How to play Ballpark

Each product shows its photo, its name, its brand and the shop that sells it. Type your guess in pounds, like 35 or 34.99, or set it on the slider, then press Guess. The answer comes straight back: the price, the shop, the day, how far out you were and a mark.

Each guess scores 100, less the percentage you were out by, and never less than nothing. Guess £30 for something that costs £40 and you're £10 out, a quarter of the price: that scores 75 and gets 🟨 within 25%. The five together make a score out of 500.

When you finish you can share your score. It's the date, the score and your five squares, so it never gives the prices away.

Every product is a real one from a UK shop's own product feed, which I bring in every day. The price is the one the shop listed when the five were picked, the evening before, and it stays the same all day, so nobody's answer moves while they play. I only say "down from" when the price really dropped by my price-drop rules, never "lowest".

Each product links to its page on Vouchernaut, where you can see today's price and go to the shop. I may earn commission if you buy through those links; it never decides which five are picked.

From 23:00 UK time each evening I draw the next day's five from every product that qualifies. A product qualifies when:

• its shop is listed on Vouchernaut and isn't 18+;
• it's on show and in stock, with a photo and one price for all its sizes or colours, and its price was seen in the last 24 hours;
• it isn't a gift card, voucher, warranty, sample, tester, bundle, subscription or membership, and its name doesn't give its price away;
• it hasn't been in Ballpark in the last 90 days.

The five spread across these price bands, one from each where there's something to pick: under £10, £10 to £30, £30 to £80, £80 to £250, over £250. They come from at least 3 different shops, and no two are the same kind of thing, whenever there are enough to choose from. The draw is seeded by the date, so running it again gives the same five, and the order you play them in is shuffled.

Your scores, the days you've played in a row and your best stay in your browser. If you're signed in they're saved to your account too, so they follow you to another phone or computer.

When you finish a day, your five guesses are sent without your name, as answers to my polls are, so I can show how everyone did: the average score and how many got each product within 10%, once 20 people have played. One game counts per browser and per account. Your connection's address only limits how many games one connection sends, and is cleared after 30 days. More in the privacy notice.

There are no prizes. Ballpark is free and for fun: nothing is won, and nothing costs anything to play.