FAQ

Yes — and it always will be. Every core feature is free: all game modes, the Daily Challenge, the global leaderboard, streaks, scoring, and the full rank system — everyone earns XP and climbs from Rookie to GOAT. No account or download required, and none of the game is behind a paywall — including all of Career Mode and every season you play in it. There's an optional one-time GOAT Pass for extra perks and boosts (no ads, a once-per-game ratings reveal in Blind & Daily, +25% XP, the full past-Daily archive, an evolving gold rank badge, deeper stats, and post-game build reveals), but it's never required to play or compete.

Ads help keep GOAT Lab free — servers, the leaderboard, and everything else costs money, and a small amount of advertising is what lets every core feature stay free forever with no paywalls or play limits. We've kept it light: one ad on the home screen, nothing inside a game or in the middle of a draft. A consent banner lets you control personalized ads — see our Privacy Policy for details.

If you'd rather not see ads at all, the GOAT Pass removes them entirely — or, if the ads are the only thing you want gone, there's a standalone $1.99 ads-off unlock that does just that and nothing else.

The GOAT Pass is an optional, one-time purchase ($4.99) — a way to support the game and play with some real boosts. In Blind and Daily modes it adds a Reveal button: once per game, see every player's rating for the stat on the table before you pick (one use per game — a respin deals fresh, hidden cards and spends it). Every game you finish also earns +25% XP, so you climb the ranks faster, and you can replay any past Daily from the archive as practice (no XP, streak, or leaderboard). On top of that it gives your name a gold-bordered rank badge on every leaderboard and on the scorecards you share — one that visibly levels up through all 12 ranks from Rookie to GOAT — plus your exact daily rank and percentile, a reveal of the top build after each Daily, a full personal stats page with your history, streaks, averages, and play calendar, and a trophy case of 66 milestone achievements. In Career Mode it adds the daily Career of the Day board, private friend leagues, the full weekly challenge slate and its badges, the what-if replay, your whole career vault, and your own Hall of Fame — the careers themselves stay free. It also switches every ad off, on every page and in every mode. GOAT Lab is completely playable, and completely free, without it. See everything in the Pass →

Every game you finish earns XP, and XP levels you up through 12 ranks — from Rookie all the way to GOAT. You earn it for playing the Daily (plus a streak bonus), for Classic and Blind runs, for high-scoring builds, and for unlocking trophies. Your rank and XP bar live on your home screen, and there's an all-time XP leaderboard that rewards the players who show up day after day. Everyone earns XP and a rank for free — GOAT Pass holders earn 25% bonus XP on every game and get to show their gold rank badge on the public leaderboard.

Career Mode takes a build you've drafted, gives him a name and a number, and plays out his entire career one season at a time — draft night, the leap (or the bust), trade demands, contracts, playoff runs, injuries, retirement, and a final verdict on where he lands all-time. Retire him and you can play his son, chasing the family records he left behind. It's free, every era and every team; the GOAT Pass only adds the extras around it — the daily board, friend leagues, weekly challenges, the what-if replay and the Hall of Fame.

A private Career of the Day board for your group. One player starts a league with the GOAT Pass and shares the join code; anyone can join one league for free. Everybody plays the same seeded career each day, and the league keeps a season table that runs across the calendar month — points, days played, best career, and a streak that only survives if you actually show up. The Pass adds starting your own leagues, joining as many as you like, the commissioner tools, and browsing back through earlier days.

No — every mode is playable without signing in. Optional Google sign-in only adds the global daily leaderboard and saves your daily results and streak so they follow you across devices. See our Privacy Policy for exactly what that involves.

Yes. Everyone gets the identical draft each day with a single attempt, ranked on one shared global board. A new Daily drops every day — come back to keep your streak alive.

Online Head to Head puts you against another player on the same board, same nine rounds, at the same time — highest GOAT Score wins. It's free for everyone. You can jump into a random match or send a challenge link to a friend, and your wins and losses build a record that shows up on a weekly board of the best.

Because you're playing someone real, your display name and your finished board are shown to your opponent, and a completed match gets a link you can share to show it off. See the Game Modes page for the full rundown.

Classic shows player ratings before you choose; Blind hides them so you're going off pure basketball knowledge. Daily is always played blind.

Yes, but it's genuinely hard — a 100 means no weak spots anywhere, across all nine attributes. It earns the top "GOAT" tier and very few players pull it off. See the full tier ladder on the How to Play page.

Ratings are subjective, hand-tuned calls made for a fun game — not official stats. Reasonable fans will absolutely disagree, and that's part of the fun. Think a rating is wrong? We genuinely want to hear it: support@playgoatlab.com.

Yes. GOAT Lab works great in any mobile browser, and you can add it to your home screen to play like an app — no app store needed. On iPhone: tap the Share button in Safari, then "Add to Home Screen." On Android: tap the install prompt or your browser menu's "Add to Home screen."

No. It's an independent, fan-made game, not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by the NBA or any of its teams. All team and player names are used for identification purposes only.

Email support@playgoatlab.com or find us on X (@PlayGoatLab). A real person reads it.