Five daily football questions geared toward map-based scoring strategies

Every SpotGuesser question has one right place, but there are plenty of ways to score well on it. The scoring rewards being close, not being exact: the first 50 miles off cost you 2 points out of 100, the next 50 cost 3, and points only drain quickly once you are hundreds of miles out.

So the real skill is where you pin when you don't know the exact answer. Here are five questions from SpotGuesser's first week, each with the strategy that gets the most out of it. Every score below is worked out with the game's own scoring.

Want to try them first? Each one links to its match in Past games, and the answers follow straight after.

1. Where was Thierry Henry born?

From the 29 September match.

The answer is Les Ulis, a new town south-west of Paris built in the 1970s. Few people know the name, but plenty know Henry grew up around Paris, and that is enough. A pin on central Paris lands about 15 miles (24 km) away and scores 99 out of 100.

The strategy: pin the big city you know. Suburbs, new towns and villages on the edge of a city cost almost nothing, because the score barely moves in the first 50 miles. Don't spend a minute hunting for a town you have never heard of when the city next door is worth 99.

2. Where was Carlo Ancelotti born?

From the 2 October match.

Ancelotti grew up on a farm in Reggiolo, near Reggio Emilia. If you know he comes from Emilia-Romagna, the region around Parma, Reggio Emilia, Modena and Bologna, you are home: a pin on Reggio Emilia scores 99, Parma 99 and Bologna 98.

The strategy: know the region, pin its middle. Even a vaguer idea pays well. "Northern Italy", pinned on Milan or Florence, scores 96. "Italy", pinned on Rome, still scores 86. Knowing the country earns most of the points, and knowing the region earns nearly all the rest.

3. In which Australian city did Australia beat American Samoa 31–0 in 2001?

From the 30 September match.

The biggest win in international football was played in Coffs Harbour, a coastal city in New South Wales, between Sydney and Brisbane. Not many people would know that. But the question tells you it was in Australia, and Australia's cities are almost all on the coast, most of them in the east.

The strategy: when you don't know, pin where the people are. A pin on Brisbane scores 88, and one on Sydney 83. A pin in the middle of the map, at Alice Springs, scores 44, and one on Perth 29. In a big country, the middle of the map is far from everything, and the big cities are where the stadiums, and most footballers, are.

4. Where was Erling Haaland born?

From the 4 October match.

This one has a twist. Haaland was born in Leeds, while his father Alf-Inge was playing for Leeds United, and the family moved to Bryne in Norway when he was three. A pin on Bryne scores 73.

The strategy: ask why the question is being asked. "Where was the Norwegian striker born?" would be too easy if the answer were Norway. When a question looks too simple, there is usually a story behind it, and often it is a father's career, a family that moved, or a club that played away from home.

And if you are stuck between two places? Leeds and Bryne are about 440 miles apart. A pin halfway, in the North Sea, scores 86 whichever one is right. Picking one at random averages about the same, 100 or 73. At this distance it makes no real difference, so if you lean even slightly one way, go with it.

5. Which city hosted the 2023 Women's World Cup final?

From the 3 October match.

Australia and New Zealand co-hosted the 2023 Women's World Cup, and Spain beat England 1–0 in the final at Stadium Australia, in Sydney. If you remember the co-hosts but not the final, you have two candidates, Sydney and Auckland, about 1,340 miles apart.

The strategy: when the candidates are far apart, commit. A pin halfway, out in the Tasman Sea, scores 62 whichever is right. Pinning Sydney scores 100 and pinning Auckland 42, so even a coin toss averages 71. If you have any reason at all to lean one way, committing is worth more still.

Split the difference, or commit?

The last two questions show the rule. Here is what you score by pinning halfway between two candidates, against picking one of them, on average:

Pinning halfway only wins when the two places are within about 300 miles of each other, and then by a point or so. Beyond that, picking one does better, and the gap grows the further apart they are. As soon as you lean one way, picking wins at every distance. So commit to your best guess, and only split the difference between two nearby places you truly can't choose between.

Five rules for tomorrow's match

1. Pin the big city you know. The first 50 miles cost 2 points.
2. Know the region? Pin its middle. Know only the country? Pin where most of its people live.
3. No idea? Pin where the people are, not in the middle of the map.
4. Look for the twist in a question that seems too easy.
5. Commit to your best guess, unless the two places you are torn between are close together.

There is no clock, so take ten more seconds to zoom in before you lock it in. The how to play page has the full scoring table. Play today's match and put them to work.