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Free · one run a day

Stranded Game

Rare answers help an alien get home

The Stranded game is a free daily word round. A small alien has crashed on Earth, and six open questions stand between him and home. Every answer moves him further across the map, and your total out of 3,000 decides which of nine endings he gets.

Run today's setSee how the score works
Stranded Game
  • Six questions, 25 seconds each
  • Rare answers score up to 500
  • Nine endings, one secret
  • Streaks and friends' races

What is the Stranded game?

A daily open-question game where uncommon answers carry a crashed alien closer to home.

Stranded asks six open questions a day, like "Name something that has a nose but can't smell." Every sensible answer counts, and each one is scored by how few other players gave it. The rarer your answer, the more points it earns and the further the alien runs. He starts in the woods and moves out past the farm and through town. Your total out of 3,000 picks one of nine endings, including a secret one above 2,201. The Stranded game is a word game with a story attached, and the story is what makes a low score sting and a high one feel like a rescue.

A small green alien running across a pixel map at night
FIG. 01
Stranded Game@clueffy

Rare answers carry the alien, common ones barely move him

Each question has hundreds of valid answers, and the crowd reaches for the same handful every time. Ask for something that runs and most players say a river or a dog. Those answers are accepted, but so many people gave them that they earn the floor score and move the alien barely a step. The rare answer is the one that fits but did not occur to everyone: a nose, a tab at a bar, a stocking. It is not a trick answer, just an unexpected one. The Stranded game rewards the player who reads the question sideways, and the alien's progress is a running total of how often you did.

Stranded Game@clueffy

Every answer is worth one to five hundred points

Stranded scores each answer by the share of that day's players who typed the same one. About 30% of players giving your answer earns roughly 100 points, 12% earns about 200, 5% about 300, 2% about 400, and fewer than one in 200 earns the full 500. Different spellings of the same idea count as one answer, so fridge and refrigerator share a score. Nothing else affects the score in the Stranded game: not speed, not confidence, not the order you answer. That keeps the game honest. A fast common answer and a slow common answer are worth the same, so the only lever is how unusual a fact you can reach in 25 seconds.

A score ladder from a small object up to a full five hundred
FIG. 02
A map divided into nine stops, the last hidden
FIG. 03
Stranded Game@clueffy

Nine endings sit at the end of the map

The alien runs a little further with every point, from the crash site in the woods towards town and beyond. A low total leaves him caught close to the wreck. A high one takes him out of sight of it. The nine endings are how the Stranded game turns a number into a scene you remember. Reaching 2,201 or more unlocks a secret ending, which appears only if you also answer a bonus question. Most players finish somewhere between 1,000 and 1,700, so a strong day is not a perfect one; it is the day the alien got further than usual.

Stranded Game@clueffy

One shared run, reset at midnight Central time

Everyone gets the same six questions each day in the Stranded game, which is the only reason a rare answer means anything. If each player had a different set, a rare answer would just be a personal preference. The shared set turns the game into a small daily crowd, and the crowd is the opponent. A new run opens at midnight US Central time, and the previous day's run stays closed. That single reset keeps scores comparable and gives the game a natural rhythm: one attempt, then a wait, then a fresh attempt with a new set of questions.

A calendar tile marked with a single daily run
FIG. 04
An alien with a streak counter and a share link
FIG. 05
Stranded Game@clueffy

A streak, some looks and a race with friends

Finishing Stranded on consecutive days builds a streak, and the alien earns looks along the way: silver, gold and diamond at 10, 25 and 50 days in a row. A purple Recruiter look appears when a friend plays from your shared result. Signing in is optional, but it keeps the streak on any device. You can also turn a run into a friends' race link. The race compares answers question by question, which is more interesting than comparing totals: it shows where two players read the same prompt differently and who found the rarer route.

Stranded Game@clueffy

It is not Stranded Deep, and that matters

Searching for Stranded turns up two very different games: Stranded Deep, a survival game on a desert island, and Stranded: Alien Dawn, a colony builder. The Stranded that Clueffy played is neither. It is a free daily word game on stranded.run that takes about two minutes and runs in a browser. That confusion is worth clearing up before you start, because the expectations are so different. There is no crafting, no island and no base to build here. There are six questions, an alien, and a crowd to read.

Two game covers side by side, one crossed out
FIG. 06

02

Why play the Stranded game

The Stranded game gives you a daily crowd to read, a story to move forward and a score worth comparing.

01

Rare answers move the alien

Each answer is scored by how few players gave it, so an uncommon word carries the alien further than an obvious one.

02

Nine endings

Your total out of 3,000 picks one of nine endings, with a secret one above 2,201 and a bonus question.

03

One shared run a day

Everyone gets the same six questions, so a rare answer means the same thing for every player, and results compare fairly.

04

A streak with looks

Consecutive days build a streak and unlock silver, gold and diamond alien looks, plus a recruiter look for inviting a friend.

05

Friends' races

Turn a run into a link and compare answers question by question, which shows where two players read the same prompt differently.

06

No penalty for a miss

A rejected answer costs only the seconds spent typing, and you can try again until the clock runs out.

03

How to play Stranded

Six questions, one alien, and a run that fits between two stops on a train.

  1. 01

    Press Run

    Everyone gets the same six questions each day, and a new run opens at midnight US Central time.

  2. 02

    Answer in 25 seconds

    Type one answer per question. If it is not accepted you lose nothing and can try again until the clock runs out.

  3. 03

    Go uncommon

    An answer about 30% of players gave is worth roughly 100 points; one fewer than 1 in 200 gave is worth 500.

  4. 04

    See the ending

    Your total decides the ending. Reaching 2,201 or more unlocks a secret ending with a bonus question.

04

Who plays Stranded

The crowds the daily alien run draws, and what each one returns for.

I run the six questions before work and check the ending over lunch. The one day I skipped, the alien stayed at the crash site and I felt it.
DRDaily runnersProtecting a streak on the shared set
I do not care about the streak. I want the ending above 2,201, and every run I learn one more word that the crowd never types.
SCStory chasersPushing for the secret ending
We race each other on the same questions and compare where we split. The rare answer is usually the one nobody in the group said out loud.
RFRacing friendsComparing answers with a group
I searched the alien game from the video and landed here. I had already played Stranded Deep, so it was a relief to find a two-minute word game instead.
VAVideo arrivalsFound it after a Clueffy video

05

Stranded questions

What the game is, how it scores, and how it differs from other games with the same name.

Run today's set

Six questions, one crashed alien, and a score that depends on how rarely you answer.

Play Stranded