Frequently Asked Questions

What is Ballocate?

It's a football geography quiz. You get shown an image — a player's face, a stadium photo, a club crest — and you have to click on a world map to guess the location. Player birthplace, stadium location, club's home city, that kind of thing. Closer guess = more points. Think GeoGuessr but specifically for football fans. It works in your browser on any device, it's free, and a full game takes about four or five minutes.

Is it actually free?

Yeah, completely. There are ads between rounds and on the results screen — that's how we keep the servers running. But there's no paywall for any feature, no "premium-only" categories, and no pay-to-win stuff. Every player gets the same questions and the same game modes. We're planning a Premium option that removes ads for people who want a cleaner experience, but it won't add any gameplay advantages.

How do I sign up?

Open Ballocate, tap "Sign in with Google", and you're done. Your name and photo get pulled from your Google account automatically. No registration form, no password to create, no email verification. The whole thing takes maybe five seconds. We went with Google sign-in because nobody wants to remember yet another password for a quiz game.

What can I play on?

Anything with a browser, basically. Phone, tablet, laptop, desktop — doesn't matter. It's a web app so there's nothing to download. The interface adjusts to whatever screen size you're on. iPhones, Androids, Windows, Mac, Chromebooks, all fine. We're working on dedicated iOS and Android apps too, but the web version already works great on mobile.

Can I add it to my home screen?

Yep. On most phones, you can open Ballocate in your browser, tap the share/menu button, and select "Add to Home Screen." It'll show up like a regular app with our icon. Opens full-screen too, so it feels pretty native.

How does scoring work?

It's all about distance. The game measures how far your guess was from the actual location (as the crow flies) and scores you on a tier system. Under 50km gets you the max 5,000 points. Under 150km is 4,500. It goes down from there — 4,000 for under 300km, 3,000 for under 500km, 2,000 for under 1,000km, 1,000 for under 2,000km, 500 for under 5,000km. Anything over 5,000km still gives you 100 points. So you always score something, even if your guess is on the wrong continent. Max possible in a 5-round game is 25,000.

What categories can I pick?

Stadiums — photo of a ground, guess the location. Footballers — player portrait, guess their birthplace. Coaches — manager photo, guess where they were born. Clubs — club crest, guess where they're based. And then there's Mixed, which pulls from all four at random. Mixed is the hardest because you can't settle into one type of thinking.

How many rounds are there?

Five rounds per game, 45 seconds per round. The whole thing takes about four to five minutes, depending on whether you're the type to agonise over every guess or just slam your marker down and hope for the best. After all five rounds, you see your total score, a grade, and a breakdown of each round.

What if the timer runs out?

If you haven't confirmed a guess when the clock hits zero, the game auto-submits for you. If you've placed a marker somewhere, it uses that. If you haven't clicked anywhere at all, you get the minimum 100 points. The timer bar changes colour as it goes — green when you've got plenty of time, yellow when it's getting tight, and red when you really need to commit. Trust your gut and click something.

Where do the images come from?

Wikipedia. Specifically, the infobox image from each relevant Wikipedia article. So you're seeing real portraits, real stadium photos, and official club crests — not stock photos or AI-generated stuff. The images load live each time you play, which means they stay up to date. Occasionally one won't load if the Wikipedia page doesn't have an image, but that's pretty rare.

What do the grades mean?

Your grade is based on what percentage of the maximum 25,000 points you scored. World Class is 90% or higher (22,500+ points) — genuinely impressive. International is 70%+, Semi-Pro is 50%+, Amateur is 30%+, and Sunday League is anything below 30%. Most people start in Sunday League or Amateur and work their way up. Getting to International consistently means you really know your football geography.

How do I play with friends?

Go to the menu and tap "Create Room." You'll get a six-character code like K7MJ3P. Send that to your mates however you want — WhatsApp group, Discord, text message, shout it across the room, whatever. They tap "Join Room" on their end, type in the code, and they'll appear in the lobby. Once everyone's in, you (the host) hit Start and everyone gets the same questions at the same time.

How many people can play together?

Up to 8 per room, including the host. You need at least 2 to start. The lobby shows everyone who's joined in real time, so you can see when your friends have connected before starting.

What's Find Match?

It's matchmaking for when you want to play multiplayer but don't have friends available. Pick your category, hit Find Match, and the system automatically groups you with other people who are also searching. Once enough players are found, a room is created and the game begins. No codes needed, no coordination. Just quick competitive games against strangers.

Can a phone player and a laptop player be in the same room?

Absolutely. Cross-platform works perfectly. Someone on an iPhone, someone else on an Android tablet, and a third person on a desktop — all in the same room, same questions, same timer. Everything syncs through the cloud in real time. We've tested this extensively and it works smoothly.

What happens if someone disconnects mid-game?

The game won't get stuck. If a player loses their connection or closes their browser, the other players carry on. Disconnected players get automatically handled so the round still advances. If they reconnect in time, they can rejoin where the game is. Nobody has to sit around waiting for someone whose Wi-Fi died.

Can we rematch after a game?

Yes! On the results screen after a multiplayer game, there's a Rematch button. When someone clicks it, a checkmark appears next to their name so everyone can see who's up for another round. The first person who clicks Rematch creates a new room automatically, and everyone else who clicks Rematch joins that same room. No need to share codes again or go back to the menu. It's seamless.

What data do you collect?

The bare minimum. When you sign in with Google, we get your display name and profile picture. We also store your game scores so you can see your stats. That's about it. We don't track your location, we don't read your contacts, we don't do any of that creepy stuff. Full details are in our privacy policy if you want the formal version.

Can I delete my account?

Yes. Send an email to contact@ballocate.com from the email linked to your Google account and we'll wipe everything. Your scores, your profile, all of it. This is permanent — once it's gone, it's gone — so make sure you actually want to before asking.

What's Premium?

It's an upcoming paid option that removes all ads. No interstitials between rounds, no banner on the results screen. Just clean, uninterrupted gameplay. The actual game is identical whether you're free or premium — same questions, same modes, same scoring. Premium is purely for people who'd rather pay a small amount than see ads. Pricing hasn't been announced yet.

An image isn't loading. What do I do?

Since images come live from Wikipedia, occasionally one fails to load — usually because of a network hiccup or because that particular Wikipedia page doesn't have a suitable image. Try refreshing the page. If it keeps happening across multiple games, let us know at contact@ballocate.com and mention which category you were playing. We'll look into it.

I can't join a room. What's going on?

A few possibilities: the code might be wrong (they're case-sensitive, so double-check), the room might be full (max 8 players), or the game might have already started. Rooms lock once the host hits Start. Ask whoever created the room to confirm the code and that they haven't started yet. If it still won't work, try having the host create a fresh room.

The map isn't showing up properly.

This is almost always a browser or network issue. Make sure you're on a reasonably modern browser (Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Edge — all work fine). If you're on a very slow connection, the map tiles might take a moment to load. Try refreshing the page. If you're using a browser extension that blocks scripts or images, that could also interfere. Try disabling extensions temporarily and see if that fixes it.

My score didn't save after a game.

This can happen if your internet drops right as the game ends. Your scores are saved to our servers in real time, so if the connection was fine during the game but died at the very end, the last write might have failed. Unfortunately there's no way to recover a lost score. But your overall stats should still be mostly accurate since each round's score is saved as it happens.