Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
Hello and welcome to this video tutorial for Basketball G.M.
by Fanfare Games.
This video will briefly introduce you to the game of Basketball G.M. and familiarize
you with the game's rules.
This video will not cover every rule,
so for the full game rulebook, frequently asked questions, and more,
visit fanfaregames.net.
In Basketball G.M., you and your fellow players are each the general manager,
or GM, of a professional basketball team.
This video will refer to the people playing the game as "GMs"
and the term "player" will always refer to a basketball player represented by one
of the game's cards.
As GM, it is your job to assemble the best roster of players possible in order
to win the league championship.
The game has two main parts: the draft
and the season.
The draft is where you will be putting your initial team together by choosing from
a limited pool players.
We will explore
the draft in more depth later in this video.
The season is where you'll find out how good your team is by pitting it against
the teams drafted by the other GMs.
In Basketball G.M., your team does not play individual games against your opponents' teams.
Instead,
through a series of eight turns, all teams compete to accrue the most victory points,
which are handed out based on how the teams rank in terms of their ability totals.
At the end of those eight turns,
the top teams in victory points may compete for the league title,
or the team with the most victory points may be crowned the champion.
How the champion is determined should be decided by all GMS before the game.
These are player cards.
These cards represent the basketball players in your league.
These icons indicate the caliber of the player.
The player's caliber is a quick way to judge the quality of the player.
There are four main player calibers:
Star, Starter,
Role Player, and Free Agent.
The first three calibers, the cards with the blue background,
are all pool players.
The final caliber, free agents,
has a gray background.
Additionally, pool players and free agents can be distinguished by their
card backs.
Pool players and Free Agents function the same way but are acquired differently.
Though we will only cover a pool player in detail in this video,
the explanation applies to free agents as well.
At the top of the card is the name of the player,
with a subtitle below.
Immediately below the subtitle is a large white box with letters.
This is the positions box, which indicates which position,
or positions, the player may play.
There five positions in Basketball G.M.:
Point Guard, Shooting Guard, Small Forward, Power Forward, and Center.
You will be required to have one player at each of these positions on your team.
This player qualifies for two positions: small forward and power forward.
He may play either of those positions, but you will need a second player for the other.
On left side of the position box are three ovals.
These ovals indicate, from top to bottom:
the player's age,
height in feet and inches,
and weight in pounds.
Below the position box are the player's personality type and any skills he has.
A player always has exactly one personality type
and may have one or more skills, though some players have none.
Personalities and skills have no intrinsic gameplay function, but may be
referenced by other cards.
Below the skills box is a game text box. This box may include a special ability
that the player provides.
Finally, at the bottom of the card are three numbers:
ability, salary, and value.
Ability reflects how good this player is at the game of basketball.
This number will contribute towards your team's ability total each turn.
The higher the number, the better.
Salary represents how many points of salary this player costs.
Basketball G.M. has a salary cap,
which is the maximum number of salary points each team may have on its roster
at any one time.
The higher the salary,
the more expensive the player.
Value represents how coveted this player is by teams around the league.
The higher the value, the more the player is worth.
This is primarily important for trades, which we will discuss later.
Each GM will have a roster of no more than twelve players.
From this roster, each GM will select eight players each turn to contribute their
ability numbers towards the team's total.
Five of these players make up the starting lineup and must include one
point guard, one shooting guard, one small forward, one power forward and one center.
In addition, the GM may also select one extra guard,
one extra forward, and one extra center.
Collectively, these eight players make up the team's rotation.
The second type of card is the coach card.
Each team will have one coach, who is selected during the draft.
Coaches have a name and subtitle at the top as well as the box for game text.
This game text will provide a bonus to certain players if they are on your
roster.
GMs should keep their coach's game text in mind when considering which
players to draft or otherwise acquire.
Additionally, coaches have an ability number, which is added to the team's ability total,
just like players.
Also just like players, coaches have a salary, which counts towards the salary cap.
Finally, coaches have a strategy number, which determines how many strategy cards
the coach's GM may have in hand at any one time.
Strategy cards are a type of card that allow each GM to shape their team's
game plan on each turn.
Each GM will have a hand of strategy cards equal to the strategy number of
that GM's coach.
Each turn,
GMs will select one strategy card to play from hand to give their team an added boost.
Once a strategy card is played, it is discarded and a new card is drawn in its place.
The final card type, Occurrences, represent events that happen to your
team over which you have no control.
Each Occurrence lists an effect that must be carried out as soon as the card
is drawn.
Occurrences are occasionally beneficial, but usually are a hindrance.
Fear not, though, for Occurrence cards also include a performance number.
This number indicates the number of performance dice the GM who drew
the occurrence card gets to roll
and add to his or her team's ability total for the turn.
The more damaging the Occurrence card is to your team, the more dice you'll get to roll
to help soften the blow.
To set up the game, separate out the cards by their types.
The card backs indicate to which pile each card belongs.
Shuffle each pile separately and set them out so that they are easily reachable.
The first part of the game is the draft, during which each GM will draft
a team of ten players.
Basketball G.M. can utilize any draft style the GMs prefer.
For the purposes of this video, we will demonstrate the standard draft style
for Basketball G.M., which we call a quick draft.
To begin a quick draft, first deal each GM a pack of ten players,
including one Star player,
three Starter players,
and six Role Players.
Next, deal each GM two coaches.
Now that the game is set up, we will walk you through the drafting process.
The first thing you'll choose is your head coach.
Before choosing between the coaches dealt to you, you may examine the players in your pack.
Next, look at your two coaches and select one to keep,
and pass the other to the GM to your left.
The GM to your right will pass you one of his or her coaches.
You then look at these two coaches, the one you kept and the one passed to you,
and pick one to keep and one to pass. Repeat this process once for each GM
in the game.
Once coaches have been chosen, it is time to draft players.
Look through your pack of players and choose one to keep for your team.
Place this player face down in front of you and pass the remaining nine players to
the GM to your left.
Take the pack of players passed to you from the GM to your right, select one of those players to
draft, and then pass the remaining players to your left.
Repeat this process until all players have been drafted.
Finally, deal two free agent cards to each GM in order to give all teams a total of
twelve players.
The next step is to determine the salary cap.
Total the salaries of all of the players on your team, plus your coach.
This total represents your team's current salary total.
Record this total in the total salary row of your team score sheet,
in the first column labeled "Pre".
Once all GMs have announced their salary totals, round the highest salary total
to the next highest multiple of ten.
This number is the salary cap.
Next, you must decide upon your starting lineup and player rotation.
First, set out in a row one player for each of the five positions:
point guard, shooting guard, small forward, power forward, and center.
These five players make up your starting lineup.
Next, select one other player who plays either guard position,
another player who plays either forward position, and a second center and set these
three players in a row below your starting lineup.
These three players are your bench rotation players and will also contribute
their ability numbers to your total.
Finally, place the remaining four players in a third row below your bench rotation players.
These players will not contribute their ability numbers to your total.
Once your rotation has been selected,
write down the ability numbers of all your rotation players on your team score sheet,
noting any bonuses your players receive from your coach.
It is not necessary to record your bench players' ability numbers, though you can if
you wish.
Finally,
total all of the ability numbers of your eight rotation players and your coach to
determine your subtotal.
A Basketball GM season consists of eight turns.
During these turns, your team does not play individual games against your opponents.
Instead, your team is conceptually playing multiple games against various opponents in
the league, some of which are not actually represented by other GMs.
Each turn as broken into a number of phases and each phase has one or more
segments.
The trading block is the first phase of the turn.
During this phase, several players from the player pool, which is all those players
who were not included in the initial draft,
are placed on the trading block.
In a two GM game,
two players are added to the trading block.
For games with more GMs, more players will be added.
At the start of the phase, roll a number of dice equal to the number of players to be
added to the trading block.
For each roll result of one, add a Star player to the block.
For each result of two or three, add a Starter,
and for each result of four, five, or six, add a Role Player.
In our example,
one Starter and one Role Player are placed on the trading block.
Next, you and the other GMs will take turns bidding on the players on the
trading block.
To make a bid, select one player on the trading block,
and choose one or more players that you are willing to offer in exchange for
the trading block player.
For trade offer to be valid,
the sum of the offered players' value numbers must be two less than the value
of the player being traded for, at the minimum.
You may offer any amount of value above the value of the player on the block.
Once an offer is made, the other GMs may make counter offers, which must exceed
the current top offer in total value.
When someone has made an offer that no other GM wishes to exceed,
that GM wins the auction and adds the trading block player to his or her team,
and discards the players offered in the trade.
The winning GM also must update his or her score sheet with the new players'
salary, minus the salaries of the players traded away.
When one auction is finished,
all GMs that have not won an auction that turn are offered the chance to make
offers for the players remaining on the trading block.
Once all players on the block have been auctioned, or all GMs refused the option
to bid on them,
the trading block phase ends.
The Team Phase is next.
In this phase, GMs act one at a time, with each GM completing all segments
of the phase before the next GM begins the phase.
First, draw the top card of the Occurrence pile.
Read it aloud,
and follow its instructions. Occurrences may cause players to be
injured or suspended,
or might provide bonuses or penalties to you or to all teams in the league.
Write down any bonuses or penalties from your Occurrence card in the bonus
row on your team score sheet.
Next, you may trade with other GMs in the game.
Only the active GM may offer trades or have trades offered to him or her.
The total value of the players offered by both sides must be within two points
of each other
or else the trade is not allowed.
Next, reveal the top player of the free agent pile and choose whether or not to add
that player to your team.
If you add the player, that player's salary must be added to your team's salary total.
If you elect not to keep the player, place it in the free agent discard pile.
Next, you must verify that your team meets three criteria:
First, your team must have no more than twelve players.
Second, the sum of the salaries for all your players and your coach must not
exceed the salary cap.
And third, your team must have at least one player at each of the five positions:
point guard, shooting guard, small forward, power forward, and center.
When all GMs have completed the Team Phase, the GMs simultaneously make final
preparations for the turn.
Following the draft, you were dealt a number of Strategy cards equal to the
strategy number on your coach.
These cards make up your strategy hand.
During this segment, choose one Strategy card from your strategy hand and place it face
down on the table.
When all GMs have picked a strategy, the selected strategy cards are revealed
simultaneously and read aloud.
Write down the bonus from your strategy card in the bonus row of your team score sheet
next to any modifiers from your Occurrence card.
Finally, you may make adjustments to your team's rotation.
This may include inserting a newly- acquired player into the lineup, moving
an injured player to the bench, or any other lineup changes you want.
At this time, update your score sheet with the ability number of the players
added to the rotation.
It is not necessary to write in every player's ability number every turn.
Only the numbers that have changed are necessary.
At last, it is time to see whose team will win the turn.
You now roll a number of dice equal to the performance dice number on the
Occurrence card that you drew during the Team Phase.
Add the result of the roll to your score sheet.
Now add up the total of the abilities of the players in your team's rotation,
plus your dice roll,
plus any modifiers provided by your Occurrence and Strategy cards,
to calculate your ability total for the turn.
Report this total to the commissioner for recording on the league standing sheet.
When all GMs have reported their ability totals, the commissioner will
hand out victory points to each GM based on where that GM's total ranked compared
to the totals of all GMs.
The GM with the highest total gets victory points equal to the number of
GMs in the game.
The GM with the second-highest total gets one point fewer, and so on, until the GM
with the lowest total receives one victory point.
At the end of eight turns, the GM with the most victory points is the league champion.
This concludes our tutorial video for Basketball G.M.
We hope this has helped you learn how to play the game.
For complete rules and frequently asked questions,
visit the Basketball G.M. page at fanfaregames.net.
Thank you for watching!