How to play Krillion

Krillion is a daily trivia game about rare answers. This guide explains how to play Krillion, how the tiers work and how scoring is built, with a section on the reset time and a short glossary.

What are the rules of Krillion?

Each day brings one dive, which is a set of seven prompts. Every prompt asks you to name something, for example "Name a way to prepare potatoes". You type one answer at a time, and the game checks it against its list of accepted answers. Each prompt has a timer of about twenty to twenty-five seconds.

A wrong answer only costs time. It does not end the round, so you can keep trying until the timer runs out or you find an answer that counts. When an answer counts, you move to the next prompt and score points based on how rare that answer is. The fewer players give an answer, the more it is worth.

Every prompt hides one answer worth the full 100 points. The official game calls it One in a Krillion, and players often call it the gem. We call the same band Pearl. Finding the gem for all seven prompts is the goal of every dive.

That is all you need to know to start. If you want to try the format with no daily limit, play Krillion Unlimited, which uses the same idea with its own questions.

What are the Krillion tiers?

Every accepted answer belongs to a tier, and the tier decides the score. There are six. The official names are Plankton, Too Clever, Schooler, Rare, Deep Cut and One in a Krillion. On this site we use depth names instead: Surface, Shallows, Twilight, Midnight, Abyss and Pearl. They describe the same ladder from common to unique.

Official point values are decided inside the game and may change, so we do not list them as fact. The values below belong to Krillion Unlimited, our practice game, and are only a guide to how steeply rarity is rewarded.

How does scoring work in Krillion?

In the daily game, each prompt scores according to the tier of your answer. Rarer tiers score far more than common ones, and the single rarest answer scores the maximum of 100. Your final score is the total over all seven prompts. In Krillion Unlimited we turn the same idea into depth: each tier sinks to a fixed depth, and your dive total is the sum of the seven depths.

A few details are worth knowing. Giving the same answer twice does not score twice. Passing a prompt scores nothing, but it saves time for the others. And in Krillion Unlimited, Endless dive turns tiers into oxygen: the rarer your answer, the more seconds it gives back.

What do the emoji squares mean?

When you share a result from Krillion Unlimited, each prompt becomes one coloured square. The colours follow the tiers: ⬜ for Surface, 🟩 for Shallows, 🟦 for Twilight, 🟪 for Midnight, 🟥 for Abyss and 🟨 for Pearl. A black square ⬛ means no answer. The share text never contains your answers, so it does not spoil anything for the people you send it to.

What time does Krillion reset?

A new dive starts at midnight New York time. That is 04:00 UTC while New York is on daylight saving time, and 05:00 UTC when it is on standard time. In 2026 the United States moves its clocks back on November 1, so the reset shifts one hour later in UTC on that date.

The table shows when the reset happens in a few cities, both before and after the United States changes its clocks.

The next dive starts in --:--:--. The counter works out the time from New York's own clock, so it stays right when the clocks change. Dates and dive numbers on this site always follow the New York calendar: dive #94 was played on October 17, 2026.

Krillion glossary

Dive

One day's set of seven prompts. Dives are numbered, starting at #1 on July 16, 2026.

Prompt

A single question that starts with "Name a…". Browse past ones in the prompt list.

Gem

The rarest answer to a prompt, worth the full 100 points. Called One in a Krillion in the game and Pearl on this site.

Tier

One of six bands that group answers by how common they are.

Depth

Our way of showing rarity: rarer answers sink deeper, up to 1,000 m per prompt.

Oxygen

The clock in Endless dive. Right answers add oxygen, wrong ones remove it.

Challenge link

A link that gives a friend the same seven prompts so you can compare depths.

Tips for playing Krillion

1. Do not stop at your first idea. It is probably the answer everyone gives. Use it as a starting point and move sideways.
2. Decide your approach in the first second. Narrow prompts need precision. Open prompts reward something specific and a bit unexpected.
3. Bank easy points early. If you are stuck, a common answer keeps the round moving, and wrong answers cost only time.
4. Use your own expertise. The deepest answers come from people who know a corner of a topic well. Whatever you are good at, lean on it.
5. Study after you play. Open the answers for the day and ask what the gem has in common with the rarer picks. That is how you learn the pattern.
6. Practise with fresh prompts. Krillion Unlimited gives you endless rounds and shows rarer answers after each prompt.

Now you know how to play Krillion. When you want a nudge without spoilers, the hints page has four steps for each prompt.