How Footbillion scoring works
Footbillion scores a daily football game by rarity, not by speed alone. Each of the seven prompts has a complete list of valid answers, and every name already carries a fixed transfer value. Type one valid name; the less obvious the pick, the higher the fee. This page explains how that fee is set, how the three tries work, how the 45-second timer runs, and what the totals mean, following the live game rules rather than invented ones.
For a shorter rules overview, see how to play. The exact fame-score formula is on the credits and sources page. To test the numbers, play today's football quiz or open Unlimited.
The rarity score
Every valid answer has a transfer value between £10m and £150m. The prices do not move during the day, they are not real transfer fees, and they do not depend on who else has played. Two friends who name the same player on the same prompt always receive the same amount, which is what makes a shared football trivia total fair to compare.
Fame score in brief
Each possible answer first gets a fame score from public match data. Players pick up points for World Cups attended, matches played (the source records begin in 1970), goals, official tournament awards, World Cup final appearances and goals in a final, plus a small bump for forwards and a short list of household names. Clubs are scored from top-flight seasons, Champions League seasons, league titles and finishing positions. Countries, coaches and host cities use the same idea: appearances, matches, titles or matches hosted. This estimates familiarity, not quality; because match data starts in 1970, some earlier legends sit lower than their reputation might suggest.
From rank to a transfer value
Inside a prompt, answers are sorted from most famous to least famous. Ties share a rank. The rank becomes a percentile from 0 (the best-known name) to 1 (the least-known), and the value is £10m plus £5m times the rounded value of 28 times that percentile. The obvious pick is always £10m, the deepest cut is always £150m, and everything else lands on a £5m step in between. Values are relative to the other answers in that prompt: a world-famous club can sit mid-table on a Champions League knockout list simply because the other clubs are famous too.
What the squares mean
| Square | Value | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| 🟨 | £10m–£45m | An obvious pick most fans would name first |
| 🟩 | £50m–£95m | A solid, less common answer |
| 💎 | £100m–£150m | A deep cut from the bottom of the list |
| 🟥 | £0m | Missed, passed or ran out of time |
After each shot you see a coloured square and the fee you banked. At full time the seven squares become a spoiler-free grid you can copy or share. Yellow is a name most fans would think of first. Green is a solid, less common pick. The diamond is a deep cut. Red is a miss: a pass, three wrong tries, or the clock running out, all of which score £0m. Seven diamonds would be £1.05bn; any total of £1bn or more is a Footbillion. Seven cautious £10m answers come to only £70m, so the usual path is a few safe picks plus two or three deep cuts.
Three tries
Each prompt gives you three tries to name one valid answer. Suggestions appear as you type, drawn from the wider pool of that kind of name, so the list on screen does not itself reveal who is correct. Accents, capital letters and common nicknames are ignored, and a surname counts when it matches exactly one valid answer. A name that is not on the list costs one try, and the game will often explain the miss. Typing the same wrong name again does not cost an extra try. As soon as you submit a valid name, the shot ends and that value is locked in; you cannot take it back to hunt for a rarer option. If all three tries are wrong, the square is red and the prompt is worth £0m.
The 45-second timer
The shot clock keeps a round moving. Each prompt is limited to 45 seconds once the clock is running. A valid answer, a pass, or running out of tries ends the shot at once, and leftover seconds are not carried over.
The read preview
When the clock is on, a new prompt does not start the 45 seconds immediately. You first get a 2.5-second read preview, shown as a short countdown, so you can take in the question. The preview ends when those 2.5 seconds run out, or sooner if you start typing or tap the prompt card. Only then does the shot clock begin. If you have switched the clock off, there is no preview and no timer.
Pausing, reloading and turning the clock off
Reloading the page does not reset a clock that has already started; the remaining time is saved in your browser. If you leave the tab or put the phone to sleep, the clock pauses and then continues with the time you had left. During the read preview, coming back gives you a fresh 2.5 seconds to read the prompt again. You can turn the shot clock off in the in-game how-to-play box; that preference stays in your browser. With the clock off, the three-try limit and the lock-in rule still apply, and a pass still scores £0m.
Worked examples from the question bank
The figures below come from real Footbillion prompts and use the same values you would see in the game. They are taken from questions kept out of the near-term daily rotation, so they should not spoil today's set or the next few weeks of this daily football game. They also work as soccer trivia: the sport is the same, only the everyday name changes.
Name a Golden Boot winner (Men's or Women's World Cup)
37 valid answers: Ronaldo is worth £10m, Michelle Akers £50m, and Leonel Sánchez £150m.
Name a club in the Premier League (2010/11 season)
20 valid answers: Manchester City is worth £10m, Everton £55m, and Blackpool £150m.
Name a club that reached the Champions League knockout rounds (2014/15 season, round of 16 onwards)
16 valid answers: Bayern Munich is worth £10m, Real Madrid £55m, and FC Basel £150m. Prices are relative: a household club can sit mid-table when the rest of the list is famous too.
More sample lists, grouped by competition, are on the World Cup quiz and Premier League quiz pages.
Comparing scores with friends
Add up the seven values and you have your total. There is no bonus for finishing quickly and no penalty for using all three tries. Because values are fixed and the daily set is the same for every player, a shared total is a fair comparison. At full time you can copy an emoji grid or use your phone's share sheet. The grid shows how rare each answer was, without naming them. In Unlimited mode you can also send a challenge link: a friend plays the same seven prompts and sees your score to beat. Stats in your browser record games played, best and average totals, and how often you have hit a Footbillion; those figures never leave your device.
Footbillion is an independent football trivia game, not affiliated with, endorsed by or connected to Krillion or any other rarity quiz. A separate Krillion-style soccer quiz page explains the difference for people who searched that phrase.