How to play
Eight questions, fifteen minutes, one score
Daily Genius is a free daily quiz. Everyone gets the same eight questions, and a new quiz appears every day at midnight Eastern time.
Round one: the word round
Questions 1 to 4 are word clues. The answer might be a word, a name, a place or a short phrase written without spaces, such as TOKYO, MOUNTFUJI or ICECREAM. Clues can be a definition, a fill-in-the-blank, or what a letter stands for in a common abbreviation.
All four answers on a given day have the same number of letters, anywhere from 5 to 10, and the game shows one square per letter. A guess has to fill every square before you can submit it. Here is a solved 7-letter answer:
A wrong guess flashes red and is crossed off below the question. You can keep guessing, but each miss lowers that question's points a little.
Round two: the wildcard round
Questions 5 to 8 can come from anywhere: sports, music, film, history, science, geography or math. The quiz gets harder as you go, so question 1 is the easiest and question 8 the hardest. They come in four kinds:
- Number questions, like "The year Oasis was formed." You get one guess, and the closer you are, the more points you earn.
- Name-a-few questions, like "Name 3 of the Beatles." Add answers one at a time. You can make up to three wrong entries.
- Picture questions, like naming the country that flies a flag.
- Short-answer questions. You get three tries.
The 15-minute clock
The clock starts when you press Start and shows at the top of the screen. You can hand in early at any time. If the clock reaches zero, your answers are handed in as they are, like a real test at school.
How scoring works
Each question is worth up to 1 point, so a perfect quiz is 8 points.
| Question type | Full point for | What costs points |
|---|---|---|
| Word round | The right word | 0.15 per wrong guess. Solving it always earns at least 0.4. |
| Short answer and pictures | The right answer | 0.25 per wrong guess. Three misses ends the question. |
| Number | The exact number | Points shrink the further off you are. |
| Name a few | Filling every slot | 0.1 per wrong entry. |
Your points are turned into an IQ-style score on the same scale as a real IQ test, where 100 is average. About 5 points scores around 100, 4 points with a few misses lands in the 80s, and only a near-perfect quiz reaches 135 or more. Finishing early adds a small bonus of up to 6, and only if you did well, so rushing through with wrong answers doesn't help.
After your score, a bell curve shows where you landed and what share of today's players you beat. Until enough people have played that day, the share comes from the standard IQ curve instead.
| Score | Title | Roughly |
|---|---|---|
| 135+ | Savant | Top 1% |
| 125–134 | Mastermind | Top 5% |
| 119–124 | Genius | Top 10% |
| 110–118 | Brilliant | Top 25% |
| 100–109 | Bright | Top half |
| 90–99 | Sharp | Top 75% |
| 81–89 | Curious | Top 90% |
| Below 81 | Warming up |
Sharing your result
After you hand in, press Copy result to get a short summary you can paste into a text or group chat. It shows your score, your time and a row of squares without giving away any answers:
- 🟩 full marks
- 🟨 partial credit
- 🟧 a few points
- 🟥 no points
Questions people ask
Is this a real IQ test?
No. Daily Genius is a game. The score uses an IQ-style number because it's fun to compare, but it isn't a scientific measurement.
What does "got it on the first try" mean?
Each answer on your results shows what share of today's players got that question right without a single wrong guess. For number questions, it means being spot on.
Do I need an account?
No. Your progress, streak and best score are saved in your own browser on the device you play on.
Can I see yesterday's answers?
Yes. Every finished quiz goes into the archive with all eight answers and a short explanation.
Why did my streak reset?
Progress is stored in your browser, so clearing your browsing data, using a private window or switching devices starts fresh.
Play today's quiz