How to play Seldom
Seldom is a daily trivia game with a twist - instead of rewarding common answers, you score points for thinking of answers nobody else would.
The basics
- Every day, everyone gets the same question (e.g. "Name a fruit").
- You get 5 guesses.
- Each guess scores between 0 and 100 based on how obvious the answer is.
- Your total is the sum of all 5 guesses, out of 500.
- Lower scores are better. The goal is to think of answers that are valid but rare.
How scoring works
Imagine 100 people are asked the same question you were. Show them your answer and ask "would you have said that?" The score is how many say yes. For "Name a fruit", 95 of them would have said "Apple", so it scores 95. Almost none would have said "Rambutan", so it scores 0.
The score belongs to the answer and the question together, not to the thing itself. Everyone on earth knows what chewing gum is - but for "Name a food that comes from a tree" almost nobody would think of it, so there it scores 1. Famous does not mean obvious.
Example - "Name a fruit"
Who are the 100 people?
They're a mix of Americans, British and Australians, weighted by how many people live in each country - so roughly 78 Americans, 16 Brits and 6 Australians.
This is about where an answer is known, not where it is from. A kangaroo is Australian and the whole world knows it, so it scores high. But something only Brits would have thought of tops out near 16, because only 16 of the 100 are British. Something only Australians would name can't get much above 6. An American-only answer can still reach the 70s, because most of the room is American.
Local knowledge is worth a lot. If a word, bird, brand or snack is everyday where you live but blank faces everywhere else, it is a low score almost by definition. Regional names and spellings are always accepted, so use the one you would say naturally.
What is a Seldom?
A score of 0 on any guess means you found an answer almost nobody would think of. That's called a Seldom - it's the ultimate achievement. Getting all five guesses to score zero gives you a perfect 0/500.
Tips for better scores
- Avoid the obvious. The first answer that pops into your head is probably scoring 80+.
- Think sideways. Instead of the most popular example in a category, think of something technically valid but unexpected.
- Go specific. "Golden Retriever" might score high for "Name a dog breed", but "Azawakh" probably scores zero.
- Use aliases. Many answers accept common alternative names and spellings.
- Play your local knowledge. Answers that are everyday where you live but unknown elsewhere score very low - a British garden bird or an Australian snack is worth far more than a global household name.
- It's not about knowledge. You don't need to be a trivia expert. You just need to think differently from the crowd.
Grades
Daily puzzle and streaks
A new Seldom puzzle goes live every day at midnight UTC. Every player around the world gets the same question. Play daily to build a streak - your streak shows how many days in a row you've played.
Missed yesterday? You can still play past puzzles in the puzzle archive. Archive puzzles don't count toward your streak but they're still fun to play.
Free, no account needed
Seldom is completely free to play. You don't need an account to play the daily puzzle - just visit playseldom.com and start guessing. If you want to save your stats across devices or appear on the weekly leaderboard, you can sign in with your email.