What is TikiTaka?
TikiTaka is a passing puzzle on a tactical board. You control one team and must pass the ball to each teammate exactly once before shooting into the goal. Defenders block zones with circular coverage, and your own completed pass lines become obstacles. Each daily set contains five boards named Warm-up, Build-up, Total Football, High Press and Final Third, with teams growing from five to nine players.
How to play
- Start by dragging the ball from the current player to a teammate to draw a pass.
- Pass through every player once; do not revisit anyone or leave anyone out.
- Before drawing the next pass, check that it avoids the defenders’ circles and every pass line already on the field.
- The last player must have a clear shot at the goal with no obstacle in the way.
- Work through all five boards in order. Each one adds another player to the field.
Your own passes become walls
The central mechanic is that completed pass lines turn into barriers. A pass that looks perfect when you play it can trap you three moves later by cutting off access to remaining teammates. This transforms a simple connection task into an ordering puzzle where the optimal first pass is often the least obvious one. The final board with nine players requires tracking the entire field state mentally.
Reading the feedback
The board header displays a score, a pass counter showing progress toward the total, a TURNOVERS count and a clock. When a pass clips a defender's circle, the line is cut and the ball remains with the current player, making the error visible without ending the attempt. Three buttons below the board offer Undo, Reset and Hint.
Modes
The day's five boards
A daily series from Warm-up to Final Third, with teams of five to nine players.
Archive
Replaying past days requires an account, which also saves your streak and publishes your score.
Weekly leaderboard
A week-dated ranking shown beneath the game. You appear by playing the daily puzzle and agreeing to public ranking.
Tips and strategy
Order determines success. Evaluate each pass not by its immediate legality but by which field areas it will block for later moves. The final shot must also clear all obstacles, so the last player you choose becomes your finisher and must have a clean line to goal.
Defenders cover discs, not points. A pass that visually misses a defender by a narrow margin is still intercepted if it enters their circular zone.
The page does not explain what increments the TURNOVERS counter.
No football knowledge required
Everything needed to solve each board is displayed on the field. There is nothing to memorize or look up. Each board has a single correct sequence, and finding that order is the puzzle.
An account is optional for the daily puzzle but required for the archive, leaderboard and cross-device streak preservation.