How Krillion scoring works
Krillion does not ask whether you know the answer — it asks whether you know an answer other people won’t think of. Every accepted answer lands in one of six rarity tiers, and the tier sets your points.
The six rarity tiers
| Tier | Points | Depth | What it rewards |
|---|---|---|---|
| Plankton | 10 | 100 m | The answer nearly everyone gives first |
| Too Clever | 15 | 150 m | Correct, but exactly what a seasoned player reaches for |
| Schooler | 30 | 300 m | A solid answer, known without being automatic |
| Rare | 60 | 600 m | An answer few players think to type |
| Deep Cut | 85 | 850 m | A sharp answer, for people who know the subject |
| One in a Krillion | 100 | 1,000 m | The bottom of the set — what almost nobody recovers |
Points become depth
- Every point sinks your dive 10 metres.
- Seven prompts per dive → a perfect dive is 700 points = 7,000 metres — the trench.
- An invalid answer, or running out of the 25-second clock, banks zero for that prompt — the dive continues.
- Your final screen shows total score, depth, and how you compare with today’s other players.
Who decides what is “rare”?
The tiers are editorial rarity ratings, not a live poll of every player on Earth. A famous answer is never a wrong answer — it simply scores less, because so many people reach for it first. The scoring validator also forgives typos, missing accents and common name variants, so you are scored on the idea of your answer, not your spelling under pressure.
A worked example
Prompt: “Name a Ryan Gosling movie.”
- La La Land → Plankton, 10 pts — everyone’s first thought.
- Drive → Too Clever, 15 pts — the “I know films” pick everyone makes.
- The Nice Guys → Schooler, 30 pts — solid recall.
- Half Nelson → Rare, 60 pts — few people reach here.
- All Good Things → Deep Cut, 85 pts — real subject knowledge.
- Lost River → One in a Krillion, 100 pts — the film he directed, not starred in.
Same prompt, six correct answers, a 90-point spread. That spread is the game.