Claude Opus 5.5 in the playground

18 tests; our pick in 8. Each answer is linked to the test, where it runs live beside the other models'.

Test	Our notes	Checks	Time	Cost
A map of the world from memory Drawing · 10 models Our pick	A tidy atlas-style map with a graticule, the Equator and the Tropics drawn in, and recognisable outlines throughout, including the Black Sea, Caspian, Red Sea, Hudson Bay and the Antarctic Peninsula. All five oceans are labelled in open water (the Atlantic, Pacific and Southern more than once), along with seas such as the Bay of Bengal and Tasman Sea. The only flaws are in the small text: "Gulf of Mexico" runs onto Florida and "SOUTH AMERICA" runs past the coast.	4 of 4	305 s	$0.599
Draw a unicorn Drawing · 10 models	A cheerful white unicorn on a green patch with rainbow stripes for mane and tail and a gold horn. All four legs, mane and tail are in place, but the neck is a hard-cornered block stuck onto the oval body and the mane is a stack of thick separate strokes that floats off the neck.	2.5 of 3	32 s	$0.063
The Starry Night, redrawn in SVG Drawing · 10 models	The most painterly texture: the whole sky is laid in rows of dashed blue and cream strokes, with two concentric-ring spirals for the swirl, a crescent moon in a ringed orange halo and stars with soft glows. The cypress on the left is striped in green and ochre dashes, though its leaf-like bumps and loose curls look decorative. The village is a tidy cluster of simple blue houses under a tall thin spire.	4 of 4	233 s	$0.455
Ball bouncing in a spinning hexagon Simulation · 10 models Our pick	A violet hexagon spinning at 1 rad/s with a small slider panel. The ball has a spin marker and a short trail. It drops, bounces lower each time and then rolls and hops along whichever wall is lowest. It never left the hexagon or sank into a wall in our 20-second log, and you can grab the ball and throw it. The panel brushes the top-left corner as the hexagon turns.	3 of 3	60 s	$0.148
The solar system, to scale in time Animation · 10 models Our pick	A dark map with all nine bodies labelled, a calendar date at the top right, a legend of real periods, and controls for slower, faster, pause, reverse, orbit spacing and a "Today" button, with planets starting from their real positions for the date. Mercury makes 4.1 laps per Earth year, Reverse runs the calendar backwards, and the spacing button switches to square-root distances. The most complete answer on the page.	3 of 3	91 s	$0.208
A product page from one feed row Business · 10 models Our pick	A clean page with three fanned socks, "£8.00 per pair" worked out from the price, and four tick boxes built only from the feed ("Crew length, sizes UK 3–11"). After adding, the button changes to "Added to basket", a toast appears and the basket count updates. The basket drawer lists size, quantity, a remove link and a £24.00 subtotal: the most complete basket here, with nothing invented.	5 of 5	153 s	$0.369
A pricing table with a monthly/yearly switch Web page · 10 models	A light page with a segmented switch, a "Save up to 18% with yearly billing" hint and a "Recommended" Team card. Yearly shows £5 and £9 with the annual totals worked out correctly ("Billed yearly (£60 per person)", "£108 per person"). The six-question FAQ is the fullest and sticks to the brief, including a worked example: 8 people on Team at £6 is £48 a month.	4 of 4	62 s	$0.151
Pelican riding a bicycle Drawing · 10 models	A white bird with an S-shaped neck, a long yellow beak and an orange pouch, on a red bicycle with two dark wheels. Both feet are on pedals and a wing stretches to the drop handlebar. The curling neck makes it look a little like a goose, and the saddle is hidden under the body.	3 of 3	27 s	$0.055
Newton's cradle Simulation · 10 models Our pick	A wide chrome cradle on a wooden base, with buttons to lift one, two or three balls, a "1 + 1" mode, a restitution slider (0.985) and a sound toggle. The dragged ball follows the mouse on its string, the far ball leaps out while the middle three stay put, and each swing is a little lower until the row is still by 20 seconds.	3 of 3	148 s	$0.309
A newsletter email that works in email Business · 10 models	A green "Moss is back." hero, a Moss swatch, four washing steps and AUTUMN15 on a brown band, and the dark mode is the most careful in the set, with the code box staying sharp. It uses placeholders for the address and adds no prices or terms. But it labels the swatch "Merino wool blend", a fibre claim the brief never made, and adds a sold-out story ("sold out in a few weeks").	4.5 of 5	98 s	$0.235
A landing page for a photo-book app Web page · 10 models	A polished page with a phone-and-book hero, a sample book you can flip through and a detailed spec table (21 cm hardback, 200gsm, made in Bristol). It says "the price you see is the price you pay" but then sells extra copies at £14 and 20 more pages for £6. It also adds beta-tester quotes, a 30-day refund and a promise to refund delivery if a book is late.	2.5 of 3	384 s	$0.828
The jelly effect: ten frontier models, one prompt Animation · 10 models Our pick	The most convincing jelly: a moulded jelly on a plate with a face that reacts. It leans a long way when dragged, sags and settles, and the table can be tapped. Colours and sound too. The dearest answer by far: more than ten times GPT's.Took 2 tries: ran out of room at 32,000 tokens; finished at 64,000 tokens.	3 of 3	362 s	$1.376
Conway's Game of Life Simulation · 10 models Our pick	An 80 by 50 board that opens with a gun already running, plus LWSS, R-pentomino, a rotate button and a wrap-edges switch alongside the three asked-for patterns. Every test passed: the blinker flips, the drawn glider keeps its shape and moves one cell diagonally, and the dropped gun fires gliders down and to the right. The most complete of the correct answers, with a pattern that stays armed so you can stamp several in a row.	4 of 4	70 s	$0.173
Flappy Bird in one file Game · 10 models	A faithful classic Flappy Bird with green pipes, clouds, a striped ground and a "Sound on (M)" toggle. Flapping and gravity feel right; we reached 11 pipes, and the Game Over panel shows score, best and a "NEW!" ribbon. Space returns to the title screen and the next run starts at 0.	4 of 4	72 s	$0.176
Chess with every rule Game · 10 models	A brown wooden board with a side panel, an undo button and a move list ending in "1-0". Every sequence played correctly, and checkmate brings up a "Checkmate! White wins." box with a "View board" button so you can still see the final position. It is as complete as GPT-6.1 Sol and just as fast, but cost about four times as much.	5 of 5	121 s	$0.297
A category page from a product feed Business · 10 models Our pick	A clean four-column grid with a different drawing for each garment: a belted trench, a pouch-front anorak, a quilted coat and a flared cape. It offers checkbox filters with counts, min and max price boxes plus quick bands ("Under £50" correctly shows the four jackets at £32 and £49), and "Also in yellow" links between colours. Every filter and sort we ran was correct, and it adds nothing that is not in the feed.	4 of 4	151 s	$0.361
An animated SVG logo Drawing · 10 models	An angular orange-and-navy kestrel streaks in on long trails, then a heavy italic "KESTREL" drops in letter by letter with an orange underline and "SWIFT · PRECISE · DELIVERED" below. The mark and wordmark have real character, but the underline runs right up to the card's edge, so the final lockup looks slightly unbalanced.	4 of 4	75 s	$0.145
An analogue clock that tells the time Drawing · 10 models	A navy dial with gold Roman numerals (a watchmaker's IIII for four), a gold rim, a red second hand and a date window, labelled "TEMPUS". The time was exact and the hour hand moves between hours in proportion. It is as polished as GPT-6.1's clock, at about four times the cost.	4 of 4	62 s	$0.145