How Guess the Artist Scoring Works

Guess the Artist has two scores: stars and leaderboard points.

Stars are the simple in-game result. Leaderboard points are the larger score that rewards fast, efficient solves.

Star score

Stars are based on how many guesses it takes to identify the artist.

The game uses this rule:

stars = max(1, 6 - guesses)

That means fewer guesses produce a better star result. If you lose, you receive 0 stars.

Clues

Guess the Artist starts with one clue available. That first clue is free.

Additional revealed clues count as paid clues for leaderboard scoring. They help you solve, but they reduce your final leaderboard score.

Leaderboard score

The leaderboard score starts near 10,000 and decreases as you spend guesses, time, and paid clues.

The formula is:

score = 10000 - guesses * 100 - seconds * 10 - paid clues * 500

The score never goes below zero.

What lowers your score?

• Each guess costs 100 points.
• Each second costs 10 points.
• Each paid clue costs 500 points.

The first displayed clue is free, so only extra clue reveals are counted as paid clues.

Example

If you solve in 3 guesses, take 50 seconds, and reveal 1 paid clue:

10000 - 3 * 100 - 50 * 10 - 1 * 500 = 8700

Your final leaderboard score would be 8,700.

Strategy

Use the free clue carefully, then make guesses that give useful comparison feedback. Revealing more clues can be the right move when you are stuck, but it is expensive, so the best scores usually come from solving with the first clue and a small number of smart guesses.

You can play it here: Guess the Artist.