Ballocate vs SpotGuesser: two football map games, compared

Ballocate and SpotGuesser start from the same idea: football happens somewhere, so test what people know by asking them to find it on a map. In both, you drop a pin, the game measures how far you were from the right place, and the closer you are, the more you score. After that the two games go different ways.

A note before we start: this is SpotGuesser's own site. Everything said here about Ballocate comes from its own how-to-play page, FAQ and about page, as they read on 4 October 2026.

At a glance

How Ballocate plays

Each round shows you a picture with a prompt such as "Where was this player born?" or "Where is this stadium?". The pictures are player and coach portraits, stadium photos and club crests, all taken from the main image on each subject's Wikipedia page. For people, Ballocate is strict about what it wants: in its own words, the "birthplace. Not where they play now. Not where they became famous."

You click the world map to place a marker, move it if you change your mind, and confirm. A green pin then drops on the real location, joined to your guess by a line, with the distance in kilometres. Each round has a 45-second clock, and if it runs out the game submits your marker for you. A game is five rounds, and Ballocate reckons it takes four or five minutes.

You pick a category before you start: Stadiums, Footballers, Coaches, Clubs or Mixed. At the end you get a total, a round-by-round breakdown and a grade, from "Sunday League" up to "World Class" for 90% of the maximum or more.

How SpotGuesser plays

SpotGuesser has one match a day, and everyone gets the same five questions. They are written questions, not pictures: where a player was born, which city a club plays in, where a World Cup or European final was held, the places behind football history.

You turn and zoom a globe, tap to drop a pin, move it as often as you like and lock it in when you are ready. There is no clock. Each answer shows the right place, how far off you were and a short explanation of the story behind it.

At the end you can see how your score compares with everyone else who played that day, and a daily streak keeps count of the days in a row you have played. Missed a day? Every past match stays playable.

A photo or a question

This is the biggest difference between the two. Ballocate first asks you to recognise something: a face, a crest, a stand. If you know who or what it is, you then need to know where they are from or where it is. Recognition is half the puzzle.

SpotGuesser tells you who or what the question is about, so the whole puzzle is the knowledge itself. That also lets it ask things no single photo could show, such as where a final was played decades ago.

Two ways of scoring

Ballocate scores in bands. Anything within 50 km of the answer earns the full 5,000 points, so a guess 49 km away scores the same as a perfect one. The bands then step down: 4,500 under 150 km, 4,000 under 300 km, 3,000 under 500 km, 2,000 under 1,000 km, 1,000 under 2,000 km and 500 under 5,000 km. A guess 5,000 km or more away still earns 100 points. Five perfect rounds make 25,000.

SpotGuesser scores on a smooth curve, so every mile counts a little. A pin 50 miles (about 80 km) away keeps 98 of the 100 points, 250 miles keeps 85, 1,000 miles keeps 50, and a pin on the other side of the world scores nothing. Five perfect answers make 500. The how to play page has the full table.

Playing with friends

Ballocate's multiplayer is live. One player creates a room and shares a six-character code; up to eight people, host included, play the same questions at the same time. If none of your friends are around, Find Match pairs you with strangers, and there is a Rematch button at the end.

SpotGuesser's challenges don't need anyone online at the same time. You name up to seven friends and send them the challenge link. Each of them plays that day's match whenever they have five minutes, until the challenge closes at the end of the day. Once you have played, you see the standings and, as your friends finish, who made the closest guess and the biggest miss, with every player's pin on a map for each question.

Daily habit or one more game

Ballocate lets you play as many games as you like, and it is open that questions "do repeat occasionally if you play enough games". It needs a Google sign-in, and it is free with ads between rounds and on the results screen; its FAQ mentions a planned paid Premium option that removes them.

SpotGuesser is a daily game. There is one match a day, the same for everyone, so everyone's score is out of the same five questions. There is nothing to sign up for: your scores and streak are kept in your browser.

Which one should you play?

Ballocate suits you if you like recognising faces and crests, want to play game after game, or have a group of friends who want to play live together.

SpotGuesser suits you if you want a five-minute daily match with no account, like learning the story behind each answer, or want to challenge friends who will play at different times of day.

They are different enough that plenty of people will enjoy both. We have also compared SpotGuesser with GeoGuesser: Soccer. Play today's SpotGuesser match and see how you do.