Curryillion in one paragraph
Curryillion gives everyone the same seven basketball prompts each day. You have 24 seconds per prompt to type a correct answer, usually an NBA player and sometimes a team. Any correct answer scores, but the points depend on how rare your answer is: the obvious pick is a Layup worth 10, the hidden deepest cut is the One in a Curryillion worth 100. Seven prompts, a maximum of 700 points, one game a day.
A game in four steps
- 1
Read the prompt
Each prompt appears on its own for a few seconds before the answer box opens. Prompts are about players, teams and stats: franchises a player suited up for, draft positions, awards, records or college programs. Use the reading time to skip past the first name you think of.
- 2
Beat the 24-second shot clock
Once the box opens, the clock starts. Type a player or team name and submit. You do not need perfect spelling: if your guess is close to a valid answer, the game offers the correction so you can submit it.
- 3
Keep guessing
A wrong answer costs you nothing except time, so keep firing until something lands or the clock runs out. There is a cap on guesses per prompt, so make each one a real attempt rather than spamming names.
- 4
See the shot
Your first correct answer ends the prompt immediately and scores based on its rarity tier. If the clock expires without a correct answer, the prompt scores zero. Then the next prompt begins.
How scoring works
Every valid answer to a prompt is placed on a rarity tier. The more likely other players are to say it, the closer to the hoop your shot, and the fewer points you get.
- One in a Curryillion+100
- Half Court+70
- Three Pointer+45
- Free Throw+25
- Layup+10
- Brick0
Each prompt has exactly one hidden One in a Curryillion answer. Landing all seven would be a perfect 700, which is very hard to do. For a deeper breakdown and a calculator, see Curryillion scoring explained.
What counts as a valid answer
- Any era counts. Unless a prompt says otherwise, "player" means any NBA player in history, past or present.
- Teams sometimes count. On some prompts teams are valid answers, and former team names work too.
- Formatting is forgiving. Accents, periods and capital letters do not matter, and neither does adding or dropping "Jr."
- Close spellings get help. Near-miss spellings are caught and you are offered the correction.
- The first correct answer is final. You cannot keep guessing for a rarer answer after landing one, so if you want the deep cut, type it first.
Your results and the emoji grid
When you finish all seven prompts you get a box score showing what you hit, the full answer list for every prompt and how you stacked up against everyone else that day. You can copy your result to share it without spoiling the answers. Each prompt becomes one square:
| Square | Meaning | Points |
|---|---|---|
| 🟥 | One in a Curryillion: The single hidden deepest cut on each prompt. There is exactly one per prompt. | 100 |
| 🟪 | Half Court: A genuinely rare answer that very few players will think of. | 70 |
| 🟦 | Three Pointer: A solid, less obvious answer. Real knowledge, not a first instinct. | 45 |
| 🟩 | Free Throw: A fairly common answer. Many people will say it, but not most. | 25 |
| ⬜ | Layup: The obvious answer. It counts, but it is what everyone types first. | 10 |
| ⬛ | Brick: The 24-second clock ran out before you landed a correct answer. | 0 |
One game a day and the daily reset
You get one Curryillion game per day. A new puzzle unlocks at midnight Eastern Time, which is 9:00 pm Pacific and 5:00 am in London for most of the year. The countdown under the game on our homepage always shows how long is left.
Play on consecutive days to build a streak. You can see your averages and best scores on the game's stats page.
Accounts, streaks and saved progress
There is no account to create. Curryillion stores your progress in your browser, so:
- Clearing your browser's site data resets your stats and streak.
- Playing on a different device or browser starts a separate history.
- Private or incognito windows usually forget everything when closed.
- Playing the embedded game on this site and playing directly on curryillion.com can keep separate histories, because browsers store data for embedded games separately. Pick one place to play and stick with it to protect your streak.
Tips for your first game
- Take a breath during the reading time and think of three answers, not one.
- Type the rarest answer you are confident is correct. A wrong deep cut only costs seconds, but seconds matter.
- With roughly five seconds left, switch to the safest answer you know. Ten points beats zero.
- Read the full answer list afterwards. It is the fastest way to learn which names count as deep cuts.
Ready for more? Our Curryillion tips and strategy guide walks through worked examples.