FAQ
Find answers to common questions about Sandbox Simulator
Getting Started
What modes can I play?
Two: Manager Mode (run a team across a full season) and MyPlayer Mode (play as a single pro from Challengers up through the pro circuit). Both have their own home-screen entry points and both are free.
How do I start a new career?
From the home page pick the mode you want. Manager: pick a team and click GO into manager setup. MyPlayer: click Create Player and go through Creator (look, archetype, role, stats, starting team region). Pick a bundled world, archive ruleset, or custom league on the way in.
What's the Multiverse?
A world system for playing across different competitive setups. Preset worlds, archive rulesets, and custom leagues can each define their own teams, rosters, formats, game modes, and balance of power.
Can I have multiple careers?
Yes. Everyone gets unlimited local save slots, plus 2 cloud saves that sync across devices, or 10 on Sandbox Pro. Manage them from the Careers and Players pages.
Free & Pro
Is any gameplay locked behind a paywall?
No. Every mode is free for everyone: Manager, MyPlayer, custom leagues, preset worlds, the community hub, advanced analytics, the lifetime stats dashboard, cloud saves, and the native Mac/Windows desktop app. No world, era or feature of the game is ever gated.
What does Sandbox Pro add?
Two things: 10 cloud save slots instead of 2, synced across every device, and no ads anywhere on the site. It is $34.99 a year, which works out to $2.92 a month, or $4.99 month to month. Cloud storage and bandwidth are the parts that genuinely cost money to run, so those are the parts that are paid.
What happens to my saves if I cancel Pro?
Nothing is deleted. Local saves are unlimited on every plan and live on your device. Cloud saves above the free limit of 2 stay in the cloud and stay readable, you just cannot add new ones until you are back under the limit. Cancel anytime from your account page.
Is there a desktop app?
Yes, native Mac and Windows builds, free for everyone on any plan. Same game, packaged as a desktop app with cloud-synced saves. Download links are on your account page.
Manager Mode
How many players can I have?
Default is 4 active + bench slots, configurable in career settings. Only the active 4 play in matches and build team chemistry. Bench players slot in when there are injuries or when you want to rotate.
How do I sign free agents?
From the Roster or Players panel, browse free agents and make a contract offer. They'll respond with accept / reject / counter-offer based on salary, length, your team's reputation, and any competing bids. Bidding wars are now AI-driven — multiple teams will bid on the same star.
Can I trade players?
Yes. Open the Trade panel, build an offer (players in both directions plus optional cash), and submit. Teams evaluate and can accept, counter, or reject. Budget guard validates trades before they're proposed so you can't accidentally exceed your cap.
What's a custom league?
Build your own league from scratch. Pick teams, set the schedule, run a season, and create alternate-history or fictional sandbox setups.
What is Break Week?
A built-in mid-stage break where you spend the week on team development: drills (stat boosts), fan events (popularity / sponsorship), talent development for younger players, or sponsor activities for cash. Choose what to prioritize.
What about injuries?
Players can pick up minor (1–2 weeks), moderate (2–4 weeks), or severe (4+ weeks) injuries. Bench depth matters — a thin roster falls apart fast in a bad stretch.
MyPlayer Mode
How does MyPlayer work?
You pick an archetype (Slayer / IGL / Anchor / Flex / Clutch) and a role, customize your starting stats and look, then grind through Challengers tryouts hoping to get scouted by a pro org. Once in the league you play weekly matches, manage sponsors, post updates, and renegotiate contracts.
What's scout heat?
A visibility meter that tracks how closely pro orgs are watching you. Strong Challengers performance raises heat; bad games or bad posts drop it. Orgs invite you to tryouts when their heat threshold is met.
What's burnout?
Fatigue from over-training or stacking a packed schedule. Push too hard and your stats temporarily drop. Push past the redline and the debuff sticks permanently — manage your week, take breaks, don't burn the candle from both ends.
How do sponsorships work?
Gear, energy drinks, and content networks offer deals with monthly stipends + content quotas (e.g. post X tweets, stream Y hours). Hit the quota you keep the money; miss it and the deal gets terminated. Top performers get tier-1 brand offers; rookies start at tier-3.
What's the tweet system?
In-game social media. Compose tweets to build hype, take shots at rivals, or do PR damage control. Tweets affect popularity, sponsor offers, and team chemistry — a clapback at your own org is funny until they ship you to Toronto Ultra.
Simulation
How are matches simulated?
Each match is a Best-of-5 or Best-of-7 across the selected world's game modes. The sim factors player ratings, chemistry, role fit, team strategy, and match-day variance with a real Elo system underneath.
Can I watch matches live?
Yes — live match simulation with play-by-play commentary, real-time stats, and a speed control. You can also sim a whole week or stage instantly from the calendar if you don't want to watch every map.
Why did my better team lose?
Match-day variance, off days, low chemistry, and clutch moments all swing outcomes. A higher-rated team without chemistry can lose to a coordinated underdog. That's by design — the league wouldn't be interesting otherwise.
Players
How do players improve?
Progression runs at the end of each season. Young players (under 33) gain at least +1 if they had any meaningful season; older players enter decline with the curve depending on how the season went. Potential caps how high they can climb.
What is player potential?
The hard ceiling on a player's overall rating. Stars sit at 90+ potential; role players cap lower. Development speed controls how fast they get there. Scouting tells you the potential range — exact value is hidden until they hit it.
Do players decline?
Yes — at age 33+ players enter decline. A great season can keep it to -1, an average one is -1 to -2, a poor one can be -3. Plan ahead: identify successors a season or two before your stars start dropping.
Team Chemistry
How does chemistry work?
Chemistry builds as the same 4-player active roster competes together — wins build it faster. Higher chemistry gives small rating bonuses and reduces match-day variance. Capped at 100. Roster changes reset it for the new lineup.
Seasons
How do I advance the season?
Use Advance Week on the career dashboard. It runs all matches for the week, applies results to standings, handles injuries / morale, and progresses the calendar. Use Sim All to fast-forward a whole stage at once.
What happens at the end of a season?
Awards ceremony (MVP, Coach of the Year, Turnaround Team, etc.), player progression and decline, contracts expire, free agency opens, and the calendar rolls to the next season. The GOAT page stamps your career stats.
Are there playoffs?
Yes — Major brackets at the end of each stage and a Championship at the end of the season. Bracket layouts follow the selected world's configured format.
Troubleshooting
I lost my career data. Can I recover it?
You get 2 cloud saves as a cross-device safety net; any saves beyond that are local-only, so clearing browser data wipes them. Cloud saves let you sign in on another device or re-install the desktop app and pull them back down.
My game is running slowly.
Refresh the page, close other heavy tabs, and check the in-app debug toggle in account settings. Long careers (10+ seasons) with full lifetime stats can get heavy in the browser — the desktop app handles this noticeably better.
Why can't I advance the week?
Usually a roster issue — you might not have 4 active players, you might have an unsigned contract that needs a decision, or you might have a Decision Arc event waiting for input. The blocker is called out at the top of the dashboard.
Still Have Questions?
If you can't find the answer you're looking for, explore the other wiki pages for more detailed information about specific game systems. The Overview, Simulator, Teams, and Players pages contain comprehensive guides to help you master Sandbox Simulator.