Qwixx Score Sheet & Skip Cost
Keep a Qwixx score sheet, and see the exact cost of skipping a number — which falls as the row degrades, the opposite of what most players assume.
Marks run left to right. Anything you jump over greys out and is gone. The cost shown beside each row is what your next skip in it would cost, exactly.
Skipping gets cheaper as the row degrades, not dearer
The usual advice is that skipping a number matters more as a row fills up. It is the other way round, and the arithmetic is exact. A row scores by how many marks it holds and nothing else — one mark is 1, two are 3, three are 6, up the triangular numbers to 66 — so the most a row can still yield is 11 minus what you have already skipped. Skip again and that ceiling drops by one, and the mark you lose is always the top one, worth exactly the ceiling.
| Numbers already skipped | Best still possible | Next skip costs |
|---|---|---|
| 0 | 11 marks = 66 points | 11 |
| 1 | 10 marks = 55 points | 10 |
| 2 | 9 marks = 45 points | 9 |
| 3 | 8 marks = 36 points | 8 |
| 4 | 7 marks = 28 points | 7 |
| 5 | 6 marks = 21 points | 6 |
| 6 | 5 marks = 15 points | 5 |
| 7 | 4 marks = 10 points | 4 |
| 8 | 3 marks = 6 points | 3 |
| 9 | 2 marks = 3 points | 2 |
| 10 | 1 marks = 1 points | 1 |
11, 10, 9, … down to 1. A strictly decreasing sequence. The first number you skip in a row is the most expensive one you will ever skip there. The feeling that late skips hurt more is understandable — you are near a lock and it stings — but by then there is very little left to lose. The damage was done at the start.
Which flips the penalty from bad deal to good one
Taking no number at all costs a flat 5 points. Set that against the skip cost and the right play inverts partway through a row:
| Row state | Skip costs | Penalty costs | Better |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0 already skipped | 11 | 5 | take the penalty |
| 3 already skipped | 8 | 5 | take the penalty |
| 6 already skipped | 5 | 5 | identical |
| 9 already skipped | 2 | 5 | take the skip |
They break even at exactly 6 skips, where a further one costs precisely 5. Before that the penalty is the better deal; after it, skipping is. And across all four rows, one early skip in each costs 44 points against 20 for taking four penalties instead — 2.2 times worse. The cost of loose play is front-loaded, which is why the opening matters more than it feels like it should.
The score table, and what each mark is worth
| Marks | Score | That mark was worth |
|---|---|---|
| 0 | 0 | — |
| 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 2 | 3 | 2 |
| 3 | 6 | 3 |
| 4 | 10 | 4 |
| 5 | 15 | 5 |
| 6 | 21 | 6 |
| 7 | 28 | 7 |
| 8 | 36 | 8 |
| 9 | 45 | 9 |
| 10 | 55 | 10 |
| 11 | 66 | 11 |
| 12 | 78 | 12 |
The nth mark is worth exactly n, at every n — which is the whole reason the skip cost equals the ceiling. The lock is the twelfth mark and is worth 12, taking a completed row to 78. Under the standard rules a row needs five marks before its last number may be taken, so a lock is never a shortcut past a thin row.
One claim here is worth stating as checked rather than argued: that the score is blind to which numbers you marked, and cares only how many. That was verified over all 2,048 subsets of an eleven-number row. What a particular number really costs you is entirely about how many others it strands to its left.
How to use
- Click numbers to mark them, left to right along each row.
- Anything you jump over is gone — the sheet greys it out.
- Tick a penalty box for a turn where you take nothing.
- The running total updates as you go.
- The skip cost shown for each row is exact, not an estimate.
Frequently asked questions
How does Qwixx scoring work?
Each row scores by how many marks it holds and nothing else. One mark is worth 1, two are worth 3, three are worth 6, and so on up the triangular numbers to 66 for all eleven. The twelfth mark is the lock and is worth 12, taking a completed row to 78. Which numbers you marked makes no difference at all — only how many.
Does skipping a number get more expensive as the row fills?
No, and this is the most common misconception about the game. It gets cheaper. The first number you skip in a row costs eleven points, the second ten, the third nine, and so on down to one for the last. It is a strictly decreasing sequence, and the first skip is the most expensive one you will ever make in that row.
Why does the skip cost fall rather than rise?
Because the score depends only on how many marks you end with, so the most a row can still yield is eleven minus what you have already skipped. Skipping again drops that ceiling by one, and the mark you lose is always the top one, whose value is the ceiling itself. As the ceiling falls, so does the cost of losing another.
When is the five-point penalty better than skipping?
Early, and by a wide margin. On a fresh row a skip costs eleven, more than double the penalty. The two break even once six numbers have already gone, at which point a further skip costs exactly five. After that, skipping is the cheaper option and the penalty is the worse deal.
How much do early skips cost over a whole game?
One early skip in each of the four rows costs 44 points, against 20 for simply taking four penalties instead. That is 2.2 times worse. The cost of loose play is front-loaded, which is why discipline in the opening matters more than most players expect.
Does it matter which numbers I mark?
Only through how many marks you can still fit afterwards. The score itself is blind to which cells they were — we checked that over all 2,048 subsets of an eleven-number row. What a particular number costs you is entirely about how many others it strands to its left.
What is the lock worth?
Twelve points, being the twelfth mark in a row, plus it denies that row to everyone else for the rest of the game. Under the standard rules a row needs five marks before its final number may be taken, so a lock is never a shortcut past a thin row.
Does this send anything anywhere?
No. The score sheet lives in your browser and nothing is uploaded.
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