HoopGrids

About HoopGrids

HoopGrids takes the three by three trivia grid made popular by baseball's Immaculate Grid and applies it to the NBA. Three categories run across the top and three down the side, and every square needs one player who meets both of its categories. Categories include teams, players someone shared a roster with, decades played, season, career and single-game stat lines such as 1000+ points in a season, All-Star selections and awards like the All-Defensive Team.

The rules are spelled out on the site. Categories are independent: for a Chicago Bulls square crossed with 1000+ points in a season, the player needs at least one regular season or playoff game for the Bulls and a 1000-point season at some point, not necessarily in Chicago. Unlike the Immaculate Grid, there is no limit on guesses, and you can swap a player out of a square even after the grid is done.

The score comes from rarity: for every square, the site shows what share of all players picked the same name, from Common (over 15 percent) through Bronze, Silver, Gold, Blue and Galaxy to Unicorn (0.05 percent or less), and a lower total is better. A Reverse Mode flips this and asks for the most common answer in each square instead. A hint mode shows six players, one of them the most common pick, and on Monday, Wednesday and Friday evenings a Speedrun grid gives you two minutes before it submits itself.

A new grid goes up every evening at 8 PM Eastern. The archive goes back to the first game; without an account the browser keeps around 150 games, while a free account saves everything, syncs across devices and puts you on the daily leaderboard. You can also add friends by code for a private leaderboard and build a custom board to challenge them. The same site links to football and baseball versions and an NBA connections game. It suits basketball fans who know the deep benches as well as the stars.

How to play HoopGrids

1. Open hoopgrids.com after 8 PM Eastern to get the day's grid.
2. Read the three categories across the top and the three down the side.
3. Click a square and type the name of a player who fits both its row and its column.
4. If the guess is wrong, try again: there is no limit on guesses.
5. Fill all nine squares, then check the rarity of each pick and your total score, and share the result.

Tips

• A team only needs one regular season or playoff game, so short stints and end-of-bench players count and usually score rarer.
• Categories do not have to happen together: a stat line can come from a different team than the one in the row.
• Before typing the obvious star, think of a lesser-known player who fits; rarer picks lower your score.
• Use the archive to practise on old grids with the same kinds of categories.

Questions