Fair play rules

Use only permitted resources

When competitive mode is enabled:

• Use your own knowledge and only the clues, hints, maps, bonus question, and controls provided inside the active daily game.
• Do not use Google or another search engine, external maps or reference sites, AI tools, or any other outside source to find or confirm an unfinished country.
• Do not use World Clue features outside the active daily, including Data explorer, Country explorer, archive games, or practice, to solve an unfinished country.
• Do not inspect or complete the daily as a guest or through another account before playing competitively.
• Do not replay the daily through another account or browser profile, share known answers, automate play, interfere with fair-play telemetry, or otherwise obtain advance knowledge.
• Competitive mode permits one daily attempt per person.

Cooperative play

Another person may help you during the daily when all of the following are true:

• They have not already played that daily.
• They have not watched another attempt or otherwise learned any of that daily's answers.
• They rely only on their own existing knowledge and the permitted tools visible inside your active daily game.
• They do not use Google, AI, external references, World Clue explorers, or another person to help find or confirm an answer.

After helping with or seeing answers from the daily, that person must not later play the same daily competitively because they now have advance knowledge.

When to learn more

We encourage you to explore the facts and findings you discover in World Clue. The recommended times to do this are:

• Between countries, after the completed country has been revealed and before you press Continue to start the next country.
• After the entire daily game has been completed.

Research between countries may concern the country you just completed, but it must not reveal, confirm, or narrow down the identity of another country that remains unsolved in the same daily. If you are unsure whether the information could help with a remaining country, wait until the daily is complete.

Choose how you want to play

When competitive mode is enabled, eligible results contribute to daily, weekly, season, and all-time leaderboards, and you can earn season rewards.

If you want to use disallowed resources while solving an unfinished country, you must first disable competitive mode in Account settings or play logged out as a guest.

When competitive mode is disabled:

• The daily game, clues, maps, and scoring experience remain unchanged.
• Results and match history remain saved, and personal statistics continue to update.
• You can still see the You marker in score distributions.
• The current season and every season played while competitive mode is disabled are excluded from rankings and rewards.
• Earlier eligible seasons remain under Private player, without an avatar or profile link.

You may request to enable competitive mode again at any time. It becomes active when the next season begins, and excluded seasons do not become ranked retroactively.

Public profiles

Competitive mode and profile visibility are separate settings. You may play noncompetitively while keeping your profile public.

Disabling your public profile makes it visible only to you. Other players cannot view its statistics, match history, or season rewards. Because competitive participation requires a public profile, disabling your public profile also disables competitive mode.

Enabling your public profile again does not automatically enable competitive mode.

Review and enforcement

World Clue reviews every suspected fair-play case manually. Competitive restrictions are applied only when the evidence considered as a whole strongly indicates a consistent pattern of cheating. A singular event or isolated irregularity is not sufficient on its own.

An account that is blacklisted is removed from all current and historical leaderboards and from all season reward calculations. Rankings and rewards are recalculated without that account. Gameplay results and personal statistics remain stored.

To appeal a competitive restriction, use the Contact form and select Ban appeal.

Change your settings

1. Click your username in the top-left corner.
2. Select Account settings.
3. Use Enable competitive mode to opt out or request re-entry.
4. Use Enable public profile to control whether other players can view your profile.

Each setting has a 24-hour reversal cooldown after it is changed.