Exact Change
Add up real players’ career totals. Land on it exactly, don’t go over.
How to play Exact Change
- Each day has a career-stat category and a target number, like 192 career home runs.
- Type in real players, one at a time. Each player adds their real career total in that category.
- Land on the target exactly to win. Go over by even one and you bust.
- Every board has a hurdle, like only Hall of Famers, only players who played for one team, or only one season's numbers. Add a player the hurdle rules out and the run ends.
Tips
- Open with one big career whose total you know for sure, ideally a retired player, since an active player's number moves every week. Every later step depends on knowing exactly what's left.
- Pick an opener that leaves a gap you can fill, not the one that gets closest. A gap of a few hundred has plenty of journeymen to fill it; a gap of 56 needs someone whose exact total you know.
- Keep a few tiny totals in your pocket. Hundreds of baseball players have exactly one, two or three career home runs, most of them pitchers, and they are how you close out the last few without busting.
- Read the hurdle before your first player, and when you're unsure of a total, guess it high. Ending 10 short can still be fixed; ending 10 over is a bust.
Worked example: 920 career walks
A real baseball target from before launch: land on exactly 920 career walks.
Anchor with a number you know. Ichiro Suzuki had more than 3,000 hits in the majors but famously rarely walked: 647 in nineteen seasons. He’s retired, so the number can’t move. 920 − 647 leaves 273.
Leave a gap you can fill. 273 walks is a part-time or speed player’s career. Rajai Davis, a base-stealer who played for eight teams, drew 267. 273 − 267 leaves 6.
Close with a coin. Six walks is a pitcher who batted. Gerrit Cole drew exactly 6 walks as a hitter before the universal designated hitter ended pitchers batting in 2022, so the number can’t move either. 647 + 267 + 6 = 920. Three players, no bust.
| Player | Walks | Left |
|---|---|---|
| Ichiro Suzuki | 647 | 273 |
| Rajai Davis | 267 | 6 |
| Gerrit Cole (as a hitter) | 6 | 0 |
There are other routes. Alexei Ramírez (263) instead of Davis leaves 10, which a pitcher like Carlos Zambrano (10 walks at the plate) closes. The order of thinking is the same either way: a big known number, then a gap that common careers can fill, then a coin.
Questions
- What’s the best strategy for Exact Change?
One big career to get close, then small change to finish. The numbers worth memorizing, and why hundreds of players with one career home run are your best friends.
Read the full strategy guide- Which sports can I play?
- Baseball, basketball, football, hockey, and soccer, each with its own daily category and target.
- Which players count?
- Any real player from a sport's reliable record: baseball back to 1871, hockey to 1917, basketball back to 1946, football from 1999 (offense), and soccer from the 1960s. A stat that wasn't tracked for a player's whole career isn't offered for them, so no one counts with a partial total.
- Is there always a solution?
- Yes. Every target is built by adding up real players' totals, so at least one exact answer always exists, and usually many more.
- When does a new puzzle come out?
- Every day at midnight Pacific time. Everyone in the world gets the same puzzle, so you can compare results with friends.
- Can I play past puzzles?
- Yes. Every past day is in the archive. Sign in with a free account to play the last 7 days, or go Premium for every past puzzle. Archive games don't count toward your streak or the daily leaderboard. Replay a day as often as you like: the archive keeps your best score.
Something else on your mind?