Higher or Lower

Higher or Lower is a free daily football stats game in which two players sit side by side, one figure is showing, and you say whether the hidden one is higher or lower. It is the only game on Backheel that a single wrong answer ends: get it right and the run carries on, thirteen steps to clear the chain. The two figures are never placed close enough to make a step a coin toss and equal figures cannot come up, so a step you lose is a step you could have known. The measure changes from day to day — caps, goals, appearances, a record fee, a peak valuation, height — and there is a ninety-second clock. A new chain is dealt at midnight UTC.

What happens if I get one wrong?

The run ends there. This is the only game here that a single wrong answer stops, which is worth knowing before your first step, because every other game on the site gives you unlimited guesses and the habit carries over. Give up mid-run and the rest of the chain is revealed instead.

Could two figures be close enough to be a guess?

No. Steps are refused unless the two figures are far enough apart to be genuinely knowable, and two equal figures can never be paired. If you lose a step, the information to get it right was available — that guarantee is the only reason a one-mistake game is playable at all.

Which measures come up?

Caps, goals, appearances, a record transfer fee, a peak valuation and height, varying from day to day. They behave very differently: height clusters tightly across almost every player, while fees and valuations are spread over orders of magnitude, so the right instinct on one measure is the wrong one on another.

How long do I get?

Ninety seconds for the whole chain, which works out at about seven seconds a step across the thirteen. That is comfortable when the measure is one you can reason about quickly and tight when it is not, so the clock rewards recognising early which kind of day it is rather than deliberating over each pair.

One tip

When the measure is caps or appearances, judge on career length rather than quality — a durable squad player beats a brilliant one who played six seasons more often than people expect.

Similar games

Scout Report grades the same attributes against a name you choose, and Top 10 shows you the figures and hides the players.

Scout Report Top 10

All thirteen daily football games