Immaculate Grid is a browser game in which players get nine guesses to fill a 3x3 grid with professional athletes. Originally developed for baseball, it has since been expanded to each of the other major American professional sports, as well as soccer.
Gameplay edit
Each of the grid's three rows and columns corresponds to a professional team, statistical achievement, or award, and players must fill each square by selecting an athlete who meets both criteria.[1] Since players get only one guess per square, each one must be correct for the result to be "immaculate".[2][3] Correctly guessed players cannot be used elsewhere in the grid.[4] Originally, the player's score was simply the number of correct guesses, but a rarity score was later added to encourage players to think of lesser known answers.[2][3]
History edit
The game was developed by Brian Minter, a software developer from Atlanta, who named it after the immaculate inning, in which a pitcher strikes out three batters on three pitches each. The first grid appeared on April 4, 2023. Originally, the grids were automated, but Minter eventually began to select the categories himself in order to avoid repetition. As of May 2023, the game was primarily played by Minter and his friends, but it began to gain a larger audience when one of them posted it to Reddit, and became even more popular after it was shared by the Twitter account @FoolishBB on June 13.[2] Sports Reference LLC purchased the game on July 11; the company integrated links to lists of all valid choices for each square on its site Baseball-Reference.com, added more player photos, and announced plans to create separate versions of the game for basketball and American football.[2][3] The football version was launched on July 20, 2023,[5] the (men's) basketball version followed on July 25,[6] and an ice hockey version was launched one day later.[7] A soccer version, called Immaculate Footy, was rolled out on August 18, 2023.[8] A version for women's basketball exists as well.[1]
Reception edit
As of July 2023, the game averaged 200,000 players each weekday.[1][3] It is popular among both current[2] and former MLB players.[3]
References edit
- ^ a b c Winkie, Luke (1 October 2023). "The Trendy New Trivia Game That's Like Wordle for Straight Men". Slate.com. Archived from the original on 11 November 2023. Retrieved 11 November 2023.
- ^ a b c d e Rosecrans, C. Trent (13 July 2023). "The nostalgic allure of 'Immaculate Grid' makes obsessives of MLB players, fans alike". The Athletic. Archived from the original on 13 July 2023. Retrieved 30 August 2023.
- ^ a b c d e Kepner, Tyler (11 July 2023). "The Hottest Thing in Baseball Is a Grid of Nine Blank Squares". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 28 August 2023. Retrieved 30 August 2023.
- ^ Rivera, Joe (19 June 2023). "What is MLB Immaculate Grid? Explaining the rules, how to play new daily baseball guessing game". The Sporting News. Archived from the original on 28 June 2023. Retrieved 30 August 2023.
- ^ Nipatnantaporn, Sam (20 July 2023). "Immaculate Grid Expands To Football & New Grid Launch Timing". Sports-Reference.com. Archived from the original on 5 August 2023. Retrieved 31 August 2023.
- ^ Deaver, Maggie Walsh (25 July 2023). "Immaculate Grid Basketball is Live". Sports-Reference.com. Archived from the original on 7 August 2023. Retrieved 31 August 2023.
- ^ Nipatnantaporn, Sam (26 July 2023). "Just Launched: Immaculate Grid Hockey". Sports-Reference.com. Archived from the original on 1 August 2023. Retrieved 31 August 2023.
- ^ Curtis, Charles (18 August 2023). "The new soccer version of Immaculate Grid has finally dropped and it's the best news for football fans". For The Win. USA Today. Archived from the original on 31 August 2023. Retrieved 31 August 2023.