Rules of Play

1. GAME IDEA

The game principle of the strategy game START7 is based on real events in the LIQUI MOLY HBL. In the game, you compete in virtual leagues against friends or other players and put together the strongest possible team of real Bundesliga professionals with a set budget. When you join a league, you’ll be provided with 3 million euros, randomly distributed on the value of your squad and your account balance. The Bundesliga players can then be traded at any time between the managers of a league and START7 via the transfer market. The market price of the players varies daily, depending on supply and demand on the transfer market.

The goal of the game is to collect as many points as possible during a season and become the champion of your league. Before each match day, you have the opportunity to select your starting seven from your squad, which should score points for you on the respective match day. If one of the lined up players then plays in reality, all relevant game actions are analyzed and converted into points. Every plus or minus point your players score affects your bonus, which you receive at the end of a matchday for your team’s performance. The points in turn pay into the balance of your manager account. For plus points you will receive 500 Euro each, for minus points 500 Euro each will be deducted. In addition, certain special cases (e.g. negative account balance, incomplete line-up at the beginning of a matchday) will result in points being deducted. You can find all details in the FAQs on our landing page.

The Handball Performance Index is the basis for calculating the points of each player (see 3. Calculation of points).

As a Basic user, you can view the points scored by your players two hours after the kick-off of the last match of a match day. We reserve the right to make corrections to the scoring system up to 24 hours before the kick-off of the next match day. Should serious corrections be necessary, all managers will be notified accordingly. On special match days, the points will be credited on the following day. Premium users can view the points development live during the match day.

2. TRANSFER LOGIC

To optimize your team, you can buy new players for your team in the “Buy” section of the transfer market. Players from the other managers of your league or from START7 are offered there. The market value below the purchase offer serves as an orientation and better evaluation of the purchase offer. As soon as you have bid on a player via “Submit bid”, the player tile disappears from the “Sell” area and moves to the “My bids” area.

In the “My Bids” section you can keep track of the bids you have submitted. If you want to adjust your bid, you must first delete it in the “My bids” section and then resubmit it via the “Sell” section.

In the “Sell” section you can place the player from your squad on the transfer market and offer the player for sale there. Using the turquoise plus in the lower right corner of the screen you can select a player, configure the selling price and specify the duration of the offer. You can only put players on the transfer market that are not in your current line-up. As soon as you have placed a player on the transfer market, you can click on the player tile in the “Sell” section to view and manage the bids received so far for the respective player. At the very bottom of the window you can withdraw the offer of your player at any time (“Delete offer”).

As soon as another manager has bid for one of your players, you can decide for or against the bid of another manager or START7 by clicking on the X or ✓ next to the bid until your time limit expires. If you decide on a bid, the player will immediately be transferred from your squad to the team of the opposing manager or START7. If you have not decided on a bid from the other managers or START7 by the time your player offer expires, the bids are automatically deleted and the player remains in your squad.

3. POINTS CALCULATION

The points calculation in START7 is based on the Handball Performance Index (HPI), more precisely the HPI points. The HPI points serve as the basis for calculating the HPI and were introduced by the HBL for the 2020/21 season in order to transparently evaluate and compare the performance of all players in the LIQUI MOLY HBL. The evaluation is based on statistics, as well as performance and position data of each player in each match, which we collect together with our data service providers Sportradar and KINEXON. Each game action is classified and weighted according to difficulty. Thus, a player collects plus and minus points with each action during a match (e.g. goal scored, technical error, save). The more HPI points a player has collected, the better his performance was in the game.

In contrast to the HPI points, where the initial value is 100, the point calculation for START7 starts at 0.

The following tables provide an overview of the different game actions and how they ultimately affect a player’s HPI points. The weighting is different for goalkeepers and field players.

For goalkeeper saves from the wing, fastbreaks and penalties, throws to the post, crossbar and next to the goal are counted as saves. That does not apply for all other positions.

Goalkeepers

Type	Points save	Points goal against
6 meters center	8	-2
6 meters left/right	8	-2
penalty	8	-2
9 meters center	7	-3
9 meters left/right	7	-3
Backcourt	9	-1
Direct free throw	5	-5
Fastbreak	8	-2
Wing	6	-4
Unknown	8	-2

Field players

Type	Points goal	Points assist	Points throw off
6 meters center	6	4	-7
6 meters left/right	7	3	-7
Penalty	6	4	-8
9 meters center	10	0	-4
9 meters left/right	10	0	-4
Backcourt	7	3	-7
Direct free throw	10	0	-1
Fastbreak	5	5	-8
Wing	7	3	-6
Unknown	5	5	-8

Other Events

Type	Points
Suspension	-3
Red card	-10
Penalty caused	-7
Block	7
Steal	8
Technical fault	-8

For more information on HPI points and the evolution to HPI 2.0, click here.

We answer further questions in the FAQs.