How to Play Krillion
Krillion is a free daily word-rarity game at krillion.io: 7 prompts a day, 25 seconds per prompt, and the rarer your valid answer, the deeper you dive. Here are the rules, the full scoring ladder, and the strategy that actually moves you down the water column.
The rules, step by step
- Open krillion.io once a day. Krillion is free and browser-based — no download or account needed. A fresh dive goes live every day at 04:00 UTC (midnight US Eastern), and everyone in the world gets the same 7 prompts.
- Read the prompt, then type fast. Each of the 7 prompts asks you to name something — a vegetable, a fictional robot, a country with a state religion. You have 25 seconds per prompt to type one answer and submit it.
- Score by rarity, not just correctness. Every valid answer is graded into one of six rarity tiers. Common answers land as Plankton (10 points); almost-unique answers land as One in a Krillion (100 points). An invalid or duplicate answer scores nothing.
- Watch your points become depth. Points convert straight into dive depth at 1 point = 10 meters. A perfect 700-point dive takes you 7,000 meters down — from the sunlight zone into the hadal trench.
Krillion scoring: the six rarity tiers
Every valid answer lands in exactly one tier. The score converts directly to dive depth (1 point = 10 meters), so the tier table doubles as your depth ladder:
| Tier | Score | Depth | What it means |
|---|---|---|---|
| One in a Krillion | +100 | 1,000 m | The rarest valid answer on the board — almost nobody thought of it. Worth 100 points, a full 1,000 meters of dive depth in a single word. |
| Deep Cut | +85 | 850 m | An obscure but legitimate answer only real subject-matter nerds reach for. Worth 85 points, or 850 meters of depth. |
| Rare | +60 | 600 m | Clearly correct, clearly uncommon. A small fraction of players find these. Worth 60 points, or 600 meters of depth. |
| Schooler | +30 | 300 m | A solid, textbook answer — the kind you learned in school. Respectable but common. Worth 30 points, or 300 meters of depth. |
| Too Clever | +15 | 150 m | Technically valid, but the game judges it a stretch — a loophole answer. It still counts: 15 points, or 150 meters of depth. |
| Plankton | +10 | 100 m | The most common valid answers on the board — what nearly everyone submits. Like plankton at the surface, they are everywhere. Worth 10 points, or 100 meters of depth. |
Four strategy tips that actually work
- Skip the obvious answer. The first answer that comes to mind is the one thousands of other players will also submit — that's Plankton territory (10 points). Force yourself past it: for 'name a sport played over a net', everyone says tennis; the points hide in sepak takraw and fistball.
- Think in categories, not words. Spend the first 3–4 seconds naming the category's map in your head — regions, eras, cuisines, taxonomies — then pick the corner of that map other players won't reach. Deep Cut answers are usually ordinary knowledge from an uncommon angle.
- Bank a safe answer before getting clever. A wrong guess scores zero, and 25 seconds goes fast. If a rare answer comes to mind early, sanity-check it (is it really valid for this prompt?) before submitting — a Schooler (30) beats a busted One in a Krillion attempt every time.
- Study yesterday's sheet. The fastest way to build rarity instincts is reviewing past answer lists. Our archive shows exactly which answers landed in which tier for every previous dive, so you can calibrate what 'rare' actually means to the game's data.
Ready to dive? Play Krillion at krillion.io, check today's answers after your run, and browse the archive to train your rarity instincts. For a deep dive into each tier with real examples, see the rarity tier guide.
Frequently asked questions
How many prompts are there in Krillion each day?
Seven. Every daily dive consists of exactly 7 prompts, and you get 25 seconds to answer each one. The whole game takes about three minutes, and the prompts are the same for every player worldwide.
How does Krillion scoring work?
Each valid answer is graded into one of six rarity tiers: Plankton (10 points), Too Clever (15), Schooler (30), Rare (60), Deep Cut (85) and One in a Krillion (100). The rarer your answer among all players, the higher the tier and the score. Your 7 scores add up to a daily total out of 700.
What does dive depth mean in Krillion?
Depth is your score made tangible: 1 point equals 10 meters of descent. A 700-point perfect dive reaches 7,000 meters, the hadal zone — the deepest part of the ocean. The depth theme is why the tiers run from Plankton at the sunny surface to One in a Krillion in the trench.
When does Krillion reset each day?
Krillion resets daily at 04:00 UTC, which is midnight US Eastern time. The moment the reset hits, a new dive with 7 new prompts goes live and the previous day's full answer sheet becomes public — which is when we log it in our archive.
Is Krillion free to play?
Yes, completely free. Krillion runs in the browser at krillion.io with no account, download, or payment required. Just show up once a day and dive.