Reading · Vol. 2Scroll to read

HOOPSIM · OFFICIAL COLUMN VOL. 2 · OCT 3, 2026

State of
the Game

NEW · 1 ON 1

SPECIAL EDITION · PLAY YOUR OWN GAME

Dr. PossessionAri Lindqvist · @DrPossession · Engine & realism

You can call the game now

1 on 1 puts you in the chair for your own game: one possession at a time, your call against theirs, on the same engine that plays every other night. Here is how it works, and why the box score still counts.

Until now every game in HoopSim was played for you. You set the depth chart and the game plan, the engine played forty-eight minutes, and you read the box score. That is still how most nights will go. But from today there is a second way to play a game: sit in the chair and call it yourself.

It is called 1 on 1. With the ball you call the play. Without it you call the defense. The court acts out what happens, and then it is the other side's turn.

The intro card: who is calling each side and how the game works — Left: the card you get while the court loads. Right: your ball, six plays, five seconds.

The pad on offense: six plays as cards under the 3D court — Left: the card you get while the court loads. Right: your ball, six plays, five seconds.

The same engine, with you in the chair

This is the part I care about most. A called possession is not a mini-game bolted on the side. It runs through the same engine as every simulated night: the same ratings, the same tired legs, the same fouls, the same box score. The only thing that changed is who makes the decision the coach used to make.

So I checked that it still plays like basketball. I had the CPU call both sides of 40 full test games, then played the same 40 games on the engine alone.

POINTS PER TEAM · 40 FULL TEST GAMES

EVERY POSSESSION CALLED108.1points per team

THE ENGINE ON ITS OWN111.3points per team

Same rosters, same 12-minute quarters. Called = the CPU picking a play and a defense on every possession.

Within three percent. And one more thing from the same test: I had one side run a single play all night against a CPU that was allowed to adjust. I tried it with each of the six plays. In every case the side that mixed its calls outscored the side that ran one play all night. The defense notices.

“Run one play all night and the defense notices. Mix your calls.”

One possession, start to finish

HOW A POSSESSION RUNS

1
Call itFive seconds. With the ball, pick one of six plays and, if you like, the player it runs through. Without it, pick one of six defenses. If the clock runs out the CPU calls it for you.
2
Both calls landYour call and theirs are revealed together, and the court plays the possession out.
3
Read itOn a pick and roll the play slows down for three seconds: pull up, drive, hit the roller or kick it out, against drop, switch, hedge, blitz or ice.
4
Live with itMake or miss, the ball changes hands and you are on the other side of the pad.

Here is what the first two steps look like. Every card says what it is for: a play shows who it runs through, a defense shows what it is built to stop.

Offense: Pick and roll, Iso, Post up, Drive, Three, Motion — Tempo and the glass are switches above the cards on offense; effort and the boards on defense.

Defense: Man, Zone, Help, Trap, Press, Double — Tempo and the glass are switches above the cards on offense; effort and the boards on defense.

The pick and roll gets its own beat. When the screen is set the play slows down and both sides pick at once, without seeing the other: the ball handler's read against the defense's coverage. Guess right and you get the open look.

The read: four cards while the play runs in slow motion — The screen is set, the play is in slow motion, and both sides pick at once.

Your coach still runs the bench, but he asks first. When he wants a sub you get a note: OK, or leave him in. Call a timeout and you can make your own subs, see who is tired, and see what the other side has been calling.

Coach wants a sub: OK or No — The coach asks before he subs. In a timeout the lineup is yours.

Timeout: who is on the floor, tired legs, what they have called — The coach asks before he subs. In a timeout the lineup is yours.

Twelve-minute quarters, about ten minutes of your time

A league game played live is always a real 48-minute game with a real box score. What you choose is how much of it you call.

TWO LENGTHS · THE COMMISSIONER PICKS

ABOUT 10 MINUTESLast 3The coaches play the first 9:00 of every quarter with both teams' game plans.You call the last 3:00, when it is decided.

ABOUT 35 MINUTESFullEvery possession of all four quarters is yours.For the nights you want the whole game.

Both are 12-minute quarters with real minutes and real totals.

It counts

A live game is not an exhibition. You play today's scheduled game, and the result goes in the books at the next league sim like any other: stats, standings, the play-by-play, all of it.

If today's opponent is run by the CPU, you just play. If it has a GM, you send a challenge and the game is played live only if they say yes. Nobody plays your team for you without asking. When two GMs play, each calls only their own side, and neither sees the other's call until both are locked in.

Locked in, waiting for the other GM — Locked in. The other GM is still choosing, and cannot see your call.

If you step away

Life happens. Tap Auto and the CPU calls your side while you watch; tap any card to take over again. Miss three clocks in a row, or close the app, and your side goes on Auto on its own, so the other GM is never left waiting. You can come back at any point and pick it up from the score as it stands.

Nobody forfeits. If everyone leaves, the CPU finishes the game. If the league's scheduled sim comes due while a game is still going, the sim waits a few minutes, then the game is finished the same way.

Auto: the CPU is calling your side — On Auto the CPU calls your side. The final says whether the game counts.

The final: score, top lines, and that the result counts — On Auto the CPU calls your side. The final says whether the game counts.

Everyone can watch

A live game shows up on every GM's Dash and in League chat. Drop in and you see the court, the score and who is calling each side. You see each pair of calls once both are locked in, never before.

Watching a live game: the court and the last two calls — A watcher's screen: the last two calls where your cards would be.

Where to find it

Your commissioner switches 1 on 1 on for the league and sets the clocks and the game length. Once it is on, look at your Dash on a day your team plays: there is a Play it live stub next to your schedule. Exhibitions are in the same place if you want to learn the pad first. Nothing in an exhibition is saved.

Live now on the Dash: a ticket stub with the live score — A game in progress on another GM's Dash. Tap to watch.

NEXT IN THE LAB

1More in a timeout. Matchups and your game plan on the timeout card, not only subs.

2A nudge when you step away. A note to your phone when your side was put on Auto.

3The record. A mark on games the CPU finished, so the league can see how each one ended.

This is a first version, and I will be measuring it the way I measure everything else here: against the real thing. Call a few possessions and tell me what the numbers do not show.

— Dr. Possession