🥈 WHO'D THEY BEAT?

Everyone remembers the champion. Do you remember the other guys?

Every final in this game is in the Record Books, runner-up and all.

Who'd They Beat? Sports Finals Runner Up Quiz

A daily quiz about the other side of the trophy photo. We give you the champion and the year across the Super Bowl, NBA Finals, World Series, Stanley Cup and WNBA Finals; you name the beaten finalist. Every option is a real runner-up from the record books.

History has a short memory and it only keeps one name per year. Who'd They Beat? is about the other name: the team that made the final, shook hands, and watched the confetti fall on somebody else.

We give you the champion and the year, across five competitions: the Super Bowl, the NBA Finals, the World Series, the Stanley Cup and the WNBA Finals. You pick who they beat from four options, and every single option is a real beaten finalist from that competition's record books.

How to play Who'd They Beat?, a free finals trivia game

Reading the champion and the year

Read the final: a champion and a year.

Picking the loser from four options

Pick which of the four teams lost to them.

Seeing the answer and the series result

The reveal names the answer and the series result straight away.

Ten daily finals across five leagues

Ten finals per day, two from each competition, one point per correct pick.

Switching to unlimited after the daily set

The daily set is the same for everyone. Unlimited mode keeps dealing.

Who'd They Beat? rules for options and daily scoring

Every option is a real finals loser

Every option is a genuine finals loser from that same competition. No invented teams, ever.

Mixing in runners up from other years

The wrong options are real runners up from other years, which is what makes the near misses cruel: the 1995 Magic show up as an option for the 1994 question.

One pick per final, no second chances

One pick per final, no second chances, and the daily locks your result once you finish.

Who'd They Beat? walkthrough: the 1994 Rockets and the 1942 Leafs

The 1994 Rockets against the Knicks

The card asks: "The Houston Rockets won the 1994 NBA Finals. Who did they beat?" You remember the Knicks going to seven, pick New York, and the reveal confirms it, series 4-3.

The 1942 Maple Leafs comeback final

Next card is hockey: the 1942 Maple Leafs. If you know the only final ever won from three games down, you know Detroit was on the wrong end of it.

Who'd They Beat? tips for placing the era and league

Placing the era before the league

Work out the era first, then the conference or league. Half the wrong options die on geography.

Trusting dynasty years as the easy calls

Dynasty years are the easy ones: everyone knows who kept losing to the Bulls. The 40s and 50s are where scores are made.

Picking up who beat whom as you go

The reveal teaches the series result too, which quietly makes you better at Champ or Not.

Choosing the option closest to the exact year

The trap options are usually from a year or two away. If two answers feel right, pick the one that fits the exact year.

Who'd They Beat? FAQ: leagues covered and the data

Are the wrong answers made up?

No. Every option genuinely lost a final in that competition at some point. The game is picking the right year's runner up, not spotting a fake team.

Where does the data come from?

The same audited record books behind our Record Books page: every finals loser was verified against independent lists and known history before this game was allowed to ask about it.

Why these five competitions?

They are the ones where our records carry every beaten finalist, all the way back: 121 World Series, 110 Stanley Cup Finals, 80 NBA Finals, 60 Super Bowls and every WNBA Finals since 1997.

Is Who'd They Beat? free to play?

Yes. Who'd They Beat? is free to play on DoUKnowBall, right in your browser. No download and no signup needed.

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