How it works

The core loop

• Six rounds, one per attribute: Jumpshot, Handles, Finishing, Playmaking, Defense, Athleticism.
• Each round the slot machine lands on a real franchise and decade — 59 team-eras across 27 franchises, and 17 are genuinely rough. The groans are part of it.
• The era roster appears — real players, era-flavored box stats. Steal one player’s skill for that attribute. Hidden per-attribute ratings grade every steal at the end.
• A player can be stolen from only once per run. No doubling up on one legend.
• Skips: one team re-spin (a brand new team-era) and one era re-spin (same franchise, different decade) per run. Spend them like they matter, because they do.
• Then beat 10 boss legends 1v1. Lose one Round and it's over.

Four modes

Daily

Date-seeded: everyone on Earth gets the identical spin sequence and rosters. One official run per UTC day, a streak, and an arcade leaderboard — three initials, top 50, resets at midnight UTC.

Classic

The pure knowledge test. A quick setup sheet first: Normal or Ball Knowledge (names only), and a build target — Best Player, or a positional challenge (Best PG through Best C) with that position's scoring weights and all-time boss ladder. No flaw anywhere in this mode.

Budget

Same loop, but every roster player shows a price for the current attribute and the run has $15 total. After three steals the weakness wheel interrupts: take a flaw, and the worse it is, the more budget it refunds for the last three steals (Mild +$1 · Bad +$2 · Brutal +$3 · Career-Threatening +$3). Someone on every roster is on a $1 minimum contract.

Head to Head

After any Classic run, mint a challenge link. Your friend plays the identical spins and rosters, then a side-by-side verdict compares every grade, crowns the higher OVR (grade points break ties), and roasts the loser. No accounts — the code carries everything.

The verdict

After the sixth steal: a short simulation beat, then one screen with everything — your OVR count-up and tier, all six grades, Best Steal and The Reach, how far you got in the boss gauntlet (full game log behind “view log” for whoever wants it), and the roast. Then Run It Back — a fresh wheel, a whole new build.

The gauntlet

Ten Rounds, each with a boss. Positional runs face that position's all-time ladder instead.

1. Round 1Boss: Boban MarjanovićThe Friendly Giant
2. Round 2Boss: JR SmithThe Wild Card
3. Round 3Boss: Dennis RodmanThe Menace
4. Round 4Boss: Ray AllenThe Assassin
5. Round 5Boss: Allen IversonThe Answer
6. Round 6Boss: Dirk NowitzkiThe Fadeaway
7. Round 7Boss: Tim DuncanThe Big Fundamental
8. Round 8Boss: Kobe BryantThe Mamba
9. Round 9Boss: LeBron JamesThe King
10. Round 10Boss: Michael JordanHis Airness

Rating tiers

GOAT is real but nearly unreachable. 99 is not reachable at all.

FAQ

Why can't I hit 99 OVR?

Because you can't. 99 is unreachable by construction — that's the name of the game. GOAT (96–99) is technically live if you read six rosters perfectly and the wheel is kind, and almost nobody will.

There are no prices in Classic. How am I supposed to know who's good?

That's the test. Box stats only partly signal a skill — scoring 28 a game tells you nothing about handles. Every roster hides at least one trap (big numbers, wrong skill) and one connoisseur pick (a role player with an elite rating). Deep cuts are rewarded on purpose. If you want prices, that's what Budget is for.

What's the difference between my grade and my OVR?

The grade is the decision; the OVR is the outcome. Taking the best handles on a rough roster is an A+ even though the number is still a 74 — you read the room perfectly and the roster just didn't have more. Rough eras are winnable on grades and brutal on OVR.

Same run, different results?

Every sim is seeded. The same code replays identically forever — in the app, on a share link, and in the preview image. Run It Back starts a whole new build on a fresh wheel.

How does the Daily leaderboard stop cheaters?

Your device submits only your build code and three initials. The server replays the code against today's wheel — wrong seed, impossible landing, extra re-spins, or a practice attempt all get rejected — and derives the score itself. Tampered scores never existed.

A player's rating is disrespectful.

File a complaint at the barbershop. (The ratings are the debate — that's the game.)

What decides who wins a Round?

Your offense, defense, playmaking, a seeded variance roll — and in Budget, your flaw. Athleticism fights late-round fatigue. First to 11; first loss ends the run.