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What is the Rice purity test and how do you play?

Gen Z TikTok users have reacted to the test with enthusiasm

Joanna Whitehead
Monday 11 July 2022 10:12 BST
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The game is aimed at assessing your level of life experience
The game is aimed at assessing your level of life experience (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

Gen Z TikTok users have been sharing the results of an online “test” to demonstrate their growing “experience” or “innocence” based on their lifestyle choices.

The Rice purity test enables users to tick off different life experiences, ranging from dating, sex, alcohol and drug use.

TikTok users have been revealing their scores and updating these in real time as they work through more items on the list.

But what is the Rice purity test and how can you play along?

Here’s everything you need to know...

What is the Rice purity test?

The Rice purity test is a series of 100 questions that aims to assess your level of “innocence” or experience in relation to a range of issues, such as crime, sex, drugs and alcohol use.

Users work through the list and tick off the ones that apply to them.

A score of 100 indicates that a person has not had much sexual or romantic experience, while a score of zero would include experiences such as “bestiality” and “being convicted of a crime”. As such, a low score isn’t necessarily something to aspire towards.

The test was developed during the 1980s at Rice University in Houston, Texas, but has seen a resurgence on social media in recent weeks.

While some of the questions are consequently a little out of date, Gen Z TikTok users have nonetheless responded to the test with enthusiasm.

Others have updated the game with a new version called the “innocence test”, which includes modern references such as Tinder.

This was created by two best friends (both women), who wanted to develop a more contemporary version.

How can I play the Rice purity test?

You can find the full test here and share your scores on your preferred social media platform.

It’s worth adding that the test is supposed to be a bit of fun and that no-one should be made to feel bad based on their level of “purity” – a concept which itself has been the subject of controversy.

Older users are also naturally more likely to tot up more numbers on the test than younger Gen Z participants.

What are people saying about the Rice test on social media?

In response to people sharing their results, one person wrote: “Mine dropped 20 points in a week”.

Another wrote: “Laughing and crying”, while another revealed: “I’ve been at a 97 for three years now”.

One user commented: “I got 46. Is it bad or good?”, prompting the original poster to reply, “ It’s all relative! You do you.”

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