How to play Polymath
Polymath is a general-knowledge quiz: ten multiple-choice questions, one at a time, each with four answers and exactly one of them right. Every answer is revealed the moment you commit, with a short explanation and a link to its source, so a run teaches as much as it tests. The Daily, which starts on Dec 1, 2026, is the same ten questions for everyone, one run a day. Quick Play is always open and draws a fresh ten whenever you like, from the whole bank or, in Category Challenge, from one subject — science, history, geography, film, music, sport and more.
How to play
- Choose the Daily — the same ten questions for everyone, one run a day, starting Dec 1, 2026 — or Quick Play, which is always open and draws ten whenever you like. In Quick Play you can pick one subject from the Category list, or leave it on All categories.
- Pick one of the four answers. You cannot change it, and the answer is revealed straight away with a short explanation and a link to its source.
- A correct answer scores 100 points. With the clock on you also earn up to 50 more for answering quickly, so a perfect timed run is 1,500.
- Each question gives you twenty seconds. Running out counts as a wrong answer, but nothing is deducted for getting one wrong.
- Turn on Untimed practice for no clock at all. Correct answers are a flat 100 there, and results are labelled as practice.
- Quick Play remembers the questions you have already been shown on this device and skips them next time, so a run is new until the bank runs out.
Tips & strategy
- Accuracy beats speed. A correct answer is worth twice the largest speed bonus, so a right answer on the last second scores more than a wrong one in the first.
- Never let the clock run out. A timeout scores the same as a wrong answer, so a best guess always does at least as well as no answer.
- Rule out before you pick. Each option you can eliminate improves a guess, from one in four toward a coin flip.
- Read the explanation on every reveal, including the ones you got right — it is the part of the run you keep.
- Use Category Challenge to find your weak subjects and practise them, and Untimed practice when you would rather learn than race.
Accessibility
Every answer is an ordinary button lettered A to D, so Polymath plays fully with a keyboard. A revealed answer is marked in words and with ✓/✕ glyphs, never by colour alone, and the verdict arrives through one status message. The countdown is plain text that warns at ten and at five seconds rather than announcing every tick, and Untimed practice turns the time limit off entirely.