer, and finding it is the goal.

You can play it on this page for free. Press Play at the top of the home page. It works on phones and computers and needs nothing installed.

What you do in this needle in a haystack game

Early on, you do everything by hand. You tap or click to dig, and every pile you clear pays coins. The first purchases are small. Later, helpers and machines take over more of the digging, and your time goes into choosing what to buy next.

Digging fast also builds up Hay Fever, a bonus you can use while you keep tapping.

Why digging by hand takes a long time

A needle in a haystack is a very small object in a very large pile. The saying describes anything that is hard to find, and the game keeps that meaning. Searching a big stack by hand is slow, so the game gives you helpers and machines to do the digging while you decide where to spend.

Kinds of needle in a haystack games

• Picture search games. You look through a picture or a scene for a hidden item.
• Dig and automate games. You work through a pile, turn what you collect into coins and buy upgrades. Find the Needle is this kind.
• PC simulators. You search a very large virtual pile, often with tools that speed the search up. The page Games like Find the Needle lists examples and where to play them.

Play it on any device

Find the Needle runs in a current browser on phones, tablets and computers, including Chromebooks. Your progress is saved in the browser on the device you play on. It is made by TinyArcadia and has no connection to the Steam game of the same name.