Thunderball: rules of the game and frequently asked questions
How Thunderball is played, how the prize tiers work and what this site offers, in brief. Only the operator's official rules are binding.
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Rules of the game
How is Thunderball played?
Thunderball is a game of The National Lottery (United Kingdom), drawn on Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday evenings (London). You play 5 numbers from 39 plus a Thunderball from 1 to 14 drawn from a separate machine. All prizes are fixed, the top prize is £500,000 and one line costs £1. Statistics start with the current format on 12 May 2010. Data: lottery.merseyworld.com (unofficial archive of The National Lottery results). No guarantee.
How does the Thunderball work?
The Thunderball is drawn separately from 1 to 14; you choose it yourself.
Winning
What are the odds of winning?
The chance of the top tier (5 matches + Thunderball) is 1 in 8,060,598; the chance of winning anything is about 1 in 12. All tiers with their exact probability are on the Odds page.
This website
Where do the numbers come from?
Data: lottery.merseyworld.com (unofficial archive of The National Lottery results). No guarantee. The data covers 3993 draws from 12.06.1999 to 17.10.2026.
Do statistics help you win?
No. Every draw is independent of the previous ones and every combination is equally likely.