What is CityQ?
CityQ is a 3x3 grid game where each row and column defines a category, and each cell requires a city that fits both. The challenge is scoring: correct cities are rated by notoriety and the lowest total wins. Finding a valid answer is only half the task.
How to play CityQ
- Read the three row labels and three column labels, such as "Continent: Asia" or "Capital city."
- Click a cell and type a city that satisfies both its row and column. Autocomplete handles alternative spellings.
- Choose the most obscure valid city you can, since the score adds the notoriety of all placed cities.
- Never reuse a city already placed. The game forbids duplicates on the same grid.
- Fill all nine cells within nine guesses, then copy the result as emoji to share.
Why the rarity score matters
The row-plus-column constraint creates the puzzle, but the rarity score makes CityQ competitive. Finding an answer is not enough; you must find the one nobody thinks of. You end up searching memory for medium-sized cities you would never have named otherwise. The top banner shows GUESSES, MATCHED and RARITY with "lower wins" underneath.
Reading the feedback
Three counters track your progress: GUESSES out of 9, MATCHED out of 9 and RARITY, with "lower wins" noted below. A guess is consumed whether right or wrong, but a city absent from the database costs nothing, leaving room to try another spelling. Each category label has a small information icon.
Modes
Daily grid
A new grid every day at midnight Eastern Time, identical for all players, numbered and dated at the top of the screen.
Archive
Links at the bottom lead to yesterday's answers and to past grids.
Tips and strategy
- A city rejected because it is absent from the database does not consume a guess. When a name fails, trying another spelling is free.
- The help gives an example: in the same cell, Lyon scores better than Paris because both are valid but Paris is too well known.
- The pool is every city with more than 100,000 inhabitants plus all national capitals, even very small ones. That is where the best rarity scores are hidden.
- You are not required to finish in one sitting, so hard cells can wait until an idea comes during the day.
Popular questions
How many guesses do I get to fill the grid?
Nine in total. Each entry, correct or incorrect, consumes one. Only cities unknown to the database cost nothing.
Which cities are accepted?
Every city in the world with more than 100,000 inhabitants, plus all national capitals, even the smallest.
Why does my score increase when I pick a famous city?
Because the rarity score adds the notoriety of the placed cities and the lowest total wins.
Is the grid the same for everyone?
Yes, it changes every day at midnight Eastern Time and scores are directly comparable.