How the minigames work
Each minigame is played with a player from your squad and permanently raises a pair of their attributes (Defense, Pass, Attack and Energy). The 23 are grouped into four types by the skill they demand most. In matches, each play is resolved with a minigame: your performance combines with the real stats of the player involved, so neither stats alone nor your own skill alone is enough.
12 minigames are available from the start (including Game Vision, Timed Shooting and Flash Count); Marking (League 9), Pattern Play and Set Play (League 8), Who Moved? (League 7), Mental Sprint (League 6), Offside Call (League 5), Free Kick (League 4), Endurance (League 3), Intercept Pass and Repeat Striker (League 2) and Box to Box (League 1) unlock as you get promoted. For how the Local League, the National Team and Tournaments work, see the complete guide.
The minigames are also played in the Penalties mode: a shootout of 5 minigames, solo or against a friend, where each round goes to whoever scores higher and your squad doesn't affect the result. Don't confuse it with the Penalty Kick minigame, which is just one of the 23.
Reflexes: timing, anticipation and precision
Seven minigames test how fast and how exactly you react: hitting the exact moment (timing), anticipating the movement, aiming with precision, judging how hard to hit the ball and holding a steady rhythm. They depend the most on your hand and your reaction times.
| Minigame | Trains | Skills required |
|---|---|---|
| Quick Touch | Pass + Energy | Reflexes · Timing · Motor anticipation · Precision |
| Intercept PassLeague 2+ | Defense + Energy | Timing · Motor anticipation · Aim · Precision · Reflexes |
| Precision Shot | Defense + Pass + Attack + Energy | Hand-eye coordination · Processing speed · Strafing · Tracking |
| Timed Shooting | Attack + Energy | Timing · Motor anticipation · Precision |
| Free KickLeague 4+ | Attack + Energy | Aim · Fine motor control · Trajectory estimation · Force dosing |
| EnduranceLeague 3+ | Defense + Pass + Attack + Energy | Rhythm · Timing · Two-hand coordination · Sustained effort |
| Box to BoxLeague 1+ | Pass + Attack + Energy | Timing · Reading space · Anticipation · Decisions under pressure |
Visual speed: telling things apart and deciding in an instant
Five minigames demand looking fast and well: spotting differences, choosing among several visual options, judging a play at a glance, filtering what matters (selective attention) at high processing speed, following several moving players (visual tracking) and counting at a glance how many there are (subitizing).
| Minigame | Trains | Skills required |
|---|---|---|
| Find the Match | Defense + Energy | Visual discrimination · Processing speed · Selective attention |
| Game Vision | Pass + Energy | Visual discrimination · Processing speed · Selective attention · Pattern recognition |
| Flash Count | Defense + Energy | Subitizing · Rapid perception · Selective attention · Numerical estimation |
| MarkingLeague 9+ | Defense + Energy | Visual tracking · Sustained attention · Spatial memory · Anticipation |
| Offside CallLeague 5+ | Pass + Energy | Reading the game · Visual discrimination · Processing speed · Decision-making under pressure |
Memory: see, retain and recall
Six minigames rely on memory: retaining what you saw for an instant (iconic and photographic memory), recalling positions, pairs or formations (visuospatial memory), repeating a play in the exact order you saw it (sequential memory) and keeping track of what happened two plays ago (working memory).
| Minigame | Trains | Skills required |
|---|---|---|
| Tiki-Taka Memory | Pass + Energy | Visuospatial memory · Visual memory · Photographic memory |
| Keeper Formation | Defense + Energy | Visual memory · Iconic memory · Photographic memory |
| Penalty Kick | Attack + Energy | Visual memory · Iconic memory · Photographic memory |
| Who Moved?League 7+ | Pass + Energy | Visuospatial memory · Visual memory · Tactical reading · Processing speed |
| Set PlayLeague 8+ | Attack + Energy | Sequential memory · Spatial memory · Visual retention · Planning |
| Repeat StrikerLeague 2+ | Attack + Energy | Working memory · Updating · Inhibition · Sustained attention |
Logic: arithmetic, mental agility and sequences
Five minigames ask you to think fast: doing sums in your head against the clock, recognizing patterns, completing logical series, ordering and following sequences, switching strategy (cognitive flexibility) and holding back impulses (inhibitory control).
| Minigame | Trains | Skills required |
|---|---|---|
| Tactical Order | Attack + Energy | Mental agility · Cognitive processing speed |
| Find & Evade Rivals | Defense + Pass + Attack + Energy | Mental agility · Processing speed · Logic and cognitive quickness · Visuospatial skill · Pattern recognition |
| Auto Sequence | Defense + Pass + Attack + Energy | Sustained attention · Cognitive flexibility · Sequencing · Mental agility · Inhibitory control |
| Mental SprintLeague 6+ | Defense + Pass + Attack + Energy | Mental arithmetic · Mental agility · Processing speed · Decision-making under pressure |
| Pattern PlayLeague 8+ | Defense + Energy | Inductive reasoning · Pattern recognition · Mental math · Mental agility |
Glossary of skills
The terms used across this page, in plain language.
- Timing
- Hitting the exact moment to act.
- Motor anticipation
- Preparing the movement before the stimulus happens, predicting when and where it will occur.
- Anticipation
- Predicting what is about to happen from what you see, so you can decide or move earlier.
- Aim and precision
- Directing the action to the exact point with the smallest margin of error.
- Reflexes
- Speed of reaction to an unexpected stimulus.
- Hand-eye coordination
- Coordinating what you see with your hand's movement.
- Tracking
- Following a moving target with your eyes and cursor.
- Visual tracking
- Following several moving objects at once with your eyes.
- Strafing
- Moving sideways while keeping your aim on the target (a term from aim training in video games).
- Visual discrimination
- Telling apart differences between similar visual stimuli.
- Selective attention
- Focusing on what's relevant while ignoring distractions.
- Processing speed
- How fast you take in information and make a decision.
- Rapid perception
- Taking in what is in a scene in a fraction of a second.
- Subitizing
- Instantly telling how many items there are in a small group without counting them one by one.
- Numerical estimation
- Judging by eye roughly how many items there are, without counting them one by one.
- Pattern recognition
- Spotting regularities or repeated structures in what you see.
- Inductive reasoning
- Working out the rule from examples to predict what comes next in a series.
- Visuospatial skill
- Understanding and handling positions, distances and movement in space.
- Visual memory
- Remembering what you saw.
- Iconic memory
- A very brief, detailed retention of an image you've just seen.
- Photographic memory
- Retaining a scene in great detail from a single glance (a popular term).
- Visuospatial memory
- Remembering where each thing is.
- Spatial memory
- Remembering where each object or player was.
- Working memory
- Holding several pieces of information in your head at once and handling them while you use them.
- Updating
- Replacing what you remembered with the new information that appears, dropping what no longer applies.
- Inhibition
- Holding back an automatic response when it is not the right one.
- Sequential memory
- Remembering the exact order in which a series of events happened.
- Visual retention
- Keeping an image or a play in your mind after you have seen it.
- Planning
- Working out the steps needed to reach a goal.
- Mental arithmetic
- Solving additions, subtractions, multiplications and divisions in your head, without paper or a calculator.
- Mental agility
- Thinking and solving quickly.
- Cognitive flexibility
- Adapting quickly when the rules or the situation change.
- Sequencing
- Ordering or following a series of steps in the right order.
- Sustained attention
- Keeping your concentration over a long stretch.
- Inhibitory control
- Holding back an automatic response when it isn't the right one.
Frequently asked questions
What skills does each type of minigame demand?
Reflexes demand timing, motor anticipation, aim, precision and hand-eye coordination. Visual speed demands visual discrimination, selective attention, processing speed, pattern recognition, visual tracking, sustained attention, spatial memory, anticipation, subitizing, rapid perception and numerical estimation. Memory demands visual, iconic, photographic and visuospatial memory. Logic demands inductive reasoning, mental arithmetic, mental agility, sequencing, cognitive flexibility, inhibitory control and visuospatial skill.
How do my skills combine with my player's skills?
On every play of a match, your result in the minigame (your reflexes, memory, visual speed or logic, depending on the play) combines with the real attributes of the player involved (Defense, Pass or Attack) to decide whether the play works out. A player with better stats gives you more room for error, but you still need a strong performance yourself: you win with the combination of both.
How many minigames are there and which ones unlock with the league?
There are 23. 12 are available from the start (including Game Vision, Timed Shooting and Flash Count); Marking unlocks at League 9, Pattern Play and Set Play at League 8, Who Moved? at League 7, Mental Sprint at League 6, Offside Call at League 5, Free Kick at League 4, Endurance at League 3, Intercept Pass and Repeat Striker at League 2 and Box to Box at League 1.
Do I need to repeat a minigame to keep what it raised?
No. The attribute improvement from each minigame is permanent; you don't need to play it again to keep what you gained.
How do I play a minigame I have never played?
The first time you open each minigame, a short tip appears explaining in a sentence or two what to do. It closes with any tap and does not interrupt play: your first tap already counts as a move. To see the full instructions, tap the (?) button at the top right.