The Ball Grid
How to Play
Rules and scoring for The Ball Grid
How It Works
Both modes use a 3×3 grid based on a Premier League season. Columns are club categories, rows are stat categories. Name a player who fits both criteria for each cell. Each player can only be used once per grid.
Classic Grid
In Classic Grid you are presented with a 3×3 grid. Each row and column has a category, and your task is to name a Premier League player who satisfies both conditions for each square.
You have 9 squares to fill and unlimited guesses per cell, so you can keep trying until you find a correct answer.
Each correct answer is scored based on how rare your pick is globally. Common picks score fewer points, while obscure and unexpected players score more. Scores range from 20 to 100. Wrong answers do not cost you any points.
A new grid is released every day, giving you a fresh chance to test your knowledge.
| Tier | Badge | Points |
|---|---|---|
| Sunday League | Sunday League | 20–25 pts |
| Decent | Decent | 26–59 pts |
| Banger | Banger | 60–74 pts |
| Top Bins | Top Bins | 75–84 pts |
| Worldie | Worldie | 85–100 pts |
Rapid Fire
In Rapid Fire the same 3×3 grid format applies. Name a player who fits both the row and column criteria for each cell, but this time you are racing against the clock.
Every wrong answer adds a 5-second penalty to your final time — so accuracy matters as well as speed. Your result screen will show your raw time, how many wrong answers you gave, and your final penalised time.
There is no rarity scoring in this mode. Your performance is based entirely on how quickly you complete the grid.
The challenge is to finish as fast as possible and beat your friends' times. Don't overthink it, trust your instincts and keep moving.
The one rule that decides everything
Every grid is built on a single Premier League season, and a player only qualifies if they met the criteria in that season. This is where almost every wrong answer comes from. A striker with 5+ goals on a 2021/22 board must have scored those five goals in 2021/22 — a career total does not count, and neither does a season either side of it.
The same applies to clubs. A club column asks whether the player made a Premier League appearance for that club during that season, not whether they ever played there. That cuts both ways: a player who moved in the January window can legitimately satisfy two different club columns on the same board, because they turned out for both sides that year.
A worked example
Say the column is Chelsea and the row is Under 25 at Season Start, on a 2022/23 board. A valid answer is any player who appeared for Chelsea in the Premier League in 2022/23 and was under 25 on the opening day of that season. Both halves have to be true at once. Mason Mount works. Thiago Silva played for Chelsea that season but was 37, so he fails the row. A 22-year-old at Brighton fails the column. There were eighteen valid answers to that exact square — you only ever need one of them.
Reading the categories
Club columns — ten clubs appear by name: Arsenal, Aston Villa, Chelsea, Everton, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United, Newcastle United, Tottenham and West Ham. Grouped columns cover the rest: Big Six Club, Non-Big Six Club, Top Half Club, Mid-Table Club and Bottom Half Club.
Output rows — 1+ Goals, 3+ Goals, 5+ Goals, 1+ Assists, 3+ Assists, Took a Penalty, More Goals Than Assists, More Away Goals Than Home.
Discipline rows — 3+ Yellow Cards, 5+ Yellow Cards, Received a Red Card. These are the rows people underrate; a full-back with a bad temper is often the rarest answer on the board.
Defensive and workload rows — 7+ Clean Sheets (goalkeepers and defenders only) and 3000+ Minutes, which quietly restricts you to near ever-presents.
Position rows — Forward, Midfielder, Defender, using the player's listed position for that season.
Physical rows — Over 185cm, 190cm or Taller, Under 175cm.
Age rows — Under 23, Under 25 and Over 30, measured at the start of the season rather than today.
Nationality rows — English, Non-English and European.
Tactics for a higher score
In Classic Grid, guess the obscure name first. Wrong answers are free, so there is no downside to trying the squad player before you settle for the obvious international — and the gap between a 25-point pick and a 90-point pick across nine squares is the whole game.
Attack the squeeze. The tightest square is usually a club column crossed with a discipline or clean-sheet row, because it filters the squad down to a handful of names. Fill the easy squares last; they will still be there.
Remember that each player can only be used once per grid. If someone fits three squares, spend them on the one where no alternative exists.
Think in transfer windows. Loan spells and January moves are the single most reliable source of answers nobody else finds.
Common questions
Does a substitute appearance count? Yes. Any Premier League appearance for the club that season qualifies.
Do cup games count? No. Every figure on the grid is Premier League only.
Can I use the same player twice? No — one appearance per player per grid.
What happens if I run out of guesses? In Classic Grid you have unlimited guesses per cell, so you can keep going until you find a correct answer or move on. Rapid Fire has no guess limit either, but each miss adds five seconds.
Where can I see the answers? Every past day has its own page listing all nine squares and every player who qualified for each one. Browse them from the game's Previous Grids button. Today's answers publish the following day so nobody gets spoiled mid-play.
I think a player should have counted. Email hello@theballgrid.com with the day and the square and we will check it against the season data.