Draft your five against your friends

How the basketball auction works

1. 📲Create a game and send the link. Drop the link in the group chat before tip-off. Everyone joins on their own phone, so it works at the watch party and from different cities.
2. 🔨Bid on one basketball player at a time. Point guards, wings and centers go under the hammer one by one, legends from as far back as 1957 next to players from this season. A big man can go for 30M if two of you need a center.
3. 🏟️Choose how your five line up. The game is played quarter by quarter, basket by basket. A close one goes to overtime, and the stronger five always wins it.

Plus three more basketball games

• 🕵️Guess the player. Six clues about a mystery basketball player, one at a time. Name them first — a wrong guess hands everyone else the point.
• ❤️This or That. Two basketball players, same position, same era. One of you picks in secret, the rest guess which.
• 🎭Imposter. Everyone gets the same basketball player except one bluffer. One word each, then vote.

Why basketball fans keep playing the auction

• ⚡Real bidding wars. There are only five starting spots, so one star changes everything. The real question is whether you can afford a second one and still fill the bench.
• 🏆214 basketball players to fight over. 42 point guards, 43 shooting guards, 48 small forwards, 37 power forwards and 44 centers. Drawn at random, so no two auctions are the same.
• 📣Every manager gets a verdict. Paid 40M for a reserve? The whole group will know.
• 📺Put it on the big screen. Open deadlineday.app/tv and the auction, every starting five and the result play out on the TV while you bid on your phones.
• 🤖Only two of you? Add computer managers, each with their own bidding style.
• 🚫No ads. Ever. Nothing gets between you and the hammer.

What does the basketball auction cost?

The basketball auction rules in one minute

• Budget: every manager starts with 100M of play money. You always keep enough to fill the rest of your squad, so you can never go broke.
• Squad: 8 players: five starters and three on the bench. Bench depth adds a little to your team strength, the starting five decides most of it.
• Bidding: the clock starts at 10 seconds and every bid restarts it. Tap Pass when you are out, and when everyone has passed the hammer falls straight away.
• Hidden ratings: you never see a basketball player's rating during the auction. You bid on what you know.
• The last manager standing: when everyone else has a full squad, the last manager gets random basketball players to fill theirs. Bid while you can.
• Lineup: Choose how your five line up: Standard, Small ball, Twin towers or Three guards. One step on the scale from point guard to center is almost free; a point guard playing center costs a lot.
• The result: a season of games and a final between the top two. Overtime settles the close ones, and the stronger five always takes it.

Basketball auction questions