Free daily sports puzzle games

How are the stars connected?

Every Lockerlink puzzle has a shortest chain of teammates, and the stars of different eras are closer than you would think. These pages list the shortest chains between legends from different decades.

• NBA teammate chains: Bob Cousy to Nikola Jokic in 5 links, and 23 more.
• NFL teammate chains: Otto Graham to Patrick Mahomes in 6 links, and 23 more.
• MLB teammate chains: Shohei Ohtani to Ted Williams in 5 links, and 23 more.
• NHL teammate chains: Connor McDavid to Gordie Howe in 4 links, and 23 more.

What is in each game

• Lockerlink: add players at either end of the chain until the two ends are teammates. Par is the shortest possible chain. Hints, undo, a Rival mode to challenge a friend, and a weekly recap of the shortest chains.
• Gridlink: nine cells, nine guesses. Clues are teams, decades, positions, awards and "played with" a named star. Rarer players score more.
• Under the Cap: a budget, a rule that changes each weekday, and any player from any era. The rating of each player comes from career honors. A weekly recap shows the best roster for each rule.

Questions

What are the Purplelink sports games?

Three free daily puzzles about the NBA, NFL, MLB and NHL: Lockerlink (link two players through a chain of real teammates), Gridlink (fill a 3 by 3 grid of teams, decades, awards and teammates) and Under the Cap (build a roster under a budget and play a full season). The sport changes every day.

Which players are in them?

Every player who ever appeared in the four leagues is available in Lockerlink, about 61,000 in all. Gridlink and Under the Cap use a curated list of well-known stars. The players you are asked to link are always stars.

Are they free? Do I need an account?

They are free, with no third-party ads on the daily games, and you do not need an account. An optional email sign-in keeps your streaks and ratings across devices and lets you join the leaderboards.

How are they different from other sports puzzle games?

Lockerlink lets you add players at either end of the chain and measures par over every player in the league, back to 1920 in the NFL and 1871 in MLB. Gridlink has award clues and a clue that asks for a teammate of a named star. Under the Cap gives you a budget and an open choice of any player from any era instead of a random spin, and shows the best roster for each day's rule afterwards.

Is there a rating?

Yes. Each game keeps a running Elo rating, updated once a day, with all-time and weekly leaderboards for players who opt in.

Where do the player histories come from?

Public sources: the Lahman Baseball Database for MLB, nflverse for the NFL, and Wikipedia for the NBA and NHL, matched and merged by us. The credits are on the game pages. The data is not complete, and the pages say where the gaps are.