How to play Alma Matters

Five athletes. One school. Name the college they all share before you run out of guesses.

The rules

Each puzzle is five athletes who all attended the same college. They're revealed one at a time — the first name is the hardest, and each one after it makes the answer clearer.
Type your guess into the search box. It understands nicknames too, so "UNC," "Pitt," or "Ole Miss" all work.
Guess right and you win. Guess wrong and the next teammate is revealed. You can also hit Reveal Next to uncover a name, but it costs you a guess.
You get five guesses per puzzle. Solve it on fewer names for a better grade — from "Buzzer beater" at five all the way up to "First-ballot" at one.

The leagues

There's a fresh puzzle every day for each sport, and every school belongs to exactly one league — so the tab you're on is itself a clue.

FOOTBALL — college powerhouses and the surprise schools side by side.

BASKETBALL — the blue-blood programs and the deeper cuts.

BASEBALL — the classic college-baseball factories.

MIXED — a daily puzzle pulled from any sport, with the league hidden. The hard mode.

Finished today's? Switch to Unlimited Practice on any tab to keep playing puzzles that don't affect your streak.

Tips for a better streak

Don't panic on the first name. It's chosen to be tough. Sometimes it's smart to take a wrong guess or a reveal to see a clearer name.
Use the sport as a clue. Outside of Mixed, each school only ever answers one league — so the tab narrows the field before you even start.
Think in eras. A lineup often clusters around one stretch of time, which points you toward a specific program's golden run.
Come back daily. Streaks reward consistency, and the share grid is an easy way to pull friends in.

About the game

Alma Matters is a daily trivia game for sports fans who like recalling where their favorite players went to school. It's designed to be quick — a puzzle or two a day — and to reward the kind of deep fandom that knows a backup guard from a Hall of Famer.

It's an independent fan project, built for fun. Player–school pairings are compiled by hand for trivia, and while we try hard to get them right, mistakes can slip in. Spot one? Tell us on the contact page and we'll fix it.

FAQ

Is it free?Yes, completely free to play.

Does everyone get the same puzzle?Yes — each day's puzzle for a given sport is the same for every player, so you can compare results with friends.

When do new puzzles come out?A new lineup drops every day at midnight, your local time. There's a countdown on the game screen.

Are my streak and stats saved?They're stored in your own browser, so they'll be there when you come back on the same device. Clearing your browser data resets them.

I found a wrong answer.Please let us know via the contact page — corrections are welcome and quick to make.

▶ Play today's puzzle