The Scatter
Every notable player is a dot. Pin one of them where they belong.
How to play The Scatter
- Each day has a chart of two career stats, like home runs across and stolen bases up. Every dot is a real player.
- One of the players is named. Tap or drag on the chart to put a pin where they sit, then drop it to see their real dot.
- The pin scores up to 1,000, so a perfect day is 1,000.
Tips
- Both axes grow by square roots, so halfway along is a quarter of the total, not half. Low numbers sit further out than you'd think: a ninth of the axis's top total is already a third of the way along.
- Use the totals under the chart, which follow your pin, instead of judging by eye.
- Place the stat you know first and keep the pin on that line, then slide along it for the other stat. Right on one axis means your whole miss is on the other.
- Commit to one spot. The score drops quickly with distance, so a pin hedged halfway between two clusters is often far from both. A pin dropped very close to a dot snaps onto it.
Worked example: Dunn, Gardner and McCutchen
A real pre-launch board: career home runs across, stolen bases up, both axes to 800. Pin Adam Dunn, Brett Gardner and Andrew McCutchen.
Place the stat you know first. Adam Dunn hit 462 home runs, so his pin goes far to the right. He was slow, so it goes low. Brett Gardner was the opposite: 274 steals, 139 homers. Andrew McCutchen is the all-rounder, with 333 homers and 220 steals.
Remember the axes grow by square roots. Halfway along an axis is a quarter of its edge, 200 here, not 400. That spreads out the small numbers. The gap between 30 and 63 steals is far bigger on this chart than the gap between 430 and 463 homers.
| Player | Pin at (HR, SB) | Real | Score |
|---|---|---|---|
| Adam Dunn | 460, 30 | 462, 63 | 751 |
| Adam Dunn | 460, 60 | 462, 63 | 979 |
| Brett Gardner | 150, 300 | 139, 274 | 910 |
| Andrew McCutchen | 250, 150 | 333, 220 | 642 |
| Andrew McCutchen | 330, 230 | 333, 220 | 965 |
The first Dunn pin had the home runs almost exactly right and still lost a quarter of its points. “Slow, so about 30 steals” was off by 33, and near the bottom of the chart that is a long way. The first McCutchen pin was too modest on both stats. An all-rounder with a long career sits up and to the right, not near the middle.
Questions
- What’s the best strategy for The Scatter?
The axes grow by square roots, and that changes where everyone sits. How to read the chart, place the stat you know first, and keep pins out of the corners.
Read the full strategy guide- How is it scored?
- On the distance between your pin and the real dot, measured on the chart. Right on the dot is 1,000. A tenth of the chart's width away keeps about 700, and about a third of the chart away or more scores 0. A perfect day is 1,000.
- Why are the axes uneven?
- They grow by square roots. Most players are known for one stat and not the other, so on an even scale half the dots would pile into one corner. Halfway along an axis is a quarter of the far edge's total. The totals under the chart follow your pin, so you can check where it is.
- Which players and stats?
- Baseball, basketball, football, hockey, and soccer, with the same career totals as The Player Stack. The dots are every player in the top tenth of their sport at either stat, and the three named players are among the best known on that chart.
- 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?