How to play SearchDraft

Draft entities. Reveal search-interest ranks. Lowest total placement wins. Here’s how each mode works.

Last updated: August 1, 2026

The core loop

Choose a board — category (or curated card), location, date range, and scoring metric shape the data.
Draft — in snake-draft modes, seats take turns locking entities. Once taken, a pick is off the board.
Reveal — SearchDraft scores picks with historical search interest, then ranks the round. Rank 1 is best.
Win on total placement — your match score is usually the sum of round ranks. Lowest total wins.

After reveals, open the Trend Graph to see the story behind each pick — peaks, averages, and relative scale across the board.

A timed solo challenge: name five of your own entities for today’s curated card. Soft ranks land overnight — not a live toxic ladder.

Tip: Stay on the tab once the timer starts. Switching away marks the run unofficial. Results stay Pending until the Eastern-day freeze.

Pick today’s card. Up to five curated challenges per Eastern day. Free players get 2 starts; Premium gets 5.
Name five entities. You invent the picks — search people, brands, songs, etc. Fill all five slots before time runs out (~3 minutes).
Submit once. One official submit per card. Placement is scored from worldwide search interest for your set.
Pending → overnight ranks. You’ll see Pending results until the day freezes overnight ET. Then soft ranks / percentiles unlock for share cards.
Share & weekly ladder. Copy your share card when ranks land. Weekly SearchBucks standings reward consistent daily play.

Queue into a curated snake-draft lobby. Match with other players (or bots in ~60s). This is where overall and domain Elo live.

Tip: Each public card is playable once per day. Empty seats fill with bots after about a minute; a full human lobby starts sooner.

Choose a public card. Admins publish up to five cards (separate from Daily). Settings are fixed — players, rounds, and timer are on the card.
Queue & claim a seat. Join the lobby, claim a seat, and wait. Premium players get priority into the fullest open lobby.
Snake draft for Elo. Same turn-based draft as Private. Finishes update overall Elo, domain Elo, milestones, and (for Premium) SearchBucks drip.
Check the boards. After the match, review your result and climb on Leaderboards. Rematch keeps the same lobby when the host starts another.

Invite friends with a room code. The host controls settings; finishes stay on your private career — not global Elo.

Tip: Share the invite code or send a friend invite from the lobby. Rematch keeps the same room after a finish.

Create or join. Host creates a room (or join with a code). Claim a seat and wait for friends to fill in.
Host sets the board. Category, rounds, timers, and Trends settings are host-controlled. Guests see the same lobby card.
Draft together. Same snake draft as Solo: take turns picking entities. Table talk reactions and short messages stay in the room.
Score & rematch. Trends rank each round; lowest total wins. Host can Rematch to keep the code, seats, and settings for another game.

A full snake draft on one device against bots. Customize the category and Trends settings, then draft turn by turn.

Tip: New here? Use Quick play from Modes, or open Essentials and hit Start — bots fill empty seats.

Pick a category. Choose a theme (Sports, Music, …) or open Advanced to tune the search region, date range, and scoring metric.
Set seats & rounds. Add human or bot seats and choose how many rounds. Each round, every seat drafts one entity.
Snake draft picks. On your turn, search and lock an entity. Once taken, it’s off the board for everyone else.
Trends decide the ranks. After each round, SearchDraft ranks picks by real search interest. Rank 1 is best.
Lowest total wins. Your score is the sum of your round ranks. Lowest total after all rounds wins. Check the Trend Graph for the story behind each pick.

Scores are relative inside a comparison context (same provider, location, date range, metric, and interval window).
Changing timeframe or location can flip winners — that’s intentional.
Daily results may stay Pending until the Eastern-day freeze overnight.
Public finishes feed Elo / domain Elo. Solo and most private finishes do not.

Open the Modes hub, or jump to Daily, Public, Private, or Solo. More answers live on the FAQ.