On Target
Stack goals into the target band.
On Target is push-your-luck with a football brain. A target band sits on a meter; you add players one at a time, each one's stat total stacking your score toward it. Stop while you're inside the band and the score banks. Sail past the top of it and you bust to nothing — every player you named, gone.
The opening picks are easy swings, but the approach is the game: you're inside the band, the next player banks or busts you, and you have to *know* — not hope — roughly what their tally is. It quietly tests the least glamorous knowledge in football: not who was great, but how much, exactly.
In a duel you take turns stacking your own meters, and watching an opponent bust on the final pick is one of the great free pleasures of the app.
How to play
- Add players one at a time — each adds their stat to a running total.
- A target band sits on the meter. Stop with your total inside it for the big score; stopping short scores less.
- Overshoot the top of the band and you bust to zero.
From the coachChuck players in one at a time and watch the meter climb. There's a green sweet spot — pull up inside it and you're golden. Sail past and it's back to nowt.
Free to play in your browser — no download, no sign-up — and every round is built from real player and season data. More about the app and the dataset.
Where to start
For a first round, stop early and bank something. The instinct is to keep adding until the meter is comfortably inside the band, and the meter does not work like that — the last pick is always the dangerous one. Getting a modest score home teaches you more about the pace of the meter than busting spectacularly does, and busting is very easy to arrange later.
Then pay attention to the sizes rather than the names. After two or three rounds you will start to hold a rough scale in your head for the competition you are playing — what a good season looks like, what a good career looks like, what a squad player looks like — and that scale is the only thing this game is really testing.
How to get better at On Target
Open big and close small. While the band is a long way off, the picks barely matter and any large total moves you usefully; the game only really starts when the meter approaches the band. At that point you should be reaching exclusively for players whose totals you are certain of, because the difference between banking a score and busting to nothing is often a handful of goals.
The knowledge this game tests is calibration rather than greatness. What wins rounds is not knowing who the best players were, it is knowing roughly what an ordinary good career actually totals in the competition on screen — a bank of players in the small numbers, precisely placed. Almost everybody over-estimates famous careers and under-estimates the length of unglamorous ones, and both errors are fatal near the top of the band.
Set the burden of proof correctly. Stopping inside the band scores well, stopping short still scores something, and busting scores nothing at all, so once you are inside the band the next pick has to justify itself. If the gap left to the top of the band is smaller than the smallest total you can name with confidence, the round is over and the correct move is to stop.
Where rounds get lost
- One more from inside the band — The most expensive habit in the game. You are already holding a good score, and a single optimistic pick converts it into nothing at all.
- Over-rating a famous career — The stat belongs to the competition shown. A player whose reputation was built elsewhere, or across a whole career, will contribute far less than the mental figure attached to their name.
- Refusing to stop short — Stopping short of the band still scores. Treating a merely decent result as a failure, and swinging for the band with a player you cannot place, is how decent results become zeroes.
Common questions
- What happens if I go past the target band?
- You bust, and the score goes to nothing — every player you'd stacked that round is gone. Stopping while you're inside the band is what banks it, so knowing when to stop is worth more than knowing another name.
- How is this different from just naming big players?
- Because big is often wrong. Once you're near the band you need a player whose tally is roughly a known size, and overshooting is fatal. It tests how much, exactly — the least glamorous football knowledge there is.
- Is it better to stop early or push on?
- Depends where the band sits and how confident you are in your next pick. The honest answer is that most busts come from one pick too many by someone who was already safely inside — banking an unspectacular score beats losing a good one.
- What does a duel look like?
- You take turns stacking your own meters rather than sharing one, so you can watch an opponent's decision play out in full. Seeing someone bust on a final pick they didn't need to make is one of the great free pleasures of the app.
It’s you if "stick or twist" is a question you answer with a spreadsheet heart.