Blaseball is a splort in which 20 teams compete under the Internet League Blaseball organization, day and night, rain or shine, and at the behest of us fans who vote to remake the league in our own image.

No, really— Out of character, what is Blaseball?

Blaseball is a browser game developed by The Game Band, about an absurdist simulation of baseball that is almost entirely depicted in text. Strange features include random incinerations that force team players to be replaced, Forbidden Rule Books, or peanuts raining from the sky that induce allergic reactions.
Blaseball is a fan simulator: you don’t play Blaseball, you watch it. Gameplay involves choosing a favorite team, placing bets on simulated matches to earn coins (all in fictional currency), then spending those coins to benefit your team at the end of the week. With luck and a bit of strategizing with fellow fans, your team just might win the championship! (See Gameplay section for more)
Community & fandom involvement is also a huge draw. Because the presentation of Blaseball is so bare, but the descriptions & names are so evocative, there is a wide gap of imagination that the community has filled in with incredible art, fan lore, and more (we’re talkin’ music albums, radio mockumentaries, play-by-play livestreams — the community is incredible). The Blaseball Wiki and the Discord are ideal places to start if this interests you the most.

Why do people care about Blaseball?

These articles from the first few weeks of Blaseball do a pretty good job at conveying what’s so interesting about it:
Blaseball is the Real Return of Baseball covers what the act of keeping up with simulated matches is like.
An absurdist baseball game is tearing up the internet, thanks to fans covers writers’ & artists’ homemade contributions to Blaseball.

I know I clicked on this doc, but actually I hate reading. Is there a video?

Discord user Aluuvia made this video called Blaseball: A Fever Dream of a Cultural Event — which gives you a great overview of what playing Blaseball is like, and what early historic events shaped the game & fandom.

How long has this been going on?

Blaseball.com opened on July 20, 2020. Every Season lasts one real-life week, with periodic breaks (called a siesta) that can last a week or more for fans & developers to rest. (Read more about seasons, including which Season we’re currently on.)
(For a timeline of in-game events, see Events section)

How can I materially support Blaseball?

Blaseball has a Patreon where you can send them money every month and gain access to the Bloodhouse, a Discord clubhouse channel where everyone talks about blood. One of the Patreon tiers allows you to submit a name into the randomly-selected name pool!
Official merchandise is currently in the works.

How do I learn about official updates?

Twitter or Discord. The Twitter account @Blaseball announces news/updates, usually in the voice of a character called “The Commissioner.” The Discord channel #announcements also features updates, usually posted by the Umpires who are both characters within Blaseball and the real designers of the game.

Does fan lore actually “matter”?

Yes, absolutely. The developers have stated during interviews that they encourage the “collaborative attitude” of fan interpretations to continue, and that they believe in “a ‘Many Worlds’ interpretation...that leaves room for everyone.” Any respectful additions you can make to the world of Blaseball is valid and encouraged.
Specifically, fan-created lore is regularly integrated into the game itself, with examples such as the Dial Tone and Vibe Check and The Grand Unslam.

Can I follow this without understanding anything about real-life baseball?

Absolutely. Many fans aren’t necessarily knowledgeable about baseball. Rooting for your team, betting on games, or getting invested in events require no knowledge about the rules of baseball.
On the other hand, if you really want to follow play-by-plays closely, there are many existing resources about making sense of baseball such as this YouTube video, Rules of Baseball Explained. Blaseball does have some key rule differences, but a basic understanding should keep you covered.

How do I… participate in the cultural event known as Blaseball?

First thing’s first: sign up at Blaseball.com and choose your team. There’s no wrong team to pick, and you can always change your mind later. (See also: the Community section for What team should I join?)
Of course, you can always participate by following the story, or making cool stuff, or adding to the Wiki, or diving into stats, or helping out newcomers, or just telling your friends. And just like doing The Wave, you’ll have a lot more fun with others than you would alone.

What time zone are the Blaseball servers located?

Pacific US time zone. When the site mentions times & dates, it’s Pacific US.

GAMEPLAY

How do I play Blaseball?

Technically, you can’t. The Blaseball players do. You will watch from the stands, supporting your favorite team.
For clarity, usually “players” means the named characters on teams who play in matches, and “fans” or “participants” means the people like you who watch & influence those matches.

What can I do in Blaseball?

You can earn coins by betting on matches. If your bet wins, you gain double (more-or-less). Additionally, you earn passive income every time your favorite team wins. (See How can I get lots of coins? for more)
Coins are used in the Shop to either buy other items that help your gambling in the long run, or buy Votes.
Votes are spent on an election ballot that wraps up at the end of every season. You vote on decrees and blessings that you want to see in action. (See What are decrees and blessings? for more)
Throughout the season, you’ll watch the progress of matches, track your favorite team’s record, and root for them along with the rest of the community. That’s most of the interaction inside the game. But don’t forget that it’s still a living world full of underlying mysteries, storied interruptions, and emergent narratives. Taking part in the Discord is highly recommended for a fuller experience!

When do games happen? What is a season like?

A season has 3 parts: the regular season, the postseason, and the election results. All of this takes place within a real-life week, Monday to Sunday. (Read more)
Specifically, individual games happen at the start of every hour. The regular season wraps up on Friday and Blaseball takes a brief break. The playoffs begin on Saturday and run throughout most of the day. (The exception to all of this is siestas & other downtime events.)
As of Season 9, there is now a Wildcard best-of-three series after the regular season on Friday. The winner of these games makes it into the playoffs.

Where can I view the Game Log after it’s off the website? Can I review past games?

Check out Reblase, a fan-made tool created by server member Astrid. (Read more at the Reblase github page.)

How can I get lots of coins?

See this helpful doc from the Discord community: Blaseball Coin Making Guide for New Fans. It covers items & betting strategy if you’re trying to maximize your payouts.

Do the items in the Shop expire? (Passive Income Potion, High Roller Snake Oil, Pendants…)

No! These are permanent upgrades. Almost anything you buy in the Shop will carry over to the next season. Exceptions being consumable items such as Votes and Peanuts. (Read more)

When do games stop? What is a siesta?

A siesta is when the umpires declare an official pause to all games. This can be for out-of-universe reasons like the website being overloaded, or in-universe reasons like a message from major characters. Sometimes the fun of Blaseball is that these reasons can be one and the same. (Read more)
Games are not in session on Sunday, when election results are revealed.

What are decrees and blessings?

Decrees are sweeping rule-changes to Blaseball, such as “retire the team in last place” or “redistribute wealth from the top 1% every season.” Decree votes are collective and affect everybody, regardless of what team you root for. Decrees are also typically how big changes in the world get declared, such as umpires turning rogue or Los Angeles tearing into infinite cities. (Read more)
Blessings are changes to individual team players, usually with the intent of helping one team perform better next season, such as “give player a Legendary Bat and max out their batting stats” or “steal the best pitcher in your league.” Blessing votes are tallied up per team and are awarded like a raffle: more fans voting on a particular blessing means their team is more likely, but not guaranteed, to win that blessing. (Read more)

What’s the point of winning a championship?

Well. Okay. Sure. What’s the point of anything, huh?
Winning a championship does not provide any material changes to a team, such as bonus blessings. On the other hand, it does feel really good to see your team make it to the finals and earn a hard-fought victory. (Plus you get one free Vote ticket.)
The Rulebook mentions that any team who wins 3 times will “ascend”. So far, only one team, the Baltimore Crabs, has achieved this goal, have apparently ascended to the “Big Leagues”, and can be seen here. The Telescope in the Bulletin shows their current record this season, but nothing else about their current state is known. Two other teams- the Philly Pies and the Hades Tigers, are one game away from ascension.

What are weather conditions?

A weather condition affects every match, and weather is seemingly randomized for every match. Weather conditions are generally meant to be a mystery, but the Wiki has pages that lay out what fans have been able to figure out: (Read more)

What is Shame?

Shame is a rule unique to Blaseball. When two teams are tied, the tiebreaker gets to continue racking up points while the loser must be shamed by sitting through a game that they've already lost. (Read more)

What are player Vibes?

Introduced in Season 4, you can see any player’s Vibes by clicking on their name. It possibly affects their performance, but the truth is that we don’t know how much it affects the game. We do know that Vibes go up or down at the start of every game, so they’re regularly fluctuating.

Which teams are the Home Team and Away Team?

For any live match, the team listed on top is the Away Team and the one listed on bottom is the Home Team.

What does lineup and rotation mean?

You’ll see this on every team’s roster page. In short, lineup = batters and rotation = pitchers.
The lineup plays every game, and they go up to bat in the order listed. The rotation only selects one pitcher to play each game, and pitchers cycle out per game in the order listed.

What does it mean when the Live game log says (so-and-so baseball terminology)?

The Wiki has a guide to the live game log, which is really helpful if you’re not super familiar with baseball terminology. It explains phrases like “strike, looking” or “fielder’s choice”: (Read more)

What do the icons mean in the Watch Live interface?

Refer to these helpful diagrams, made by daxleopard from the Discord:

Which teams make the playoffs when they have the same win-loss record?

Currently, there’s a tie-breaker system called Divine Favor. It’s a priority list that determines who wins a tie for qualifying for the playoffs. (Read more)

EVENTS

Where can I find a timeline of major events?

There’s a full, living timeline on Blaseball’s Wiki, and it gets updated as major events occur with each new season.

COMMUNITY

What team should I join? What is the vibe of each team?

We don’t have an easy way to answer this question yet! There are developing efforts to sum up the personality of every team at a glance, but they aren’t ready yet. Some frequent advice includes:

Check out each team’s Wiki page. Ask for personalized advice on Discord. Pick a city closest to you. Pick at a whim-- you can always change your mind later.

Yellowstone Magic is one team with a Newbie Handbook that includes helpful info! We will update as more resources become available.

Who are umpires? Who are groundskeepers? Who are Custodians?

Umpires are named characters who both represent high-level entities who answer to the Blaseball Gods, as well as the real-life designers of the game. Think of them like Game Masters. They communicate with people in the Discord in-character and announce updates about the game, but are typically not available for direct questions or comments. (Read more)
Groundskeepers (a.k.a. keepers) are found in the Discord and are moderators for the Blaseball community. Is there greater lore for keepers? Who knows. You can see which keepers are online by looking at the server’s Member List, and you can go to #discord-help if you need something in the server. (Or direct message them any time if it’s something that requires privacy.)
Custodians are helpful members of the community that handle questions and smaller issues inside the Discord’s support channels. If you have any server questions, @ them and ask away, but if there are more pressing concerns the Keepers are always available.

What is the Wiki?

The Blaseball Wiki is a site designed to catalog historical & cultural elements of Blaseball, from a list of every blessing ever named to fan lore about a player’s origin story. The Wiki is unofficial and foremost a community effort, however it does have the Blaseball creators’ stamp of approval. More info can be found in the Discord’s #fan-lore channel.

What is SIBR?

SIBR stands for Society for Internet Blaseball Research, an organized group of Blaseball fans who archive & analyze game data such as player statistics, seasonal records, and lots of other mechanisms under the hood. More info can be found at SIBR’s FAQ, plus pinned posts in the Discord’s #stats channel.

SIBR is indeed a parody of the baseball stat-collecting organization, SABR.

What is Forbidden Knowledge?

Forbidden Knowledge refers to gameplay elements that have been discovered within game code, but have not been publicly announced or formally introduced. These elements are considered spoilers because they may give away future surprises, or simply make Blaseball a lot less mysterious than intended.

When discussing Forbidden Knowledge in the Discord, it is common courtesy to use spoiler tags. The format for spoiler tags is: ||Hidden text goes here||.

Why does the Discord have a word filter? Why can’t we use custom emotes?

The creators believe that Blaseball should be a PG-13 experience, both for the sake of its youngest fans, and to foster a friendly atmosphere of splortsmanship. Besides, with 10k+ members, it’s more reasonable that we draw the line instead of allowing room for any potential abuse.
Notably, the absence of foul language or custom emotes have led the community to become more funny and creative when it comes to team trash-talk and team cheers.

What is Blasebot?

Blasebot is a helpful fan-made Discord bot created by server member BeeFox, and it sends game and event updates, summaries, and more to the Blaseball server. You can add Blasebot to your personal server if you want— more in-depth information can be found on the bot’s github. (Additionally, here is BeeFox’s Patreon.)

What is “The Commissioner is doing a great job”?

This is an oft-repeated line that comes from an early ticker message on Blaseball.com that simply says, “The Commissioner is doing a great job!” It’s a catchy line that is easy to repeat because-- as it turns out, The Commissioner is in fact doing a great job.

What are some team-specific memes or cheers?

Too many to cover in this FAQ! Each team does have a Wiki article that records ‘fan culture,’ including cheers. However, your best bet might be to ask your fellow fans inside your team’s channel on Discord to show you around.

Are there official team accounts on social media?

Not explicitly! The only official Blaseball account is @Blaseball on Twitter. Many teams and players have accounts operated by fans, typically with the support of the rest of their team. It’s best to ask in your team channel or elsewhere in the Discord if you have more specific questions.
The Wiki has a collected list of Blaseball RP accounts on social media. Most accounts are on Twitter. (Read more)

Who are the most popular & least popular teams?

We don’t have access to accurate counts of the registered users on Blaseball.com. But we do have user data from the Discord. If you go to #choose-your-team, the numbers displayed are good representations of how “big” each team’s fandom is relative to one another.

How can I contribute to Blaseball lore? Haven’t other fans written it all by now?

Blaseball’s creators and Wiki management both support a ‘multiverse’ vision of Blaseball where several interpretations can be true. This is even supported structurally in the Wiki with “interdimensional” pages. Additionally, Blaseball does gain fresh new players and new moments to write about every single season. There’s a lot of uncovered territory; a lot of blank spaces in-between what the game itself could possibly describe.
As long as you’re being respectful (i.e., not a jerk), Blaseball’s staff and community alike are welcoming of all sorts of creative additions and re-interpretations.
Please keep in mind that the official community does impose PG-13 restrictions, for the sake of Blaseball’s youngest fans. More explicit content should be kept to spaces outside of the official Discord and the Wiki.

How can I contribute to the Blaseball Wiki, in particular?

The Wiki does have a Style Guide that you should read. Be aware that this is all still relatively very new, and consistent best practices are being hashed out over time thanks to the efforts of folks in #fan-lore. Beyond that, here are some worthwhile etiquette tips:
Before making major additions to the Wiki: It’s recommended that you open up your ideas to feedback in either team chat (when it’s about your team), or in #fan-lore (when it’s broader than teams). Sometimes an idea is covered by some obscure bit of canon; sometimes other fans can help connect your ideas to existing character lore; etc. Collaboration is encouraged.
If you want to write lore about others’ teams, you should ask members of that team in #fan-lore. Though in some cases, it’s best to simply let members of that team dictate their own stories.

What if I want to draw a player but the Wiki has no description of them? (Or a description I’m not into?)

It’s worth stating that none of the descriptions, images, pronouns, or histories of players on the Wiki are “canon” in the traditional sense. Those are simply what took off within the community the earliest. All depictions of all players are fair game.
Seriously, just draw whatever you want. There’s so much existing Blaseball art of players who aren’t athletes; who aren’t human; who can’t even hold a bat. It’s a weird & silly universe already so anything is within the realm of possibility. As always, though, you’re welcome to start a conversation in your team chat or in #fanwork when you need ideas-- or perhaps if you want to know how other artists tend to draw the team uniform, for example.

Where should I post fan work I made (such as art, music, fics, etc)?

We have a channel in Discord, #fanwork, just for this purpose. Share it in your team chat, too. And on social media, of course-- fan-made stuff on Twitter gets retweeted by @Blaseball all the time. Most folks use the hashtag #blaseball.
If you’re looking for a more permanent home besides the usual ephemeral social media, well, we don’t have a perfect answer for that so far. The Wiki can be one such solution, as it already hosts lots of fan art & external links to music. Pop by the #fan-lore channel if you’d like help with adding your creative work to a relevant Wiki page.
There’s also a growing blase.booru gallery where you should upload & tag any visual fan art.

If I make Blaseball fan art or fan merch, can I sell my work?

Yes! Please read this official statement released in August: (Read more)