Frequently asked questions
What is Bonsaily?
Bonsaily is a free once-a-day trivia game. You answer six questions as close to each target as you can, and your answers grow a bonsai tree. Each finished tree is kept in your monthly garden.
Is Bonsaily free?
Yes. Bonsaily is free to play and is supported by ads. There are no in-game purchases, and nothing that affects your score can be bought.
Do I need an account?
No. You can play straight away in your browser on a phone, tablet or computer, and your garden is linked to your browser on this device. If you’d like to keep it on every device, you can sign in with Google in Settings. That’s optional.
When does a new puzzle start?
A new seed and six new questions appear at midnight in your own time zone, so everyone plays the same puzzle on the same calendar day.
Why does the tree change?
The trees follow the 72 micro-seasons of the old Japanese almanac, each about five days long and named for something in nature, such as “Camellias start to bloom”. Every season has its tree, so a new one comes every week or two: plum in February, cherry blossom in late March, maple and camellia in November. Everyone grows the same tree on the same day.
How is each answer scored?
Each answer scores 0 to 100 by how close it is to the question’s target. For number questions, being twice too high costs the same as being twice too low. Rank questions score by how many places you are from the target rank. Any valid answer scores at least 5 points.
What does “in bloom” mean?
A tree in bloom is a day’s tree of 500 or more out of 600, the Hanazakari stage; 570 or more is a golden tree. Along the way, each bullseye (95 to 100 points) opens a blossom on its branch, so a tree can have blossoms without being in bloom. Your garden, the scrapbook and your stats count the trees in bloom.
What counts as a valid answer?
Any answer in the question’s list, which comes from a named data source. Common alternative names and spellings are accepted (for example USA, Ivory Coast or Bombay), missing accents are fine, and small typos are forgiven when it’s clear what you meant.
My answer wasn’t accepted. What can I do?
After you finish, open Your answers and tap “Report a missing answer” on that question. We review reports every day, and if an answer was missing we add it and rescore that day’s games.
What is a league?
A private group of friends, family or colleagues who grow the day’s tree side by side. Sign in, start one from the Leagues button at the top of the game, give it a name and send the invite link: only people with the link can join, and they don’t need to sign in. Each day you see everyone’s trees side by side, the week’s table from Sunday, the week’s awards, how you fare against each friend and how many days in a row the whole league has played. Admins can rename the league, make other players admins, manage who is in it, and lock it once everyone has joined so nobody new can, even with the link.
Can Bonsaily remind me to play?
Yes. Switch on the daily reminder in Settings and choose a time. It only comes on days you haven’t played yet. On iPhone and iPad, add Bonsaily to your Home Screen first, then turn the reminder on there.
What happens if I miss a day?
Your streak counts the days in a row you’ve played. Once a week, a free sun shower covers one missed day so your streak holds. In Japan a sun shower is called kitsune no yomeiri, the fox’s wedding. If a long streak does break, your streak bowl is mended with gold when you come back.
Can I play yesterday’s puzzle?
Yes. Once you’ve finished today’s tree, choose “Play yesterday’s” under it. Practice trees don’t change your garden or streak.
What data does Bonsaily keep?
A random ID for your browser, your game answers, your garden and your streak. No name, email or contact details are needed. You can delete everything from Settings at any time.