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Games Like Wordle for Sports Fans
Wordle's trick wasn't really the word puzzle. It was the format: one puzzle a day, the same for everyone, a few minutes to play, and a little grid of coloured squares you can paste into the group chat without spoiling anything.
That format works brilliantly for sport, because sports fans already love comparing notes. Here are the daily games worth adding to your morning routine, grouped by sport.
What makes a good Wordle-style game
- One puzzle a day, so there's no binge and no grind.
- The same puzzle for everyone, so comparing results is fair.
- Short: five minutes or less.
- A spoiler-free share, usually an emoji grid.
- Free, in the browser, with no account needed to play.
Football (soccer)
Who Are Ya? You guess a mystery footballer, and each guess tells you how close you are on nationality, league, team, position, age and shirt number. It's a great test of how deeply you follow the game, not just the headlines.
Football grid games. Several sites run a daily three-by-three grid in which each square needs a player who fits both the row and the column (say, a player who played for Arsenal and won the World Cup). They're harder than they look, and the rarest correct answers score best.
Basketball
Poeltl. The best-known NBA guessing game. You get eight tries to name a mystery player, with clues for team, conference, division, position, height, age and jersey number. There's also a silhouette mode for anyone who finds the main game too easy.
Baseball and American sports
Immaculate Grid. The game that made the grid format famous. Fill a three-by-three grid with players who match each row and column, with only nine guesses and a "rarity" score that rewards obscure picks. Versions now exist for MLB, the NFL, the NBA and the NHL.
Weddle. A Poeltl-style guessing game for NFL players.
General sports trivia
Connections: Sports Edition. The New York Times' grouping puzzle in a sports-only version, made with The Athletic. Find four groups of four that belong together. It's free to play in the browser.
Golf: the Mashy daily
Golf has fewer daily games than football or basketball, which is part of why we built one into Mashy. Instead of guessing a player, you actually play.
- Every day there's a daily course, chosen by date, with the same pin positions and the same wind for everyone in the world.
- Your first card counts, like a Wordle guess: no restarting until you get a good score.
- It's nine short holes played with irons, wedges and a putter, and takes about ten minutes.
- You share a grid: one square per hole, yellow for a birdie or better, green for par and red for over par.
A shared result looks like this:
| Line | What it shows |
|---|---|
| ⛳ Mashy daily 02/10 · Salty Links | The date and today's course |
| −1 (30 strokes) | Your score to par and total strokes |
| 🟩🟨🟩🟥🟩🟩🟨🟩🟩 | How each hole went, with no spoilers |
Unlike a word puzzle, there's skill as well as knowledge: wind, bunkers and sloping greens all play their part. Friends in your Mashy clubhouse appear on a TODAY'S BOARD ranked by the daily, so the chat argument settles itself.
How to build a daily habit (without it eating your morning)
- Pick two or three games, not ten. Streaks are fun until they're a chore.
- Mix types: one guessing game, one grid game, one skill game.
- Start a group chat just for results. It's where these games come alive.
- Play at the same time every day, so it becomes a ritual and not a distraction.
Try today's course
The daily course resets every day. Play today's Mashy daily, post your grid, and see who in the chat can beat it.
New to golf scores? What is a birdie in golf? explains the yellow squares.