Is there a penalty shoot-out game for PC?

Spot Kick, part of Games by Zaweba, is a penalty shoot-out under the floodlights against the computer. You take your penalties by choosing where to shoot and how hard, then go in goal and dive to stop theirs. It is five penalties each, then sudden death. The app is free, original and works offline.

It is a short game, which suits it. A shoot-out is over in a few minutes, and there is always a reason to take another.

Taking your penalty

Click in the goal where you want to shoot. Then click to set the power, while your aim drifts slightly, so there is a little nerve involved even in the aiming. Power is the real choice. Too much and the ball can fly over the bar. Too little and the keeper has time to reach it, even if you picked the right corner.

The safest penalties go low and towards a corner with a firm, not wild, strike. A shot into the top corner is unstoppable when it comes off, but the drift and the risk of the bar make it a gamble. Over five kicks, steady placement tends to beat heroics.

Going in goal

When the computer shoots, you are the keeper. Click where you want to dive. You can either guess during the run-up, committing early and hoping you read it right, or wait and react once the ball is struck. Guessing gets you across the goal in time for the corners, but you might go the wrong way. Reacting means you always go the right way, but the well-placed shots may beat you.

Mixing the two works well. If you have been reacting and the corners keep beating you, commit early on the next one. Either way, you only need to save one or two to give yourself a lead.

Five each, then sudden death

The shoot-out runs to the familiar format: five penalties each, and if it is level after that, sudden death, one each until one side scores and the other misses. The pressure builds naturally, since every miss in sudden death decides it.

Your plays, wins and best score are kept on the game's tile in Games by Zaweba, in a scores file on your own PC, so you can see how many shoot-outs you have won against the computer over time. A shoot-out takes only a few minutes, so it is an easy game to play best of three against the computer when you have a short break, and a good one to pass round when friends or family want to see who keeps their nerve.

Finding Spot Kick in the library

Spot Kick is on the Skill & sport shelf, which holds 17 games with wind, wobble and luck to beat. Open the shelf or press Ctrl+F and type its name. The title card explains the rules and controls before the first kick, F1 explains them again, Esc pauses and F11 gives you the whole goal across the screen.

There are no adverts, no accounts and no network. The pitch, the floodlights and every sound are made in code, so the game starts instantly and needs nothing extra. If you like the duel of it, Puck Smash and Table Tennis on the same shelf are quick head-to-head games against the computer too.