Tighten

Drag the letters of a word to set the space between each pair until the rhythm reads evenly — then compare your kerning against a typographer's.

How to play

A word sits on a canvas with a density overlay shading the whitespace between glyphs. Slide letters left or right to even out the spacing, then check your work against the ideal kerning.

• Drag a letter to tighten or loosen the gap before it.
• Use the density overlay to hunt for uneven or colliding gaps — warm shading flags trouble.
• Watch the live rhythm score as you adjust.
• Check kerning to reveal the typographer's spacing in green and score your accuracy.

Controls

• Desktop: drag letters; click Density, Reset, New word, and Check kerning.
• Phone & tablet: drag letters with your finger — touch-enabled.

Tips & strategy

• Aim for even optical space, not even measured gaps — round letters need to sit a touch tighter.
• Watch for the collision warning; letters that touch tank your rhythm score.

What you'll learn

Tighten trains the designer's skill of kerning by feel — spacing letters until they look right.

• Skills: typography, kerning, letter spacing, visual design
• Best for: teens and up (designers)
• For parents & teachers: the designer's craft of letter spacing.

About Tighten

Tighten is a typography game that trains the designer's skill of kerning by feel. It is an original, free browser game built in-house.

A free, original browser game on PlayPendium — no download, no install. Browse all games →