How to play Uniko: the complete guide

Ten questions, one secret trap, 20 seconds each. Timers, second chances, skips, streaks, points and friends rooms, explained with screens from the game.

Uniko is a daily trivia game with one twist. Every question has plenty of right answers, but each day the game secretly marks one of them as forbidden: the trap. Say it and you're out. Everything else in this guide is detail, but the detail is what keeps your streak alive.

One game a day, the same for everyone

Every day at midnight UTC a new game unlocks, numbered from the first day Uniko went live. Everyone in the world gets the same ten questions and the same ten traps, which is what makes comparing results with friends fun. You can play it once: when it's over, it's over until tomorrow.

The questions are sorted from the widest to the narrowest. Question 1 might be “Name a board game”, with hundreds of valid answers. Question 10 might be “Name a season of the year”, with four. Keep that in mind; it matters more than it looks (we dig into it in Is the obvious answer really the trap?).

Answering a question

The question appears and a 20-second clock starts. Type any answer that fits and press Enter (or Send). If it's valid and it isn't the trap, you're safe: you score a point and move on to the next question.

The clock is kept on our server, not in your browser, so pausing the tab or reloading the page doesn't buy you extra time. The questions are only revealed when your clock starts, and the list of valid answers and the trap never reach your device.

Spelling, typos and short names

You don't need perfect spelling. Uniko forgives small typos on longer words, so “Wyomming” still counts as Wyoming. A few rules keep that fair:

• Short names must be exact. Words of five letters or fewer get no typo allowance: Iran and Iraq are one letter apart and both are countries.
• Accents and capitals don't matter. “sao paulo” is the same as “São Paulo”.
• Surnames work. People are usually known by their last name, so “Obama” counts for Barack Obama and “Dalí” for Salvador Dalí.
• Common alternatives are accepted. “USA” counts as United States. Those alternative spellings are never the trap themselves; only the main name can be.

Second chances

If the game doesn't recognise your answer, or the 20 seconds run out, you aren't out. You get one more try, but only 5 seconds for it.

Miss the last try as well, by time or by another unrecognised answer, or press Pass at any point, and the question is skipped. You get no point for it, but you're still in the game and move on to the next question.

The trap

Only two things end your game early. The first is the trap: if your answer is today's forbidden answer for that question, you're out on the spot, and the result screen shows you what the trap was and a safe answer you could have given instead.

The second is a collision in a friends room, which we cover below. A typo, a blank or the clock can never knock you out; they can only cost you a point.

Your result

When the game ends, whether you reach question 10 or fall into a trap, you get a result grid: one square per question. Lime squares are correct answers, dark ones are skipped, and an orange one marks where you were caught.

Uniko #272 8/10
🟨🟨🟨⬛🟨🟨🟨⬛🟨🟨
https://playuniko.com/play

Uniko #272 4/10
🟨🟨🟨🟨🟥⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛
https://playuniko.com/play

Tap Share result to send it through WhatsApp, Mail or any app on your phone, or Copy result to paste it anywhere. The shared text shows the grid, never the questions or answers, so it doesn't spoil the game for anyone who hasn't played yet.

Streaks and points

• Streak: reach the end of the day's game without hitting a trap and your streak goes up by one. Skipped questions don't break it. Hitting a trap resets it to zero, and so does missing a day.
• Best streak: your longest streak ever. It never goes down.
• Points: one per correct answer, added up across every game you play. Points never reset, not even when you hit a trap.

The ranking has three tables: current streak, best streak and total points. Every player with an account appears there under their display name, which must be unique; you can change it, or hide yourself, from your profile.

Playing as a guest or with an account

You can play straight away, without signing up. As a guest, your streak and points are kept on that browser only, and guests don't appear in the ranking. Create a free account at any point, even right after a game, and everything you've done as a guest on that browser moves to your account, including today's result.

Friends rooms

Premium players can create private rooms and invite friends with a link; anyone with an account can join through an invite. Everyone still plays the same daily game, whenever they like, with one extra rule: you can't repeat an answer a friend in your room has already given today. Do it and that's a collision, and you're out.

You never see what your friends answered, only who has already answered each question. The game is asynchronous: whoever plays first has the whole pool available, and whoever plays last has to be the most original. The room page shows how far each member got today and the last two weeks of results.

Quick reference

• 10 questions a day, the same for everyone, new game at midnight UTC.
• 20 seconds per question; unrecognised or out of time gives you one 5-second last try.
• Miss the last try: the question is skipped, no point, you keep playing.
• Say the trap (or repeat a friend in a room): you're out.
• Reach the end: streak +1. Hit a trap: streak back to 0. Points always add up.