The full rules
Krillion Today rules and scoring
The idea fits in one line: answer seven prompts, and the fewer people who would give your answer, the further your krill sinks. Below is everything else, with real examples from our answer lists.
The round
- Seven prompts. One from each category: wildlife and nature, places and maps, screen and stage, food and drink, games and sport, science and tech, and daily life.
- 25 seconds each. The ring around the clock shows the time left. It turns red for the last six seconds.
- Up to three tries. If we do not accept an answer, you can type another one while time remains. When the clock runs out, whatever is in the box is still checked.
- One answer counts. The first accepted answer is the one that scores. You cannot improve it afterwards.
- Same puzzle for everyone. Today's puzzle changes at 12:00 a.m. Eastern Time. You can play it once; past days stay open under "Past puzzles".
Tiers
For every prompt we keep a list of accepted answers and sort them by how rarely people think of them. Each point is worth ten metres of depth, so a perfect round of seven Pearls reaches the bottom at 7,000 m.
| Tier | Points | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| Pearl | 100 | One or two hand-picked top answers per prompt, each with a short fact. |
| Abyss | 85 | Valid answers that very few players come up with. Valid answers we have not listed yet also score here. |
| Rare | 60 | Less common, but known to plenty of people who think for a moment. |
| Shoal | 30 | Sensible answers that a large group of players give. |
| Red Herring | 15 | The answer that seems unusual and is therefore picked by a crowd. Usually one per prompt. |
| Shallows | 10 | The handful of answers nearly everyone types first. |
| Not accepted | 0 | Wrong, off-topic, too general, or breaking a letter or word rule. |
Three worked examples
"Name a type of pasta."
- Shallows +10 Spaghetti, Penne, Macaroni, Lasagna, Fettuccine
- Shoal +30 Farfalle, Linguine, Rigatoni, Fusilli
- Red Herring +15 Orecchiette. It feels like the insider answer, so it is very popular.
- Rare +60 Casarecce, Ditalini, Paccheri, Cavatelli
- Abyss +85 Scialatelli, Reginette, Ptitim
- Pearl +100 Strozzapreti and Pici
"Name a dinosaur."
- Shallows +10 T. rex, Velociraptor, Triceratops, Stegosaurus
- Shoal +30 Parasaurolophus, Spinosaurus, Ankylosaurus
- Red Herring +15 Pachycephalosaurus, the long-name pick everyone reaches for
- Rare +60 Deinonychus, Maiasaura, Microraptor
- Abyss +85 Majungasaurus, Muttaburrasaurus, Minmi
- Pearl +100 Nigersaurus, which had around 500 teeth, and the feathered Kulindadromeus
"Name a bird whose name ends with the letter N."
Here the rule matters as much as the rarity: Eagle or Parrot score nothing, however rare they feel.
- Shallows +10 Robin, Falcon, Swan, Penguin, Pigeon
- Shoal +30 Raven, Wren, Toucan, Puffin
- Red Herring +15 Ptarmigan
- Rare +60 Merlin, Bittern, Moorhen
- Abyss +85 Goliath heron, Tufted puffin
- Pearl +100 Limpkin and Tragopan
What counts as a valid answer
- It must be one specific thing that fits the prompt. "Italian pasta" or "a sea bird" is too general.
- Letter, ending and word-count rules are checked strictly.
- Small typos and common short forms are fine: "T-Rex" counts as Tyrannosaurus rex, and the result shows the name we matched.
- Answers that are not on our list are checked automatically. If they are correct, they score as Abyss.
Streaks, stats and swimmers
Finishing today's puzzle on consecutive days builds your streak. Your history, average depth and tier counts live under "My stats" in the menu, and you can download them as JSON or CSV. Some swimmers unlock as you play: the Glass Shrimp after three daily puzzles, the Moon Jelly at 2,000 m, the Nautilus with a five-day streak and the Anglerfish at 4,000 m in a daily puzzle.