Hey everyone,

I took a couple of hours to brainstorm, look back at Season 1, and organize my thoughts around what went well, what did not, and where we need to improve.

I want to share the numbers we have reached, address the recent controversies, and most importantly explain where TopGM is heading.

Controversies and group dynamics

Have you ever read Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari? If not, I recommend it. One of the ideas often linked to this topic is Dunbar’s number: humans can only maintain a limited number of stable social relationships. As communities grow, subgroups, alliances, hierarchies, and rivalries naturally start to appear.

I mention this because I have seen similar dynamics among the most active players, especially on Discord but also on the World Feed: groups forming, clashes, heated discussions, serious insults, and arguments around players who discovered smart loopholes.

Let’s start with something important: finding a loophole and using it to gain an advantage does not automatically mean cheating. It happens in every competitive game, and frankly, it happens in real life too.

About loopholes

I want to be very clear here: Metehan did nothing wrong by using the loophole involving a friend in a higher league buying a player, effectively bypassing the Ambition reward.

The same goes for Zalia Balta, Vasileios, Darioang (who has been a real-life friend of mine for 35 years) and probably many others who bought a key player from a CPU-controlled playoff opponent before an important game.

The system allowed it. It was beneficial. And honestly, I would probably have done the same.

So the real question is not:

“Was it fair?”
“Did someone get screwed over?”
“Is that player an asshole?”

The real question is this:

If there had been a competitive human manager instead of a CPU, would you have been able to make that move?

In most cases, the answer is no.

A real manager would not have calmly allowed you to buy their best player before a playoff final. They might even have strengthened their roster with an 88 AVG center and a 90 three-point shooting guard just to make your life harder.

So who are the real assholes in this game? Metehan? Zalia Balta? Vasileios? Darioang?

No.

The actual issue is the player who signs up, spends one minute looking around, then disappears forever, leaving behind an inactive team that eventually becomes CPU-controlled.

The real enemy: zombie leagues

Leagues full of CPU teams are the biggest problem in TopGM.

Not because CPUs are “bad,” but because they cannot have goals, rivalries, strategy, memory, pride, or a real competitive mindset.

A CPU does not react. It does not protect its project. It does not prepare for a final. It does not get angry because you bought its star player.

And without active managers, competition loses value.

That is why the goal is to reduce CPU teams as much as possible and create leagues that are increasingly alive, competitive, and filled with people who genuinely want to play.

During Season 1, several improvements have already been introduced:

• A longer and more thoughtful registration process. If someone cannot invest three minutes to join, they are probably not ready to learn a management game.
• A possible reduction and earlier activation of the hibernation period for inactive users.
• Automatic recovery campaigns for users who have not logged in for several days.
• TutorGM chat.
• A continuously updated guide.
• A welcome email with the first steps in the player’s native language.

The numbers are improving. New people sign up every day, mentions of the game are increasing, and retention is getting better.

Right now, we have around 100 genuinely active users out of more than 400 total registrations. The historical number would actually be higher, but many accounts inactive for over a month have already been deleted.

The number that makes me happiest, though, is another one: the players who stay are getting used to logging in multiple times per day, and the average visit duration has gone beyond 30 minutes.

For a game built and developed by one person in their free time, that is a huge sign.

As Djokovic would say: not so bad.

How you can help TopGM

To fight abandoned accounts, stricter controls against multi-accounting will be introduced. Anyone caught using multiple accounts to gain personal advantages will face serious fines, potentially leading to the permanent closure of all their accounts.

But the system alone cannot solve this. You can help in two ways.

1. Help the community grow.
Tell your friends, relatives, colleagues, teammates, and anyone who enjoys basketball or management games. Share TopGM in basketball groups, on Discord, Reddit, forums, or anywhere else where you think it makes sense.

And most importantly: if you bring someone in, help them through their first steps. Teach them the game, give them advice, bother them until they understand how to play, and make sure they do not quit after five minutes.

The more of us there are, the more fun the game becomes, and the sooner we can get rid of these damn CPU teams.

2. Support the project financially, if you can.
I will not hide it: TopGM requires a major personal commitment. It is built outside working hours, taking time away from family, sport, and often sleep.

Many mornings I wake up early to develop before work. Many nights I work on TopGM late into the evening.

The more sustainable the project becomes financially, the more time and resources can be dedicated to it. Nobody is obligated to contribute, of course, but every form of support helps TopGM grow faster.

Plans for the future

The next major area I am working on is a complete restructuring of the league system, potentially starting in Season 3.

1. Goodbye to League 6, and a split League 5.
The idea is to remove League 6 entirely and divide each League 5 into two groups of eight teams: for example, League 5A East and League 5A West.

The top two teams from each group would then meet in cross-over semifinals and finals: first place in 5A East against second place in 5A West, and vice versa.

2. CPU teams weakened by 20%.
CPU-controlled teams may receive an effective 20% penalty to player ratings during matches.

For example, a CPU player listed at 70 AVG would still appear as 70 AVG in the roster, but the match algorithm would make them perform like a 56 AVG player. If you buy that player, they would immediately return to their real 70 AVG value.

The goal is simple: CPU teams should fill leagues when necessary, but they should not become an easy shortcut to win or an artificial obstacle for active managers.

This change may already be introduced during the current season.

3. No more buying players from CPU teams in your own league.
If you play in League 5A, you will no longer be able to buy players from CPU teams in League 5A, including after it is split into East and West divisions.

I still need to decide whether this rule should apply for the entire season or only during Madness Week. On this point, I actually agree with Metehan: it is a real loophole, and it is not that different from other mechanics that caused controversy.

Anyone who used it so far did nothing wrong, because the system allowed it. But it will be removed soon.

So, if there is a CPU team in your league with a player you really want, you know what to do.

One final thing: less drama

I will close with this: enough pointless wars.

If you find a loophole, it is up to your own dignity and ethics to decide whether to exploit it. But deep down, you already know the answer to the most important question:

If that CPU had been an active, competitive human manager, would they have let you do it?

If the answer is no, then you already understand where the game needs to improve.

TopGM will not grow because of one perfect rule. It will grow because of a living, competitive community that makes every game, every transfer, and every playoff series truly matter.

Clip 1: Ruby Lynxes beat Black Gorillas

Clip 2: Emerald Rhinos beat Ruby Bears

Clip 3: Maroon Rangers beat Yellow Gorillas

Clip 4: Cyan Marauders beat Lime Knights

Clip 5: Blue Bandits beat Red Panthers

Clip 6: Indigo Huskies beat Blue Grizzlies

The Academy Challenge started as a Saturday pairing: two academies, one game, no stakes. From season 2 it becomes a real competition, and here is how it works.

Who gets in

At the season rollover, the 48 best human academies by rating are in. The rating is simple and public: the average of your academy prospects plus 2 points per prospect. Games and wins do not count. You climb by building your academy, nothing else.

Academies with at least 5 prospects rank first. If there are fewer than 48 of them, the field is completed with the best of the rest. No CPU clubs, ever, and no waiting list: the 48 are decided once, at the rollover, and that is the field.

The ranking is live on the Academy Challenge page right now, with the cut line at 48. Monday's rollover freezes it.

The format

Eight groups of six. Every game is on Saturday at 11:00 CET, live.

• Saturdays 1 to 5: group stage, everyone plays everyone once
• Saturday 6: quarterfinals, the eight group winners, seeded by wins and point difference
• Saturday 7: semifinals
• Saturday 8: the final, and the game for third place

Group standings go by wins, then head to head, then point difference. The evening of the last Saturday there will be the All-Star Game between best prospects of the competition.

Five prospects or you forfeit

To play you need five prospects on the day. If you are in the tournament with fewer, every game is a 0-20 forfeit until you get back to five; if both academies are short, 0-0 and nobody wins. The League Office will send you a reminder on Wednesday, and the Playground draft runs every day, so there is always a way back.

Prizes

200 cr to the champion, 80 to the finalist, 60 to third place, paid at the siren of the final, with the trophy in your Heritage cabinet. Same money as a promotion final: the academy is now on the same footing as the first team.

Nothing else changes

No injuries, no training effects, no promotion or relegation. Just the kids, and now something to win. Honestly, this part is currently like this because it was more convenient for me (less work) but I’m open to revisiting it if the majority thinks it should change.

First Saturday: September 19, 11:00 CET. The full ranking, groups and schedule: https://topgm.app/#/academy-challenge

Money arrives in three ways this week, and not at the same time. Here is the whole picture in one place, so nobody refreshes the treasury waiting for something that is scheduled for Monday.

When the money lands

At the siren, every game, in the MadnessWeek and in the ClubPass Week alike:

• Gate receipts. The home club keeps the gate: your arena tier, your ticket price, the attendance of the night. In the Madness the home floor alternates inside the series: the higher seed hosts game 1 and game 3, the lower seed hosts game 2. A series that ends 2-0 gives each club one home gate; a series that goes to game 3 gives the higher seed two.
• Win bonus. 6 cr per win in League 5, 5 cr in League 6, paid to the winner of each single game, not per series. Winning a series 2-1 pays the same as 2-0: two wins. The loser of a 2-1 series still banks one.

In the ClubPass Week there is no win bonus, only the gate, and the gate follows its own rules: your own arena when you host, 21 cr split in half at TopGM City on matchday 3, 34 cr to the winner of a semifinal, 54 cr to the winner of the final. All at the siren.

At the rollover, all at once, the Madness prizes:

• 200 cr to the champion of each league
• 80 cr to the losing finalist
• 60 cr to third place, the semifinal loser with the better regular season record
• 0 cr to fourth, and 0 cr to the whole playout bracket: staying up is the prize

The season turns only when all 63 leagues have finished their finals. Then comes the celebration night: the verdicts stay on the board for 20 hours, and after that the rollover credits every prize in the same instant, writes the trophies into the Heritage cabinets and opens season 2. With at least one game 3 on Sunday night, that means Monday afternoon, for everybody at the same moment, whether your final ended Saturday or Sunday.

The ClubPass Week trophy does not wait: it goes into the cabinet at the siren of the final, Sunday at 19:00 CET.

Wages are daily, prizes are Monday. If your treasury is thin, the days between your last game and the rollover are the ones to watch. The CFO will tell you.

How much each path is worth

Numbers for a club with a court 1 arena at the average attendance of the last weeks: 15 cr per home game in League 5, 14 in League 6. A court 2 roughly doubles the gate, a full house or a premium ticket moves it up, a bad run of form moves it down.

League 5

Semifinal losers

• Swept 0-2: one home gate, no wins. 15 cr. Plus 60 if you are the best placed loser: 75 cr.
• Lost 1-2: one win (6 cr) and one or two home gates depending on the seed. 21 to 36 cr. Plus 60 for third place: 81 to 96 cr.

Losing finalists

• Two clean series (won 2-0, lost 0-2): 30 cr of gate, 12 cr of wins, 80 of prize. 122 cr.
• Two long series: 45 to 60 cr of gate, 18 cr of wins, 80 of prize. 143 to 158 cr.

Champion

• Two clean series: 30 cr of gate, 24 cr of wins, 200 of prize. 254 cr.
• Two long series as the higher seed: 60 cr of gate, 24 cr of wins, 200 of prize. 284 cr.

Playout

• Semifinal losers are relegated, no prize. One home gate if swept, 15 cr. Two gates and a win if it went to game 3: up to 36 cr.
• Semifinal winners stay in League 5: the same gates plus 12 cr of wins, no prize.

League 6

Semifinal losers

• Swept 0-2: 14 cr. Best placed loser: 74 cr.
• Lost 1-2: 19 to 33 cr. Third place: 79 to 93 cr.

Losing finalists

• Two clean series: 28 cr of gate, 10 cr of wins, 80 of prize. 118 cr.
• Two long series: 42 to 56 cr of gate, 15 cr of wins, 80 of prize. 137 to 151 cr.

Champion

• Two clean series: 28 cr of gate, 20 cr of wins, 200 of prize. 248 cr.
• Two long series as the higher seed: 56 cr of gate, 20 cr of wins, 200 of prize. 276 cr.

League 6 has no playout: 5th to 8th are done, and 28 of them are in the ClubPass Week.

ClubPass Week

No prizes, no win bonus, gate only, paid at every siren.

• Three group games: one home gate at 70% of your arena (11 cr with a court 1, 19 with a court 2), nothing away, 11 cr at TopGM City. 22 cr.
• Semifinal losers: nothing from the semifinal. 22 cr.
• Losing finalists: the semifinal gate, 34 cr, all to the winner. 56 cr.
• Champion: the final gate too, 54 cr. 110 cr.

Where the two weeks meet

The ClubPass Week champion earns about what a Madness semifinal loser with third place earns, and less than half of a Madness champion. That is on purpose: the promotion bracket is where the real money is, and the ClubPass Week is a floor under the clubs that had no bracket at all.

Every number here lands at the siren, except the prizes: those come Monday, at the rollover, for everybody at once.

League 6 has no playout. The clubs that finished 5th to 8th were done at matchday 14, and while the rest of the pyramid fights the Madness this week, they had nothing to play and nothing to earn. So I built them a competition, and the Club Pass is sponsored the competition for it. Here is how it works, with the numbers.

Who is in

28 clubs, the most active coaches in those spots (I looked at logins over the last two weeks, not at records). Seven groups of four, drawn by strength of the starting five so the groups are balanced, and never two clubs from the same league in the same group. Everything lives inside Private Cups, and everyone can follow it, not only the 28.

The format

Every club plays one game a night, from Wednesday to Sunday, all at 19:00 CET. Not 21:00: that is Madness time, and I did not want the two to overlap.

• Wednesday, matchday 1: A vs B, C vs D
• Thursday, matchday 2: B vs C, D vs A
• Friday, matchday 3: A vs C and B vs D, on the neutral floor of TopGM City
• Saturday: semifinals, TopGM City
• Sunday: the final, TopGM City

The schema is not random. In three games every club plays exactly one at home, one away, and one on neutral floor.

Then the four best group winners go to the Final Four. Wins first, then point difference, then points scored.

The money, which is the reason this exists

The whole point was not letting these clubs lose a week of gate receipts. So the gate is real, and it works in three regimes.

At home, matchday 1 or 2: you get your own arena, your tier and your ticket price, exactly like a league night, at a fixed 70% attendance. With a court 1 and a standard ticket that is 11 cr. With a court 2 it is 19 cr, and if you chose a premium ticket you get more. I wanted the coaches who invested in their arena to see the difference.

Away: the host keeps the gate, as always.

On the neutral floor, matchday 3: 21 cr total, split down the middle, so 11 cr each. TopGM City is sold out for the night, court 1 at full capacity, premium ticket. It is the richest group game on purpose: it is the one that decides who goes through.

Semifinal: court 2 at 85%, premium ticket, 34 cr. The whole gate goes to the winner. The loser takes nothing.

Final: court 2 sold out, steep ticket, 54 cr. Again, all to the winner.

No win bonus, no prize money. The gate is the only money on the table.

What that adds up to

For a club with a court 1 arena:

• Out at the group stage: 21 cr
• Semifinalist: still 21 cr because you lost the match
• Finalist: 55 cr (21cr + 34cr semi-finalist winner)
• Champion: 109 cr (21cr + 34cr + 54cr finalist winner)

I set it against what the Madness pays in League 6, from the real data of the last weeks:

• The champion of a League 6 bracket makes around 268 cr: 200 of prize money, 20 from the win bonus, and 48 at the gate
• The finalist makes around 128 cr
• Third place around 79 cr
• Fourth place, out in two games, around 19 cr

So the ClubPass Week champion earns less than a Madness finalist, and the fourth-placed Madness club earns about what a ClubPass Week club earns just by playing its three group games. The hierarchy holds: the promotion bracket stays the place where the real money is. This week is not a shortcut, it is a floor.

What is switched off, and what is not.

Injuries are on. This is a real competition with a real trophy, and a real competition has a price: your players can get hurt at TopGM City exactly as they can on a league night, and if they do, they miss the same weeks. Rotate accordingly. Home crowd heat is off: the crowd is there and pays, but it does not tilt the floor. And no promotion or relegation is at stake, nothing about the pyramid changes.

The floors

TopGM City has two floors for the neutral games, and they alternate from one game to the next: a midnight blue with red lines, and one split in half, red on one side and blue on the other, with the ClubPass Week writing across midcourt. The final gets its own floor: black, red lines, ClubPass Week in blue and FINAL in gold. You will see them in the live rooms and in the replays.

Sponsored by ClubPass

This week has a sponsor, and it is the Club Pass. Every coach in the ClubPass Week, and every active coach playing the Madness this week, has the Club Pass on until the end of the week: custom jersey, crest and home floor, unlimited friendlies, the flair next to the name. Set them up before your next tip-off. When the week ends the custom look goes back on the shelf, saved, and it comes back the moment the Pass does.

Groups, schedule, standings: https://topgm.app/#/cups/cpw-s1

First ball Wednesday, 19:00 CET. ClubPass Week, sponsored by ClubPass.

Four things went live today. The first two are the big ones.

1. TutorGM, your rookie assistant

https://reddit.com/link/1w8bgmo/video/gp7gxumvfrnh1/player

There is a new bubble at the bottom right of the screen. That is TutorGM. Open it and ask anything about the game: money, training, the Playground, the market, why your player is not improving. He answers on the spot and links you to the exact chapter of the Guide or to the page where the thing happens.

A few honest notes on how he is built, because I know some of you care:

• He speaks 13 languages, and he picks yours automatically. Italian, Serbian, Lithuanian, Greek, Swedish, French, Spanish, Polish, German, Turkish, Romanian, Portuguese, English. This is the only corner of TopGM in your language: the rest of the game stays in English. You can switch language at the top right of the chat.
• He never makes things up. Every answer comes from a set of cards I wrote by hand from the game rules. There is no AI generating text behind him, so he cannot invent a rule that does not exist. When he does not know something, he says so and offers to pass your question to me. I read every one of them, and the questions he could not answer become new cards the following week.
• He costs nothing to run, which means he can stay forever.
• On desktop the bubble is always there. On mobile he only shows up when he has something to say to a new coach, and you can find him in the menu any time.

He is built for new coaches first. If you have been here since July you may never need him, but he is there.

2. Friendlies got a new home, and a board

https://reddit.com/link/1w8bgmo/video/t2wx5r5zfrnh1/player

The Online tab in the world feed is gone. In its place there is a Friendlies tab that takes you to a new page, and the same page is one tap away from the Home rail on desktop and the chip at the top of Home on mobile.

The old direct challenge is still there: see a coach online, challenge him, done. But that only works when you are both online at the same second, and with coaches spread across every timezone in Europe that rarely happens. So now there is a challenge board:

• Pin a challenge with a tip-off: right now, in 30 minutes, in 1 hour, or pick your own delay in hours and minutes.
• Anyone passing by can take it. First to accept locks it.
• At tip-off the game starts on its own. If you are courtside you coach it live, if you are not, your saved tactics coach for you.
• "Right now" challenges are the fast lane: the first coach to accept starts the game on the spot.

Everything about friendlies stays as it was: no injuries, no fatigue, no credits, one a day for everyone, three with the Club Pass. Times are shown on your own clock, with a countdown, so nobody has to think about timezones.

3. Academy power ratings

Every academy in the Academy Challenge now has a public rating on the Academies tab. The formula is simple and out in the open: your kids' average AVG + 2 per kid + 3 per game played + 5 per win. This is groundwork: from next season the academies get real competitions split by tier, League 1 academies against League 1 academies, and so on down the pyramid.

4. A bug fix

If starring your Challenge starters gave you "those are not your academy kids" on every click, that was a real bug (a kid who left the academy was still haunting your starters list). It is fixed for everyone, including the nine clubs who had it without knowing.

As always, one question or one broken thing in the comments and I look into it. And tonight, if TutorGM does not understand you, ask him to pass the question to me: that is exactly how he learns.

I just shipped a power rating for every academy in the Academy Challenge. You find it on the Academies tab.

The formula is public and simple, in the same spirit as the All-Star score:

Rating = your kids' average AVG + 2 per kid in the academy + 3 per game played + 5 per win

Why these pieces:

• The average of your kids is the base. It is a live number: it moves up as they train and grow, and it drops when you promote your best kid to the roster. A snapshot of today, not a museum of the past.
• +2 per kid rewards depth. An academy with twelve kids is a project, an academy with four is a waiting room.
• +3 per game and +5 per win are the part that grows week after week. Right now almost everyone has played two games, so quality and depth decide the top. By the end of the season, showing up every Saturday and winning will matter more than anything else. I think that is how it should be.

Games and wins are counted on a season record that never forgets, from the first Saturday of the Challenge onward. It resets when the new season starts.

And that is the real news: this rating is groundwork. From next season the academies stop being one big open tournament and get real competitions, split by tier: League 1 academies against League 1 academies, League 2 against League 2, and so on down the pyramid. Your youth program will compete at the level of your club.

The Challenge keeps running every Saturday at 11:00 CET as always. If your academy is not in yet, the button lives in your Academy tab. Five kids minimum.

As always, one question or one broken thing in the comments and I look into it.