Minefield is the NBA version of the Minesweeper quiz: one category a day and a board of twenty tiles, each with a player's name on it. Between ten and fourteen of those players genuinely fit the category - won the award, wore the number, played for the franchise in that era, whatever the day asks - and the rest are mines: players who look like they might fit and don't. Tap a tile to select it and tap again to clear it. On Normal the red counter tells you how many mines are on the board, the hint tells you how many players to find, and Detonate arms once you have selected exactly that many. On Hard the counter is hidden, there is no hint, and you may select as many or as few as you dare. Press Detonate and the board reveals your picks one at a time: a right pick turns green, a mine goes off with its timer, and anyone you left behind is shown too. A board with no mine hit and every right player found wins the day; anything else is a loss, and the day still banks points for the players you got right. The board is the same for everyone, so the share grid is a fair comparison.
Minefield is airball.gg's take on the Minesweeper-style sports quiz, drawn in the old pixel-font, bevelled-button style of a Windows 95 program because that is half the fun. Every category comes from the same computed question pool as Shot Clock, Deep Cut and Crowd Favourite - awards, numbers worn, franchise eras, playoff opponents, coaches played under, draft classes - so a category is a fact the player database can check, never a matter of opinion. The right tiles are drawn from the best-known players who fit, so a board is a quiz about players people recognise. The mines are the craft: for each category the generator scores every player who does NOT fit by how plausible he would look next to the right ones - how close his fame is, whether his career overlapped theirs, how many franchises he shares with them - and takes the most convincing. A dated category only ever uses mines who actually played in that window, because a man who retired before it is a free tile, not a trap. Categories rest for ninety days across all four games that share the pool, and the board order is fixed when the day is generated, so every player sees the same board and the share grid compares like with like.
How many mines are there?
Between six and ten. The board is always twenty tiles, and ten to fourteen of them fit the category, so the mine count is twenty minus the target. Normal shows it on the counter; Hard hides both numbers.
What counts as a win?
A clean board: every right player selected and no mine hit. On Normal, where you select exactly the target number, those are the same thing. On Hard a board with no mine hit but players left behind is a loss, with points for what you found.
Can I change a pick?
Yes. Tap a selected tile to clear it. Picks only count once you press Detonate, which on Normal only arms when you have selected exactly the target number.
Are the mines random?
No. Each is a player who definitely does not fit the category, chosen because he looks like he might - a similar era, shared franchises, similar fame. The generator checks every mine against the database, so a mine is never secretly a right answer.
Is it the same board for everyone?
Yes. The category, the players and the tile order are fixed when the day is generated, so two players comparing share grids are comparing the same twenty tiles.
Player stats, rosters, and career data reflect the most recently completed NBA season until the new season is underway.
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airball.gg is an unofficial fan project, not affiliated with, endorsed by, or licensed by the NBA, the NBPA, or any of their teams. Player names and statistics are historical public record, used for informational and entertainment purposes only. Simulated games, results, and stat lines are fictional.