How it works
How Longtail scores rare answers
Longtail is a daily trivia game where any correct answer scores, but the less famous it is, the more it’s worth. Six prompts a day, thirty seconds each, the same for everyone.
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The basics
- Six prompts a day. A new set every day at midnight UTC, for everyone at once.
- Thirty seconds each. Each prompt stays sealed until its clock starts, so there is nothing to look up in advance.
- Your first right answer is banked. Keep typing: a rarer right answer replaces it. Wrong guesses cost nothing, so start safe and go deeper.
- Typos are forgiven. Close spellings get a “Did you mean?” that one tap or Enter accepts. There is no autocomplete, because that would give the answers away.
How rarity is measured
Every prompt is a list from Wikidata, the open knowledge base behind Wikipedia: sovereign countries, chemical elements, cheeses, Shakespeare plays, and so on. Only items on that list count, and the round shows which list it is.
Popularity comes from how often each item’s English Wikipedia article is read. The most-read answer in a list scores about 10; the least-read scores up to 100. The score blends where the answer ranks in the list with how far its pageviews fall on a log scale, so a list with one giant and a long, flat tail is scored fairly.
After each round you see the list’s popularity curve with your answer marked on it, how many of the valid answers you out-scored, and the three rarest answers you could have given.
The six bands
| Band | Score |
|---|---|
| Peak | 10–24 |
| Shoulder | 25–44 |
| Slope | 45–64 |
| Tail | 65–84 |
| Long Tail | 85–94 |
| Vanishing Point | 95–100 |
The six rounds
- 1. Warm-up
- A broad, everyday category. Rarer is better.
- 2. Crown
- Reversed for one round: the most famous answer wins. The top answer scores 100, the next 90, and so on.
- 3. Scale
- Ranked by a measurement, such as height or area, and by obscurity. The famous giant is the obvious pick; the winner is near the extreme and little known.
- 4. Double Lock
- Rarer is better, but the answer must also pass a letter lock, such as “starts with N–S”.
- 5. Cliff
- A ranked top 100. Rank #87 scores 87, so aim near the bottom of the list. Past #100 you fall off the cliff and score 0.
- 6. Boss
- The final round: a deep category where rarer is better and points count ×1.5.
The most you can score in a day is 650.
Streaks, shields and your Cabinet
Finishing the daily extends your streak. Any answer scoring 95 or more earns a shield, and so does playing seven days in a row (one shield a day at most). You can hold two, and each one covers a missed day.
Every answer scoring 85 or more goes into your Cabinet for good: a sky of named stars above the landscape, each with what it is and a link to read more.
Challenge a friend
Share a challenge link and your friend plays the same six against your ghost. They see your points after each round, never your answers; your answers are revealed side by side only when they finish. The share text never contains answers, so it is safe to post in a group chat.
FAQ
- Do I need an account?
- No. There is no sign-up and no login. Your streak, stats and Cabinet are stored in your own browser.
- Is it free?
- Yes. The daily game and practice mode are free, with no ads.
- When does a new puzzle come out?
- Every day at midnight UTC. Everyone in the world gets the same six prompts.
- Where do the answers come from?
- Every accepted answer comes from a Wikidata list, and its popularity is measured by English Wikipedia pageviews. The source of each list is shown in the round.
- Why was my answer not accepted?
- Either it is not on that round’s Wikidata list, or it was spelled too differently to match. Close spellings get a “Did you mean?”. A wrong answer never costs you anything.
- Can I see the prompts before playing?
- No. Each prompt stays sealed until its own 30 seconds start, so nobody can look answers up in advance.