Daily Word Game Scoring Explained: From +10 to +100
The single most confusing part of these games is that every one of them scores differently, and the numbers are not comparable across games. Here is what the score bands actually mean, using the real ones these games publish.
Rare answers, fixed bands
Eraly is the clearest case because it does not score on popularity at all — it scores on accuracy. An exact year is worth 100 points, a close one 85, a near one 60, a rough one 30, and anything else 10. Guess the decade correctly and you still take home real points.
Popularity scoring
Cosmillion and Hopdown use the same principle with different names. On Cosmillion, a fruit prompt scores "Apple" at +10 and a fruit nobody else thought of at +100. Hopdown uses the same idea for trivia prompts: the rarer your answer, the deeper your bunny digs. The point is not to be clever, it is to be unusual but still obviously correct.
Common-answer scoring
Noillirk runs the opposite way, and this is the part that trips people up. Because the most common answer wins, the best strategy is to guess what a stranger would type, not what you personally love. "Phone" beats "smartphone" on most prompts.
Alien endurance
STRANDED adds a twist to rarity scoring: six questions, one run, and the final total out of 3,000 decides which of nine endings the alien gets. That means one bad answer does not ruin the run, but one good answer does not save it either. Consistency across all six questions is what moves the ending.
Found the game you meant?
Every game here has a page with a real screenshot, the scoring rules and a link to the original.