Krillion Rarity Tiers, Explained

Written by Marina Voss · Last verified: August 31, 2026

Krillion grades every valid answer into one of six rarity tiers, from Plankton (10 points) at the sunlit surface to One in a Krillion (100 points) in the hadal trench. This page explains what each tier really means — with real answers from the August 31, 2026 dive (Dive #47).

The depth ladder at a glance

Tier	Score	Depth	Rarity
One in a Krillion	+100	1,000 m	Rarest
Deep Cut	+85	850 m
Rare	+60	600 m
Schooler	+30	300 m
Too Clever	+15	150 m
Plankton	+10	100 m	Most common

One in a Krillion — +100 points · 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.

Real One in a Krillion answers from Dive #47

Ciudad de la Paz — for the prompt “Name a national capital that is not its country's largest city” (Equatorial Guinea's decree made this planned city its capital in January 2026.)
Yaren — for the prompt “Name a national capital that is not its country's largest city” (Nauru names no official capital; Yaren merely hosts the government.)
Oca — for the prompt “Name a vegetable (culinarily or technically)” (Inca staple tuber, still everyday food in the high Andes.)
Chocolate banana — for the prompt “Name a food served on a stick” (East Asian festival staple: whole banana, chocolate shell, sprinkles.)
Radius — for the prompt “Name a fictional robot” (Karel Capek's 1920 play R.U.R. coined robot for him.)

Deep Cut — +85 points · 850 m

An obscure but legitimate answer only real subject-matter nerds reach for. Worth 85 points, or 850 meters of depth.

Real Deep Cut answers from Dive #47

Bloemfontein — for the prompt “Name a national capital that is not its country's largest city”
Gitega — for the prompt “Name a national capital that is not its country's largest city” (Burundi moved its capital here from Bujumbura in 2019.)
Khartoum — for the prompt “Name a national capital that is not its country's largest city” (Omdurman, across the Nile, has long been the bigger city.)
Lobamba — for the prompt “Name a national capital that is not its country's largest city”
Mbabane — for the prompt “Name a national capital that is not its country's largest city”

Rare — +60 points · 600 m

Clearly correct, clearly uncommon. A small fraction of players find these. Worth 60 points, or 600 meters of depth.

Real Rare answers from Dive #47

Banjul — for the prompt “Name a national capital that is not its country's largest city”
Belmopan — for the prompt “Name a national capital that is not its country's largest city”
Dodoma — for the prompt “Name a national capital that is not its country's largest city”
Manila — for the prompt “Name a national capital that is not its country's largest city”
Naypyidaw — for the prompt “Name a national capital that is not its country's largest city”

Schooler — +30 points · 300 m

A solid, textbook answer — the kind you learned in school. Respectable but common. Worth 30 points, or 300 meters of depth.

Real Schooler answers from Dive #47

Abu Dhabi — for the prompt “Name a national capital that is not its country's largest city”
Abuja — for the prompt “Name a national capital that is not its country's largest city”
Ankara — for the prompt “Name a national capital that is not its country's largest city”
Astana — for the prompt “Name a national capital that is not its country's largest city”
Beijing — for the prompt “Name a national capital that is not its country's largest city”

Too Clever — +15 points · 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 points · 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.

Real Plankton answers from Dive #47

Canberra — for the prompt “Name a national capital that is not its country's largest city”
Ottawa — for the prompt “Name a national capital that is not its country's largest city”
Washington, D.C. — for the prompt “Name a national capital that is not its country's largest city”
Broccoli — for the prompt “Name a vegetable (culinarily or technically)”
Carrot — for the prompt “Name a vegetable (culinarily or technically)”

Tier is prompt-relative: the same word can be Plankton under one prompt and a Deep Cut under another. The only way to build the instinct is to study real sheets — the answer archive shows every answer's tier for every past dive.

Want the scoring math and strategy in one place? Read how to play Krillion, then play today's dive at krillion.io and check today's answers after your run.

Frequently asked questions

What does 'One in a Krillion' mean in Krillion?

One in a Krillion is the game's highest rarity tier, worth 100 points — a full 1,000 meters of dive depth. It marks a valid answer almost no other player submitted: statistically, roughly one answer in a krillion. It is the single biggest scoring jump in the game, 15 points above a Deep Cut.

What is a Deep Cut in Krillion?

Deep Cut is the second-highest rarity tier, worth 85 points (850 meters of depth). Deep Cuts are obscure-but-legitimate answers — the kind only a subject-matter enthusiast reaches for, like naming Ngerulmud when asked for a national capital that is not its country's largest city.

What does Plankton mean in Krillion?

Plankton is the lowest rarity tier, worth 10 points (100 meters of depth). Plankton answers are valid but extremely common — the answers floating at the surface that nearly everyone submits, like answering 'tennis' to 'name a sport played over a net'.

Is a Too Clever answer a bad thing?

Not at all — it still scores. Too Clever (15 points, 150 meters) flags an answer that is technically valid but feels like a stretch or a loophole. It beats an invalid answer (zero points) but sits below even an ordinary Schooler answer (30 points).

How are Krillion rarity tiers decided?

By how rare your answer is among all valid submissions for that prompt. The game grades every valid answer into one of six fixed tiers — Plankton (10), Too Clever (15), Schooler (30), Rare (60), Deep Cut (85) and One in a Krillion (100) — so the same word can be Plankton for one prompt and a Deep Cut for another.