Six answer tiers, six depths
Every accepted answer in the published sheet belongs to one of six rarity tiers. Their names fit the game's underwater theme, but their practical meaning is straightforward: less familiar answers generally earn more points, with a special tier for a designated gem.
| Answer tier | Points | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| Plankton | 10 | The first answer that comes to mind. |
| Too Clever | 15 | The famously obscure answer everyone thinks of. |
| Schooler | 30 | A good answer, swimming with the school. |
| Rare | 60 | A less familiar answer. A little deeper. |
| Deep Cut | 85 | An obscure answer from well below the surface. |
| Krillion | 100 | A specially chosen gem at the bottom of the dive. |
These are single-answer tiers. Your daily total gets its own overall rating, with different score bands. A daily “Krillion” rating does not mean every individual answer was a 100-point gem.
What Too Clever really means
The official FAQ describes Too Clever as the go-to “obscure” pick that is not actually that obscure. It is the answer that feels like an inspired alternative, except lots of people reach for the same alternative.
It scores 15 points: more than Plankton's 10, but less than Schooler's 30. It is not a penalty for knowing something unusual, and it is not a signal that an answer is invalid. Some daily prompts have no published answers in this tier.
Why a Krillion is a special case
The developer explains that beyond a certain depth, obscurity becomes difficult to compare. The Krillion is also chosen for “fun factor”: an answer that feels satisfying when you find it and that at least a few players might realistically give.
That means a Deep Cut can be less familiar to you than the featured Krillion. This does not contradict the game. Deep Cut measures obscurity; the designated gem also rewards the discovery. A prompt can have more than one published 100-point answer.
Rarity is not a live popularity contest
The published tiers are curated. Some prompts use familiarity data from how often a word or name appears in reading and writing. Other answer sets need a mix of assistance and manual judgment.
Do not read “Rare” as an exact percentage of today's players, and do not treat the six tiers as universal categories outside a particular prompt. The same term can appear in different contexts with different scoring.
Put the ladder to use
Build a small shortlist before deciding. If you recognise a famously obscure choice, ask whether it is everyone's favourite exception. A smaller, well-matched example can be more useful than an elaborate answer that stretches the prompt.
You can browse the daily answers by tier, check a single entry with the answer checker, or compare the daily total score bands.
A few common questions.
What is Too Clever in Krillion?
It is the go-to obscure pick that is not actually that obscure, according to the official FAQ. It is an accepted-answer tier worth 15 points.
Is the Krillion always the rarest answer?
No. The designated gem is also chosen for fun factor and the satisfaction of finding it. A Deep Cut can be more obscure than a featured Krillion.
How is rarity calculated?
The official FAQ describes familiarity data for some questions, and LLM assistance plus manual review for others. Tiers are not simply a live count of today's submissions.