Basketball Card Game

What is the Basketball Card Game

The Basketball Card Game is a fun competitive card game that can be played amongst 2+ managers. Games originally were played with basketball cards, but creativity allows the game to be played in a variety of ways ranging from pen and paper to zoom and excel.

The objective of the game is to create a team of basketball players and accumulate statistical categorical points against your opponent. The team that accrues the most points wins the game. There are an assortment of rules that can be established before playing including roster sizes, positions, draft rules, scoring and more.

Basic Rules and Scoring

  • Each manager assembles a team of 5 basketball cards including

    • 2 guards

    • 2 forwards

    • 1 center

  • Each player should contain the career averages for:

    • PPG

    • FG%

    • FT%

    • REB

    • AST

    • STL

    • BLK

  • Each team is then arranged by position and height (weight as tiebreaker if heights are equal)

  • Each position then goes head to head against the other teams player, for example

    • Centers will be matched against each other

    • The taller forwards will play against each other

    • The shorter forwards will play against each other

    • The taller guards will play against each other

    • The shorter guards will play against each other

  • Whichever basketball card player has the higher career statistical category will score points

    • PPG = 2 pts

    • All other statistical categories = 1 pt

  • In total, there are 40 points to be scored. The team with the most points wins

Variations to game play

Games can be played in a variety of ways depending on an abundance of factors. While scoring should remain the same for each game type, the draft and roster sizes can be adjusted for more advanced game play.

Assembling a team

With basketball cards (offline)

  • Draft - Randomly grab a large quantity of cards and place them on the table with the basketball card face up and the statistics face down. Each manager will alternate drafting a player until the team is assembled.

  • Team - Each manager assembles a team with their own basketball card collection. The players on each team must be from the same NBA team.

Without basketball cards (online)

Honor system important as you should not 'study' players before to gain an advantage. For all types below, because all statistics are online, managers may decide if they want to compete using career averages or a specific year average. Managers should utilize an online website with basketball player statistics

  • Specific year (or time period)- Randomly pick a year (Or time period) and draft players by memory who played that year. Alternate drafting until both managers have filled their teams.

  • Draft class - Randomly pick a draft class and list out all the players drafted from that year (easiest way is to go to wikipedia and search a draft class). Alternate drafting players until a team is assembled

  • Divisional (conferences) - Randomly pick a conference (East: Atlantic, Central, Southeast | West: Northwest, Pacific, Southwest) and only draft players in that conference. Specific years or time periods should be set before drafting

If a manager selects a player who did not play that specific year (or time period), they forfeit that pick until the end of the draft. Standard rules allow for 2 mulligans but this can be decided before the draft starts.

Team notes

If a basketball card does not have all 8 statistical categories, the manager has an option to replace the card with a new card. Players who played pre-1973 did not have STL or BLK stats. If a manager decides to use a card without the statistic, they will automatically lose that category

Most basketball cards display FG% and FT% to the thousands decimal place, and some basketball cards display REB, AST, STL and BLK to the tenth decimal place. If 2 players tie in a category, each team will receive 0.5 points. This should not be an issue for any online teams as you can calculate late each average precisely.

Number of players on a team and their positions

Managers should agree on a source for player positions. This can be the position on the basketball card for any offline matches, or agreeing on a website with player positions.

Number of players

  • 5 (minimum)

    • 2 guards

    • 2 forwards

    • 1 center

  • 12 (standard NBA roster)

    • 4 guards

    • 4 forwards

    • 2 center

    • 2 managers choice

Player/Position notes

Some basketball cards may have two positions. The managers will have the option to decide which position they want to designate for the player.

Some online sites may have a specific position by year. If drafting a team by a year or time period, make sure you agree on how to determine a players position before the draft

With of the rise of positionless basketball, managers may play this game without positions and create matchups by height.

Statistical categories

This game may require the manager to do basic mathematics. If a basketball card consists of career totals, the manager will need to calculate averages themselves by taking the statistical category and dividing it by the total number of games played.

  • Each player should contain the career averages for:

    • PPG

    • FG%

    • FT%

    • REB

    • AST

    • STL

    • BLK

Statistic notes

Managers may decide to include other statistical categories in their scoring system such as 3pm or 3FG%.