The European soccer season restarts soon, but that hasn’t stopped the sport from grabbing headlines with the ongoing transfer window. So, what better way to celebrate than with a game all about players who have famously (or quietly) played for more than one huge team?
Launching just this week, Football Grid is the latest daily puzzle to combine the simplicity of Wordle with the surprisingly exciting challenge of knowing playing careers. It’s the brainchild of AC Momento–an “app for sports fans who love going to games”, created by Miami-based John Brennan.
AC Momento originally launched to sell match-worn jerseys but decided to change strategy in March. Its new app, a “Live Sports Scrapbook” that allows fans to track their live attendance at games, is still in beta–available on both iOS and Android–so who can blame it for launching a compulsive game to get people talking about its new direction? It’s arguably the best decision AC Momento has made so far.
The format of Football Grid is simple: a 3×3 tic-tac-toe-style layout has six top-tier soccer teams between its two axes. All you need to do is name a player who’s played for both teams. If you’re successful, their face pops up in the grid. You only get nine guesses, so winning requires perfection.
When you finish, you can share your score and grid successes with friends in the same way as Wordle. On top of that, you also get a “rarity score”; this is lower if your correct answers are rarer “relative to other players.” What constitutes a brilliant number is anyone’s guess. Who cares? You can still mug off your mates when you get a better score.
Naturally, Football Grid only combines the big teams from the top divisions–don’t expect to find yourself having to figure out which players from the mighty Hartlepool United also spent time at Coventry City, Torquay United, or Wycombe Wanderers (but if that does come up: Dimitrios Konstantopoulos, Eifion Williams, Jermaine Easter).
Still, it only takes a shaky knowledge of Portugal’s Primeira Liga, the Dutch Eredivisie, or even Major League Soccer to cause a wobble.
Sure, there are a couple of issues that Football Grid needs to finesse, especially as you don’t have throwaway guesses. Most obviously, players who don’t know club badges aren’t given hover text, meaning wordless badges like Atletico Madrid might be completely alien to some (“true” football fans might argue that it’s part of the game, but where’s the fun in that?).
Also, names can be common. In yesterday’s quiz (#003), a search for “Mark Hughes” and “Ronaldo” brought up multiple entries without differentiation. This means there’s nothing to distinguish Manchester United legend Mark Hughes from Northern Ireland international Mark Hughes, or Brazil’s Ronaldo from CR7. Others, like Cesc Fabregas, only appear by their last name. Still, these are kinks that AC Momento should figure out–the Wikipedia solution of “(Brazilian footballer)” or “(footballer born 1963)” should suffice.
While Football Grid seems to strike the best balance for more casual soccer fans, it’s not entirely original. Box2Box, which comes from the creator of the superb Who Are Ya?, has offered a similar 3×3 experience for a couple of months, albeit with international teams, a tight time limit, and a more elaborate scoring system.
Box2Box is also not for the faint of heart; if anything, it’s a better challenge–especially for those who hope to take on more incredible feats of skill, such as its Serie A tests. Good luck trying to name a player who took to the field for U.S. Lecce and U.C. Sampdoria, or a Uruguayan who played for U.S. Salernitana 1919!
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