Ballpark XI — the daily football numbers game

How to play

Eleven numbers, one slider. A capacity, a goals total, the year a rule came in, an attendance. Each question carries a line underneath that removes the ambiguity — which competitions, whose career, to the nearest what — so the only thing left to work out is the number.

Inside the ballpark is full marks. How close you are is measured in ballparks: multiples of that question’s own tolerance, so one ruler grades a crowd size and a transfer fee without either needing its own rule. Bang on is a quarter of a ballpark. The ladder for the question in play is on screen before you lock, never after.

The clock takes the rest. Twenty seconds a question, starting when you first touch the slider or two seconds after the question appears, whichever comes first. The first ten are free — time to reach the number — then the ten points fall a point a second. The ladder’s share is taken from whatever the clock has left.

On to the next by itself. Lock it in and the verdict shows for a moment, then the next question comes up. How close the last one was stays on screen underneath while you play.

Three substitutions. A wide miss spends one, and so does running out of time. Narrowing the range spends one too; once they are gone, narrowing costs four seconds of that question’s clock instead. Three spent still wins; a fourth is a draw at best.

Some questions are graded harder. Ages bunch so tightly that being roughly right is no achievement, so those are marked strict: right or a year out to score at all, and anything past that spends a substitution. The board tells you which ladder applies before you lock.

114 is the ceiling. Eleven questions at ten is 110, and up to four bang-on bonuses carry it to 114.

Previous dailies. Any day you missed is in Other boards, to play when you like. Only today’s daily keeps a streak going.