We had more than 3,300 unique visitors to www.pudnersports.com yesterday, December 30, 2023, one of our highest totals With all of our teams updated and reorganized into easier to open google sheets of 25 teams each, we are reposting the main instructions for the game below as we just updated.
All-Time Great Teams for the Value Add Basketball Game. Look up the team you want to play, and the page you need to print. To find other teams click on the appropriate list. List A - Alabama 1977 to Connecticut 2004, List B - Connecticut 2023 to Georgia Tech 2004, List C - Gonzaga 2017 to Kentucky 1948, List D - Kentucky 1970 to Miami 1965, List E - Miami 2013 to North Carolina St. 1974, List F - Northwestern 2017 to Seton Hall 1989, List G - Seton 2020 to UCLA 2006 and List H - UCLA 2021 to Xavier 2023. You can also choose from great all-time women's teams
To date 71,900 unique visitors have clicked on the instructions below to play the game, so this is a reprint on that instructions link as update.
10 Steps to Play a Value Add Basketball Game
To play a Value Add Basketball Game enjoyed by more than 70,000 people and featured in
Sports Sims Magazine:
Prep A. Choose Teams. Choose the two schools you want to play against each other. Each team is one page: We list every men's and women's team in the game at the very bottom of this blog.
All-Time Great Teams for the Value Add Basketball Game. Look up the team you want to play, and the page you need to print. To find other teams click on the appropriate list. List A - Alabama 1977 to Connecticut 2004, List B - Connecticut 2023 to Georgia Tech 2004, List C - Gonzaga 2017 to Kentucky 1948, List D - Kentucky 1970 to Miami 1965, List E - Miami 2013 to North Carolina St. 1974, List F - Northwestern 2017 to Seton Hall 1989, List G - Seton 2020 to UCLA 2006 and List H - UCLA 2021 to Xavier 2023. You can also choose from great all-time women's teams
Prep B: Pick up dice or print random fast action cards. You can purchase 4 dice (two traditional 6-sided dice of different colors, one 20-sided die and one 8-sided die) or print the Fast Action cars from either this
drop box or
website.
Prep C: Print a Scoresheet. You can either print the image below, or pull up this Google sheet.
10 Steps for Simple flow of the game.
Once you have taken Prep steps A to C you can begin your game, then refer to the rest of these instructions to add slightly more advanced steps. We will walk through the basic steps based on the starting line-ups from our all-time championship game between Bill Walton's 1972 UCLA team (List H, page 25) and Michael Jordan's 1982 UNC (List E, page 22) shown at the top of the blog.
1. Fill Out Scoresheet. Write the names of all 10 players for each team. The five on the top row of the cards would be listed in order, so if you wrote in North Carolina on the left of the scoresheet referring to the screen shot at the top of the blog, you would list Jimmy Black first as the point guard (PG-1), then Matt Doherty, Michael Jordan, James Worthy and Sam Perkins.
2. Determine Team Dunk Range in 51-66. Write a "dunk range" at the top of the sheet for each team. UNC's players have a 51-55, but because UCLA has an Adjust Dunk Range of -7 those five numbers are erased and there is no dunk range (in more advanced rules below this "negative" range actually takes baskets away from UNC on a 51-52.). UCLA has a 51-65 dunk range, but UNC has a -12 which lowers UCLA's dunk range to 51-53 for the game.
3. Game Starts 20-20, Each Player with 2 Points. Before the first roll, note that the game is tied 20-20 and the scoresheet shows that all 10 players have two points and a couple of other stats depending on position. This speeds up the time of play, and the assumption is that 22 possessions were already played during which every player scored once, and we have 44 possessions left to play (meaning the game is really a 66 to 75 possessions).
4. 8-sided Die Determines Which Player Gets the Ball. Roll the dice or pull a fast action card and look for the 1-8 number. If the 8-side die is a 1-5 then the ball goes to the player in that order in the game, so assuming all starters are in the game, a 1 goes to Black, 2 goes to Doherty, 3 to Jordan etc. If the roll is 6-8 then look for which players have extra numbers on the "Gets Ball On" and you will see that Worthy gets the ball on a 6, Perkins on a 7 and Jordan on an 8. The extra numbers are interchangeable, so if you have two 7s and one 8 in a game, you just decide before starting to roll which of the "7s" will get the ball on a 6 and which will get it on a 7.
5. Defensive Results on 11-66 Roll. Now that you know who has the ball, the corresponding player is guarding him. So if Jordan gets the ball, then Larry Farmer is guarding him. You need to decide at the beginning which 6-sided die is the 10s and which is the ones, so the dice roll shown above is a 32 because we made the red die the 10s and white die the 1s. If the roll is 11-13 then Farmer steals the ball, if 21-23 he blocks a shot by Jordan, 35-36 he fouls Jordan - all on the left side of the defender (Farmer's) card. On a 41-42 Jordan would turn the ball over. If UCLA had the ball a 51-53 would be a dunk, but because UCLA's defense erases Jordan's 51-55 dunk range he cannot get a free dunk.
The numbers 31 and 32 are saved for special defenders, no matter who has the ball. When UCLA has the ball, Jordan will steal the ball from any player on a 31 because his steal range is 11-16 or 31. If UNC has the ball, Bill Walton blocks any players shot on a 32 because of his 21-26, 32. If playing more advanced rules below the defense is a little different on a 6-8 in the advance rules below, but playing the basic game assume only the card of the defender on the player is used unless a defender has a 31 or 32, which can either steal the ball or block a shot no matter who has the ball.
6. 20-sided Die Used for Shot if Nothing Happens on 11-66. If nothing happens on the 11-66 rule (in this match-up, nothing happens on a 14-16, 24-26, 31, 33-34 or 51-66) then you refer to the 1-20 roll on Jordan's card. On a 1-2 Jordan makes a 3-pointer, on a 2-9 he makes a 2-pointer, on a 10-12 he is fouled and gets 2 shots, on a 13-15 he misses a three-pointer and on a 16-20 he misses a 2-pointers. The one time you use both rolls is if the defender fouls (35-36 in this case) in which case Farmer would have fouled Jordan and if he made a 3- or 2-pointer then the basket counts and he gets a free throw, and if he misses a 3-pointer while being fouled then he gets three fouls shots instead of 2.
7. Fouls Shots. For foul shots, roll the 20-sided die twice and Jordan's FT Made range is 1-14, so he makes it in that range or misses on a 15-20.
8. Rebounds on Missed Shots. If a shot or free throw is missed, then the following steps are followed to see who gets the rebound.
8a. On the "white" possessions on the scoresheet (43, 41, 39 ... 6, 4 or 2) the rebound goes to the defense and the scoresheet tells you which defensive player gets the rebound.
8b. On the "shaded" possessions (44, 42, 40 ... 5, 3, 1) you must refer to the rebound chart. Roll the 20-sided die and one of the 6-sided die. The 20-sided shows you which player has a chance at the rebound, based on the rebound chart on the right side of the scoresheet. To keep the focus on the same two players, if a 16 or 17 came up on a miss by UNC then the defensive Small Forward (Farmer, SF-3) has a chance at the rebound in his Defensive Rebound (Def Reb) range. On a 1-3 he gets the rebound, but on a 4-6 he fails to get it, meaning the player he is against (Jordan) gets the rebound and UNC can try to score again.
9. Update Score after each Possession. Once UCLA has the ball again, record a number in UNC's column to show their score next to possession 44. It might still be a 20 if they do not score, or a 21, 22, 23 or rarely could even be higher on a 3-point shot plus foul, or if a player makes a free throw and misses the second but his team gets the rebound and scores again.
10. Last 5 minutes of game. Notice that there is a diagonal box by each of the last 9 possessions. Normally just write the score above the diagonal. However, if either team is fouled, or steals the ball in one of those possessions, it creates an extra possession for both teams and play the extra possession and record an extra score in the bottom half of the box as well. If this does not happen to either team in the final 9 possessions then a total of 44 possessions are played. If one or the other team fouls or steals the ball in all 9 of those possessions then the game could actually take as many as 53 possessions. Since we are assuming 22 possessions were played through the 20-20 tie before our first dice roll, in effect each game is 66 to 75 possessions.
If the game ends in a tie, then play another 9 possessions at the end on a new scoresheet using the diagonal lines to determine the winner.
Details, Background and Advanced Rules (the rest is optional)
After reading to this point in the blog you can play games. If you are comfortable with the rules then you can read further to add more advanced rules from strategies, to home court advantage, to substitutions and team defense on rolls of 6, 7 or 8 or changing who players are guarding and playing soft defense to avoid fouls.
Substitution Options
Perhaps most important is how much to use bench players. A few options:
1. You can just play the five starters on the top row of each team to keep the game very simple, and if one fouls out then use the bench player under him. in that case each bench player gets their two points at the beginning of the game as marked on the scoresheet.
2. You can use the entire bottom row of bench players for 7 possessions during the game, either putting them in at the beginning for possessions 44-38 and then using the top row starters for the final possessions 37-1, or putting the bottom lime in at some point in the game.
This is pretty accurate since the average starter plays 48 possessions in a 66 possession game, so that would assume each player had 11 possessions during the 20-20 tie, and the starters then play 37 more for 48 total.
3. The most accurate method is to use each player for only the number of possessions adding up to his Stamina number of 5 to 44. A player with a 44 plays the whole game - and we let everyone play all overtime possessions. If you use this advanced method, and a player plays more possessions than his stamina then start to adjust every roll against him by 1 (so the other team can change both the 11-66 and the 1-20 one number either way to get a worse result for the tired player). If a player plays more than twice his possessions, then we allow each roll to be adjust by 2.
On the bottom of each card we list the possessions on which we use each player. We also put pennies on players who only get the ball on a 1-5, then dimes on players who get the ball on on extra number of 6-8. We always count numbers left to right, and when a player on the top row and bottom row at the same position are in the game we count the top player first and the bottom player second (so if both point guards are in the game, we give the ball to the top starter on a 1 and bottom reserve on a 2 on the 8-sided die). We also go left to right on the dimes for the 6-8.
If one player gets the ball on two extra numbers, such as the player on the far right below who would get the ball on a 7 or 8. Pete Maravich gets the ball on a 2, 6, 7 or 8 in LSU games.
History of Playing the Game
Sims Magazine ran a
great piece on how the Value Add Basketball Game was created.
The earliest team is Wyoming's 1943 squad, and near the end of the 2023 season we added several of the top teams from the 2022 and 2023 seasons. Players cards are calculated with great precision (see
Sports Illustrated article on the creator's basketball ratings) to recreate their performances adjusted for factors such as level of competition faced and to let all eras play a modern 70 possession game.
The UCLA team defeated
Michael Jordan's UNC for our all-time title, then Tennessee ironically defeated the women's champs from the same season Jordan won the title, the Louisiana Tech champs. The UCLA team does appear to be the best of the 200 men's teams, while the 2016 UConn team appears to be the best women's teams even though they were upset in our all-time Final Four. Your results will vary just as upsets occur in real games. It generally takes us 35-45 minutes to play a game, but it will take a bit longer to play your first few games as you get familiar with the flow of the game.
More in-depth explanation of 10-steps to play the game
If you choose to use dice, you will need to buy an 8-sided die; two 6-sided dice of different colors to give a roll of 11-66; and a 20-sided die. You can also watch this
video. Click
here to review all dice rolls for an entire game.
If you use the fast
action cards then the top two lines on the first card you flip replaces the 8-sided die to see who gets the ball, and also replaces the 11-66 roll to see if the defense steals, blocks the shot, fouls, forces a turnover or allows a dunk, and the 8-sided die roll
If you want to print and cut out the fast action cards instead of using the dice, here is a quick video on the best way to shuffle.
E
REFERENCE CHART for RESULTS. Finally, print out the next two charts, which give the results of the 11-66 roll on each possession, which is spelled out a bit more on the fast action cards.
8-sided die determines which player gets the ball:
You can cut out the 10 cards to rotate players, but I just leave the 10 players on the sheet and put coins on the players in the game. In this case the 5 Michigan State starters (top row) are in the game, so on a roll of 1,2,3,4 or 5 you read straight across the cards from left to right with Magic Johnson (point guard far left) getting the ball on a "1" and Greg Kesler (far right) getting the ball on a "5."
The 6,7 and 8 rolls go to players with a 6,7 or 8 after their "get ball on" range under their name. For quick reference on who gets those, I put dimes on the players who get those rolls, so the first dime left to right gets it on a "6" (Magic on this sheet), the next dime gets it on the "7" (Vincent) and the third dime gets it on an "8" (Kesler).
A second option (instead of using coins) is to write out your line-up rotation like we did below for a game between the 2021 Baylor and 1967 UCLA teams.
On the 8-sided die, if the roll is a 1-5, then the ball goes to the player based on who is in that column. If the roll is 6, 7 or 8 then look for that number - only the players with an extra number on their actual card above can have an extra number, but as you see Kareem Abdul-Jabbar has two extra numbers so actually gets the ball on a 5, 7 or 8.
Next check two dice 11-66 roll:
The 11-66 roll (determine which color 6-sided die is the 10s and which is the 1s before the game) determines if their is a steal (11-16 or 31 on defender's card), blocked shot (21-26 or 32 on defender's card), foul (33-36 on defender's card), turnover (41-46 on offensive player's card) or dunk/uncontested basket (51-66 based on dunk chart combination of offensive and defensive card).
Follow the chart below to see the result of the 11-66 roll.
Note on the dunk range that in the advanced rules if the defenses adjustment takes the dunks below 50 then the red numbers in the chart below creates a 'stop." In our actual UNC vs UCLA final UNC's range was actually a red 51-52, meaning if those came up they failed to score and UCLA got the ball. In that game if Jordan had the ball and a 51 or 52 were rolled, he would miss a shot and Farmer would get the rebound.
One of the most important advanced rules for accuracy is using the right side of the chart for defensive 11-66 results. If the 8-sided die is a 6- 7- or 8- then the 11-26 potential steals and blocks are based on team defense. A 14-16 is no longer a steal if the 8-sided die was a 6-8. However, any defensive player with an 11-13 can steal the ball on an 11. Any player with a 11-16 steal can steal it in 11 or 12. Finally any player with a 31 can steal it in a 13.
The same is true for blocks after a 6-8. Any defender with a 21-23 can block the shot on a 21, any 21-26 can block on a 22, and any 32 can block on a 23. But a 24-26 is never blocked on a 6-8.
20-sided die for shot or drawing foul
The 20-sided die is ignored if a steal, blocked shot, or turnover happen on the 11-66 roll above.
If a FOUL results from a 33-36 roll being in the defender's range, then refer to the 20-sided number on the offensive player's card to see if he also made a 3-pointer or 2-pointer and therefore gets one foul shot plus the basket, or was fouled on a 3-point shot and thus gets 3 shots, or on other results if he simply gets two free throws.
If a DUNK results from the 51-66 roll in a green range above, then the offensive player scores a 2-point basket UNLESS he chooses to take the result of the 20-sided card. This could either be because he made a 3-point shot on the 20-sided die or if he draws a foul on the 20-sided die and it results in the opposing defender fouling out.
If NOTHING results on the 11-66 roll then the result of the 20-sided die is the result of the play. In the case of Magic's card above he makes a 3-pointer on a "1," makes a 2-pointer on a 2 to 7, draws a foul to get two free throws on an 8 to 12, misses a 3-pointer on a 13 to 15, and misses a two pointer on a 16 to 20.
20-sided die for free throws
If at any point the player gets fouled then use the 20-sided die for his free throws.
Optional Advanced Rules Die Roll Adjustments
You can choose to use either or both of the following advanced rules before a game.
1. Home Court Advantage. A roll of 36 when the visiting team has the ball is changed to a 66 (meaning the ref missed a foul he should have called on the home team) or when the home team has the ball change a roll of 66 to a 36 (thus making a bad foul call against the visiting team unless the defender is very good at avoiding fouls). On average, this will help the home team about 3 points during the game.
2. Tired player. If a player plays more possessions in a game then his "Stamina" number then any time he has the ball or is defending the player with the ball, the other team can adjust both the 11-66 roll and 20-sided die roll one number in either direction for a better result (e.g. Magic's Stamina of 44 means he can play the whole game without running out of Stamina, but the other guard Mike Brkovich has a Stamina of 37 so if you played him all 44 possessions then the last 7 possessions of the game the opponent can adjust all rolls involving him by one). If a player plays DOUBLE his possessions then the other team can adjust the 20-sided or 11-66 roll by TWO in either direction (for example Draymond Green on another Michigan State team has a great card but low stamina because it was from his freshman year, so if you choose to play him the whole game then most of the game rolls would be moved two numbers against him).
Set Up to Play the Game
Once everything is printed up, put the visiting team on the left (Michael Jordan's 1982 UNC on the left).
Decide at the outset if it is actually a road game requiring flipping 36 and 66 rolls, or is actually on a neutral court.
The five players on the top row are recommended starters (though you choose to start other players). However, it is better to have the best players FINISH the game without running out of Stamina. For UNC, four of the five starters have a Stamina of at least 44, so they can be in the game for every possession. However, Michael Jordan's Stamina is 41, and we do not want him to be tired on the final three possessions of the game when he might be needed for a game-winner (in our All-Time March Madness he actually needed to score on the final possession in both the Round of 64 and Round of 32 to survive).
Therefore, we picked the best reserve (
Chris Brust) to play the first three possessions (the 44th, 43rd and 42nd on the score sheet) so that once Jordan comes into the game (41st possession) he will be operating at full strength all the way to the final (1) possession of the game. (We do NOT treat players as tired in overtime since all players are tired.)
To show which player is in the game we put a coin on the five players on the court at any given time.
Every time UNC gets the ball or gets an offensive rebound, all 4 dice are rolled and the 8-sided die determines who gets the ball. If the roll is a "1" it goes to the first player to the left with a coin of any kind (Black). A "2" goes to the next player to the right with a coin (Doherty), a "3" to the next player to the right with a coin (Worthy), the "4" to the next player to the right, which we consider Brust even though he is directly below Worthy so actually just as far right, and a "5" goes to the furthest player to the right, the Center Perkins.
Only players with a dime (2 numbers on the "Gets Ball on" line) can get the ball on a roll of 6, 7 or 8.
On a "6" we still go left to right, but looking for the first DIME, which is Worthy. A "7" goes to the next dime which is Brust, and an "8" goes to the final dime which is Perkins.
You can choose to change the order or possessions before you start rolling. For example, when Jordan comes in after three possessions we chose to make him the Shooting Guard, or in the "2" spot, and move Doherty to the "3" spot, so Jordan actually got the ball on a 2 or 6, and Doherty got the ball on a 3, instead of a 2 like when Brust was in for the first three possessions.
Here is UNC's coin alignment after Jordan comes into the game.
The UCLA starters all feature a Stamina of 37, so we actually start the game with all reserves on the court for the first seven possessions.
Therefore at the start of the game a roll of 1 goes to Hill, 2 to Chapman, 3 to Curtis, 4 to Hollyfield and 5 to Nater.
Since only Hollyfield and Nater have a dime for having more than one "Get Ball on" numbers, a "6" goes to Hollyfield and a "7" goes to Nater,but an "8" goes to no one.
If the ball does not go to anyone on an "8" (or occasionally for a team that does not have dimes for a "6" or "7" roll) then the team has one more chance to get the ball to someone before the shot clock runs out.
Roll all four dice again, and a 1-5 still goes to the same player as on a first roll. However, on the second roll dimes are ignored so a 6-8 is always a turnover on a shot clock violation.
After seven possessions, all five UCLA starters enter the game, for this line-up.
Notice when the UCLA starters enter the games, the three players have pennies because they only have one "Get Ball on" number. All-American
Henry Bibby has the first dime - 2(SG) or 6 - so gets the roll on a roll of 6. However, notice that Bill Walton gets the ball so much - 5(C)7 or 8 - that two dimes are placed on his card to indicate he gets the ball not only on a roll of 5, but also 7 or 8.
Once decisions are made on who will play when, we write in the names on the score sheet, which you must use to keep track of time and for the rebound chart to determine who gets rebounds after a missed shot on shaded possessions. Note that because we are starting the game with a 20-20 tie and 22 possessions already being "played," players each start with two points, one foul, at least one rebound and depending on position some other stats.
Optional pace rule for high possession teams.
While starting the game 20-20 with 44-53 possessions left to play is normally realistic, certain teams play at a much faster pace. This optional rule allows you to use two scoresheet to play extra possessions.
The fastest paced team ever was Loya Marymount with a +26 on their card. This means you start with 26 possessions left on one scoresheet, and then when do e with that sheet transfer the score to another sheet and play 44 more possessions.
Step 1 determine each team's pace - Determine the pace for each team. For teams since 2002, you can go to www.kenpom.com or another site to see the pace (number of possessions per game) for each team. For example the two fastest pace teams in the 2021 tournament were Gonzaga (round to 74 possessions) and Alabama (73), while the two slowest pace teams were Virginia (62) and Mount St. Mary's (60). For teams from before 2002 or if you don't have the pace, average their points scored per game and points allow per game - so the highest estimated pace in history would be the 1990 Loyola Marymount team which average winning 122-108 - average those two together for 115 as the average of 122 and 108. We then subtract 79 (in their case leaving 39) and the take 2-3rds of that number for our extra possessions for that team (+26).
Step 2 adjust if either team's pace is higher than 70. If both team's pace is 70 or lower then the score starts at the normal 20-20 score. However, for each team that is higher then add a possession to the starting score on a new scoresheet. If Gonzaga (74) played Alabama (73) then you would +4 for Gonzaga's pace and +3 for Alabama's pace to start at possession 51 instead of 44.
Once the score sheet is filled in, the dice and sheets printed above an be laid out however, you want, but this is the layout that works best for me.
Rolling the Dice to Start the Game
You roll all 4 dice on every possession and attempt to shoot again after an offensive rebound. The only times you roll fewer are for a free throw (only 20-sided die) or on shaded possessions on the Score sheets when you roll the 20-sided dies and one of the 6-side die to see who gets the rebound on the rebound chart in the bottom right of the Score sheet (the defense always gets the rebound on the possessions that are not shaded.
In addition to these instructions, you can click on the detailed instructions or click here for both this blog and the detailed blog combined into one google doc with page numbers.
The following would be the results of some sample dice rolls in a UCLA vs. UNC game using the cards at the top of the blog, and showing what the dice roll was and then what would be written on the bottom part of the score sheet in addition to recording how many points, rebounds, steals, blocks and fouls by each player:
One note on the last entry, it refers to the dunk range being 51-54, but it actually is 51-53 as noted above.
The results are recorded in this manner from the 44th to the 10th possession - the first 3 columns.
The Last 9 Possessions
Note that the final 9 possessions have a diagonal line through each possession for each team.
Normally you only use the top left section of each possession.
However, in the following scenarios, you will also use the bottom right section for an extra possession:
EXTRA POSSESSIONS. If either team is fouled during the possession, then both teams get an extra possession so use the bottom section below the diagonal for both teams.
1. TRY FOR STEAL, OR FOUL INTENTIONALLY. The team that is losing can choose to go for the "turnover or intentional foul" to get the extra possession. If this option is used, then do not roll the 20-sided die. If the result of the 11-66 roll is a turnover or a steal, then use that result, but if not then the result is a foul and two shots. In any case, an extra possession is created. Note this is the only time that a turnover (that is not a steal) creates an extra possession. Keep in mind this should only be used on the top portion of the last nine possessions - never use it during the roll for the bottom half possessions since that does not create and extra possession.
2. STEALS AND FAST BREAKS. If either of the two guards steals the ball during a possession, or if either forward steals the ball on an odd roll (11, 13, 15 or 31) then the team has the option of running a fast break. The advantage of a fast break is that the 20-sided die roll is lowered by one. As indicated on the chart, when a fast break is run the player making the steal has the ball on a 6, 7 or 8 as indicated on the right side of the chart. If either team chooses a fast break then use the bottom possession (below the diagonal) for both teams.
Normally a fast break should be used because it gives the team a 5% better chance at making a 3-pointer and a 5% better chance at scoring on the 20-sided dice. The two times a team could choose NOT to use a fast break when they have a chance is a) a team that is ahead may choose not to run a fast break so that the extra possession is not used, and b) if a weak offensive player makes the steal they may choose not to use the fast break since 50% of the time (4 of 8 rolls) the player who makes the steal will be the one to try to score. If a the team stealing the ball chooses not to run a fast break, then simply roll the dice with a new possession.
3. TRY TO SCORE AFTER OFFENSIVE POSSESSION. The other time a team gets a chance to lower the roll on the 20-sided die by 1 is after getting an offensive rebound. If that happens, the player getting the offensive rebound attempts to score on a 6-8 roll in addition to his one other number, as indicated on the right side of the dice chart. The 20-sided die is lowered by one, however, if the player getting the offensive rebound gets a result of "made 3-point shot" then it is changed to "made 2-point shot" since he is already near the rim when grabbing the offensive rebound.
As is the case with the option to run a fast break, a team will usually try to score on an offensive rebound because of the 5% better chance of scoring, and because a team that gets the offensive rebound and chooses to run the offense rolls a 6, 7 or 8 that results in no player getting the ball, then a turnover is recorded (teams only get a 20-second shot clock after an offensive rebound). However, in two cases a team may choose to instead run their usual offense for one of two reasons; a) the player getting the offensive rebound is not a good offensive player and they would rather give other players a better chance to take the shot, or b) the team is behind late and needs a 3-point shot and would rather run the regular offense so the player getting the offensive rebound can make a 3-pointer if eh gets the shot.
Because any, all or none of the last 9 possessions could create an extra possession, a game could be considered to have as many as 75 possessions (or as few as 66 possessions, though either title includes the 22 possessions we do not really play out that results in the 20-20 game start).
TRYING FOR 3-POINTER. Another strategy option that can be used by a team desperate for a 3-pointer in the final few possessions, is to try for a 3-pointer. If this is called, then every player on their team can add a 3-point made number for every 2-point made number that is turned into a missed shot with the rebound going to the defense - but no player can more than DOUBLE their range.
For example, if UNC was down three points in their final possession they could call for trying for a 3-pointer. If the ball then went to Jordan, he could make a 3-point shot on a 1-4 instead of his normal 1-2 (doubling his range). However, because he added two 3-point numbers, the highest 2 numbers on his made 2-point shot must be changed to missed 3-point shot and defensive rebound, so a 8 or 9 would be missed with UCLA grabbing the rebound. Note that the range cannot be more than doubled, so even if UCLA tried for a 3-pointer, if the ball went to Bill Walton he cannot make a 3-pointer because he has none on his card. If you had to have a 3-pointer on the final trip, UCLA might put in Larry Hollyfield for the final possession so that if the ball went to the center he would be able to make a game-tying shot on a 1-4 instead of it going to Walton where he could only score 2.
Finally, a team might choose to try to avoid fouling to not stop the clock (if they are ahead) or if a player already has four fouls. If this strategy is chosen and the player is on defense, then any roll of 32-36 becomes a score for the player he is guarding unless a teammate blocks a shot on a 32. Please note that a player still might commit a 5th foul if the player he is guarding draws a foul on his card.
At the end of the last possession, the game is over unless the score is tied.
If the score is tied, the game goes to overtime, and 9 more possessions are played using the same rules as the last nine possessions or regulation. You may want to write them off to the right of those possessions.
End of Instructions - The following is some additional information and links to advanced rules.
Rule adjustments that were made after playing games and identifying minor problems.
The player getting an offensive rebound or stealing the ball with a chance for a potential fast break originally was able to try to score directly on the 20s-sided die without rolling the other dice. This proved a big distortion, and was chanced to the player has a 50-50 chance of getting the shot and it can still be stolen or his shot blocked with just the one die number adjustment.
Originally all turnovers on rolls of 41-46 were the same. However, now if a turnover occurs on a roll of 43 or 46, it is also an offensive foul. This study shows that (not counting steals) a total of 28.7% of all other turnovers were the result of an offensive foul, and this adjustment reflects that frequency for most players. The information above includes everything you need to play basic games, the following is additional detail with a Table of Contents to show you where to find information or clarify any part of the game you find confusing.
Starting to play the Value Add Basketball Game In VABG, each player card is carefully calibrated to measure his ability to score, draw fouls, rebound, avoid turnovers and committing fouls, block shots, and steal the ball. This yields a player card that provides accurate chances to be successful in each of these areas against a standard level of competition (e.g. a player with the exact same stats playing against high-level defenses will have a card that accurately reflects how much better he would be than a player who put together the exact same stats facing much weaker defenses.)
We have played off an entire tournament of the 96 all-time great teams from the 1940s through UVa’s 2019 champions and the 2020 tournament that was canceled in real life. Results and updates are posted at www.pudnersports.com and these games were used to find and adjust any inaccuracies or items that made the game more difficult to play.
The Addenda referenced in these instructions appear at https://tinyurl.com/rn8r5nd, but due to perfecting the game with various updates since the introduction in February 2019 we were asked to produce a clean copy in PDF form with chronological instructions.
The following is the table of contents to find any aspect of the game that does not make sense or simply to clarify a result that may be confusing in the Addenda.
Simply click here to access the entire google doc including all of the topics outlined below or click here for the blog with the detailed instructions for everything in the Table of Contents.
To access all items in the Table of Contents listed above, you can click on the detailed instructions that are one of three options for following the directions to play the Value Add Basketball Game. The most popular instructions are these Quick Start instructions used by more than 30,000 as of April 2020 are the blog you now have open as you read this. If you use google docs, you can click here to access the combined instructions that contain both the Quick Start instructions you are reading now and the detailed instructions from the link above. That last option is a google doc which makes it much easier to find specific items because the pages are numbered to correspond with the numbers on the Table of Contents below, however because some people do not use google docs we provide the other two options in these blogs.
List of all All-Time Great Teams in the Game and Player Link
Rule adjustments that