Immaculate Grid

Each of the grid's three rows and columns corresponds to a professional team, statistical achievement, or award, and players must fill each square by selecting an athlete who meets both criteria.{{cite news |last1=Winkie |first1=Luke |title=The Trendy New Trivia Game That’s Like Wordle for Straight Men |url=https://slate.com/human-interest/2023/10/immaculate-grid-nfl-mlb-sports-trivia-game.html |access-date=November 11, 2023 |work=Slate.com |date=October 1, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231111114359/https://slate.com/human-interest/2023/10/immaculate-grid-nfl-mlb-sports-trivia-game.html |archive-date=November 11, 2023 |url-status=live |language=en}} Since players get only one guess per square, each one must be correct for the result to be "immaculate".{{cite news |last1=Rosecrans |first1=C. Trent |title=The nostalgic allure of 'Immaculate Grid' makes obsessives of MLB players, fans alike |url=https://theathletic.com/4684416/2023/07/13/immaculate-grid-trivia-game-mlb/ |access-date=August 30, 2023 |work=The Athletic |date=July 13, 2023 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20230713112927/https://theathletic.com/4684416/2023/07/13/immaculate-grid-trivia-game-mlb/ |archive-date=July 13, 2023 |url-status=live |language=en}}{{cite news |last1=Kepner |first1=Tyler |author1-link=Tyler Kepner |title=The Hottest Thing in Baseball Is a Grid of Nine Blank Squares |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/11/sports/baseball/immaculate-grid.html |access-date=August 30, 2023 |work=The New York Times |date=July 11, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230828055257/https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/11/sports/baseball/immaculate-grid.html |archive-date=August 28, 2023 |url-status=live |language=en}} Correctly guessed players cannot be used elsewhere in the grid.{{cite news |last1=Rivera |first1=Joe |title=What is MLB Immaculate Grid? Explaining the rules, how to play new daily baseball guessing game |url=https://www.sportingnews.com/us/mlb/news/mlb-immaculate-grid-baseball-game-rules/zwgyqh5m5dfawqzxdrjwsrdu |access-date=August 30, 2023 |work=The Sporting News |date=June 19, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230628140416/https://www.sportingnews.com/us/mlb/news/mlb-immaculate-grid-baseball-game-rules/zwgyqh5m5dfawqzxdrjwsrdu |archive-date=June 28, 2023 |url-status=live |language=en-us}} Originally, the player's score was simply the number of correct guesses, but a rarity score was later added to encourage players to think of lesser known answers.

The game was developed by Brian Minter, a software developer from Atlanta, who named it after the immaculate inning, in which a pitcher strikes out three batters on three pitches each. The first grid appeared on April 4, 2023. Originally, the grids were automated, but Minter eventually began to select the categories himself in order to avoid repetition. As of May 2023, the game was primarily played by Minter and his friends, but it began to gain a larger audience when one of them posted it to Reddit, and became even more popular after it was shared by the Twitter account @FoolishBB on June 13. Sports Reference LLC purchased the game on July 11; the company integrated links to lists of all valid choices for each square on its site Baseball-Reference.com, added more player photos, and announced plans to create separate versions of the game for basketball and American football. The football version was launched on July 20, 2023,{{cite news |last1=Nipatnantaporn |first1=Sam |title=Immaculate Grid Expands To Football & New Grid Launch Timing |url=https://www.sports-reference.com/blog/2023/07/immaculate-grid-expands-to-football-new-grid-launch-timing/ |access-date=August 31, 2023 |work=Sports-Reference.com |date=July 20, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230805020334/https://www.sports-reference.com/blog/2023/07/immaculate-grid-expands-to-football-new-grid-launch-timing/ |archive-date=August 5, 2023 |url-status=live |language=en}} the (men's) basketball version followed on July 25,{{cite news |last1=Deaver |first1=Maggie Walsh |title=Immaculate Grid Basketball is Live |url=https://www.sports-reference.com/blog/2023/07/immaculate-grid-basketball-is-live/ |access-date=August 31, 2023 |work=Sports-Reference.com |date=July 25, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230807081349/https://www.sports-reference.com/blog/2023/07/immaculate-grid-basketball-is-live/ |archive-date=August 7, 2023 |url-status=live |language=en}} and an ice hockey version was launched one day later.{{cite news |last1=Nipatnantaporn |first1=Sam |title=Just Launched: Immaculate Grid Hockey |url=https://www.sports-reference.com/blog/2023/07/just-launched-immaculate-grid-hockey/ |access-date=August 31, 2023 |work=Sports-Reference.com |date=July 26, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230801131346/https://www.sports-reference.com/blog/2023/07/just-launched-immaculate-grid-hockey/ |archive-date=August 1, 2023 |url-status=live |language=en}} A soccer version, called Immaculate Footy, was rolled out on August 18, 2023.{{cite news |last1=Curtis |first1=Charles |title=The new soccer version of Immaculate Grid has finally dropped and it's the best news for football fans |url=https://ftw.usatoday.com/2023/08/immaculate-grid-soccer-version-official |access-date=August 31, 2023 |work=For The Win |publisher=USA Today |date=August 18, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230831021044/https://ftw.usatoday.com/2023/08/immaculate-grid-soccer-version-official |archive-date=August 31, 2023 |url-status=live |language=en}} A version for women's basketball exists as well.

As of July 2023, the game averaged 200,000 players each weekday. It is popular among both current and former MLB players.

{{Reflist}}

• {{official website|https://www.immaculategrid.com/}}
• [https://www.nbcnews.com/now/video/-immaculate-grid-puts-sports-twist-on-wordle-craze-190331973707 Immaculate Grid Puts Sports Twist on Wordle Craze] – NBC News

Category:2023 video games

Category:Browser games

Category:Video games developed in the United States

Category:Baseball video games