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Spot the Ball

Spot the Ball

Place your star where you think the ball was.

Spot the Ball leaderboard

5 players
  1. Position 1Margaret H.1.2
  2. Position 2Dave P.1.9
  3. Position 3Tony M.2.4
  4. Position 4Sue Ashworth3.1
  5. Position 5Ian Brady3.3

Score is the distance from the judged spot. Lower is better.

About this competition

Spot the Ball One photograph, one ball removed, and your judgement against everyone else's. The game The Pools has been running since 1923.

How it works: Every entry lets you place a mark on the pitch. Study the players' eyelines, the keeper's stance and where the shadows fall, then put your star where you think the ball was. Buy more entries to place more marks and cover more of the box.

Leaderboard prizes: on top of the main prize, the top five on the leaderboard win site credit based on their final ranking when the competition closes.

  • 1st Place — £50 Site Credit
  • 2nd Place — £25 Site Credit
  • 3rd Place — £15 Site Credit
  • 4th Place — £10 Site Credit
  • 5th Place — £5 Site Credit

The judging panel decides the ball's position after entries close, so there is no answer to look up and no photograph to reverse-search. Where two or more entrants tie, all tied entrants receive the prize for that position.

Good luck — and trust your eye.

The important bits

How the winner is decided
A panel of three independent judges decides the ball's position after entries close. The mark nearest that point wins. The panel's decision is final and the judges' full names are available on request.
Your chance
Skill — the nearest mark wins
Decided
Judged Monday 8pm, winner published Tuesday
Prize
Funded in full before this competition opened. The closing date is fixed and will not be extended.
Photograph
Steffen Prößdorf, CC BY-SA 4.0

Spot the Ball prizes

  • £10,000 Cash1 of 1 still to be won
  • £1,000 Cash2 of 2 still to be won
  • £100 Cash7 of 10 still to be won
  • £5 Site Credit188 of 250 still to be won