I’ve been working on a small basketball web game called Build a Hooper.
You can try it here: https://buildahooper.app/
The idea is simple: instead of just picking one ready-made player, you build your own hooper piece by piece.
You spin historic teams, draft legendary players, take one skill from each of them, and then run your custom player through a full 82-game season simulation.
No signup is required to start playing.
Why I made it
A lot of basketball builder games are fun for a few minutes, but they usually stop at the draft card.
I wanted the build to matter after the picks were done.
So in Build a Hooper, the fun is not only “Can I make a stacked player?” but also:
- Does this build actually win games?
- Is it balanced enough for a full season?
- Did I waste too many picks chasing scoring?
- Can this player survive playoff-style pressure?
- Would I build the same way next time?
That last part matters. I wanted each run to feel replayable, not solved after one try.
How it works
The main draft flow has 13 skill picks.
Each round gives you a team/player pool. You choose a player, then steal one skill from that player to add to your custom hooper.
After the draft, the site simulates an 82-game season and gives you a result based on the player you built.
There are also different draft modes:
- Classic: you can see the ratings and make cleaner decisions.
- Blind: ratings are hidden, so you have to trust names, roles, and instinct.
- Chaos: the available skill board is limited each round, so you can’t always build the exact player you planned.
Classic is probably the best place to start. Blind and Chaos are more interesting once you already understand the system.
What you can try
If you want the fastest path, start here:
If you want to understand the rules first:
There are also a few extra pages if you want to explore more:
What I’m still improving
This is an independent fan project, and I’m still tuning it.
A few things I’m thinking about:
- making the simulation feel more transparent
- improving the result page
- adding more interesting achievement paths
- making the leaderboard more fun to chase
- balancing draft choices so there are fewer obvious picks
If you try it and something feels confusing, too easy, too random, or just not fun, I’d genuinely like to hear it.
The site is here:
Thanks for checking it out.
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