HOW TO PLAY: GUESS THE PLAYER
The goal
Every day there is one mystery pro basketball player. You have eight guesses to name them. Type a name into the search box, pick a player from the list, and the board grades your guess across four columns: team, position, height and age. Each row you add tells you something new, so a smart second guess is usually built on the first.
Reading the colours
Green means the column matches the answer exactly. Yellow means you are close. Red means no match. What counts as close depends on the column.
For team, yellow means the player you guessed has played for the mystery player's current team at some point in their career, even if they play elsewhere now. For position, yellow means the same family: point guard, shooting guard and guard sit together, as do small forward, power forward and forward. Centers only ever match exactly. Height is yellow within 5 cm of the answer, and age is yellow within 2 years.
Following the arrows
Height and age also show an arrow whenever the column is not green. The arrow points toward the answer. An up arrow means the mystery player is taller or older than the one you guessed, and a down arrow means shorter or younger. Combine the arrow with the colour and you can narrow the range quickly: a yellow up arrow on height says the answer is a little taller, not much.
Daily reset and streaks
A new puzzle arrives every day at 11:00 UTC (6 AM EST / 7 AM EDT). Your streak counts consecutive days on which you solved at least one daily puzzle (Guess, Silhouette, Grid or Connections). Missing a day resets it to zero. Practice rounds never count toward your streak, so you can experiment freely there.
A simple strategy
Open with a well-travelled veteran. Players with many teams light up the team column yellow more often, and their age and height sit near the middle of the pool. Then use the arrows to bracket height and age, and let position settle the rest.
FAQ
- How many guesses do I get?
- Eight. After the eighth wrong guess the round ends.
- When does the puzzle change?
- Every day at 11:00 UTC (6 AM EST / 7 AM EDT).