How to play

You’re the chairman of a brand-new village cricket club: a field, a grant and not a single paid-up member. Here’s how to get going.

Build the club up the ladder, one status at a time: Founding Club, then Village Club, then Established Club, then Premier Village Club, then Super Village Club, then County Outground, then Associate International Venue. The club’s status is checked at the end of every September, from its members, sides, facilities and reputation. Or set your own goal, and see how far you can take it.

• On the home screen, name your club (or take a made-up village name), choose men’s or women’s cricket for its first side, and press Found.
• Choose how to play: the general simulator (no set goal), a challenge (a target to reach), or play with friends in your own Saturday league.
• Play straight away in your browser. Sign in if you want your clubs saved to your account, to play on any device, and to play with friends.

1. Choose an objective: a target for the club to aim at.
2. Check the subs and match fee on the Prices board: fair prices fill the club; steep ones empty it.
3. Buy something from the shop: a mower, a tea urn or some nets make a start.
4. Insure the club: break-ins and storms are dear without it.
5. Play January with the big button on the ground: subs come in and the club year begins.
6. Book winter nets in February, and pick the teams in March: how many sides, and which leagues they join.
7. Play your first weekend: the season runs from April to September, a weekend at a time.

• Pre-season (January to March), a month at a time: subs fall due, winter nets, and big building work.
• The season (April to September), a weekend at a time: matches, teas, the bar, washouts, and the weekly decisions.
• Off-season (October to December), a month at a time: ground works, repairs and saving up.

• Shop: facilities, kit and staff, from a hand roller to a members’ pavilion.
• Prices: subs, match fees, bar prices and concessions.
• Teams: your sides, their leagues and grounds, and their umpires and scorers.
• Bank: savings, investments and loans. Accounts: where the money came from and went.
• Results, Tables and News: how the sides are getting on, and what’s happening at the club.
• Status: what the club needs for the next step up the ladder.
• Map: put your club on the map, find clubs near you and arrange friendlies.

• Members want fair prices, decent facilities and good teas. Keep them happy and they renew in January and bring their friends.
• Captains ask for things through the season. Sort them, promise them, or say no, but don’t break too many promises.
• Watch the money: a club that runs out, can’t pay its debts or loses its members can fold, and a chairman who spends nothing for too long can be voted out.
• The bills (upkeep, coaching and other wages, the pavilion’s bills, insurance and loan repayments) leave the current account on the 1st of each month. Make sure there’s enough in it to cover them.
• Facilities wear out. Repair them, or let them go and pay for a major overhaul later.

• Read the club rules for how everything works.
• The Hints page in the game has one free hint; watch a short advert to unlock the others, or for a mystery boost once a season.
• The game saves after every move. You can run up to 12 clubs at once.

Play the game