Stumped! help, rules and FAQ
Quickstart guide
If you are new to Stumped! then this short introduction should get you up to speed. Do return to this page when you want to know mode detial about some aspect of the game. If you can't find the information you are looking for, ask in the forums and the DEVs (DEV-Andy and DEV-R0b1et) or other managers will provide answers.So you've taken charge of your team and have a squad full of players. Now what?
Your team will play league matches on Monday (DEV league a.k.a. U21s), Wednesday (T20) and Friday (One Day) and cup matches on some Sundays. As manager, you will pick the team to play, choose batting and bowling orders and decide team tactics. Each week (on Thursday) your players have the option to take a training session with one of your club coaches. The training sessions will improve the player's skills and give your team a better chance of winning. Each player has 9 trainable skills BUT not all players are set to be stars - each skill has a potential and the player's skill level can never exceed their potential - not everybody is cut out to be an international cricketer.
In addition to your players, your club also has (up to 3) coaches and groundstaff (as many as you want) - you can convert players older than 30 to groundstaff or coaches. You can buy and sell players, coaches and groundstaff on the transfer market. Initially your club doesn't have much money, so consider the weekly wages of your staff before you head to the transfer market. After playing a few games, the money will start coming in from gate takings, sponsorship and end-of-season prize money.
This game is deliberately deep and tactical, it may seem a bit complex and overwhelming at first, but stick with it. Once you are familiar with the game, we are sure you'll love it (and it's complexities). Remember that these help pages are here for you and the forums a great resource of information and people to ask question of.
Overview
In Stumped! you take charge of the day to day running of a cricket club. You will hire and fire players, choose training strategies and of course manage the team on match days. You will also need to take charge of groundsmen, coaches and your club's finances if you are to succeed. This guide will help you get to grips with the basics of Stumped!. If you can't find the information you are looking for then head to the forums where many friendly managers and the game developers will help you out.
Your Club
Your club screen is your home in the game, from here you can find information about your club (e.g. your world ranking, supporters club, current leagues, recent and forthcoming fixtures). You can also view and accept friendly match challenges. When viewing the club page of other teams you get to see the same information, but also can send challenges to friendly matches and send an in-game message to the club manager.
Your club logo is displayed on your club page (members feature).
Your world ranking is a results-based measure of your club's success in Stumped! When you first join the game you have a zero rating. Each competitive game you play affects your rating. The calculation takes into account the current rating of your team and the opposition, the level of the game played and the result. Your rating increases for matches won and decreases for matches lost. Beating a good quality opponent increases your rating more than a poor opponent. Losing to a poor opponent drops your rating more than losing to a good opponent. Friendlies do not affect team ratings.
Your club has a dedicated supporters club; these guys adore your club and help you bring in the crowds to your matches. The supporters have a morale that relates to the club performance on the field. Happy fans are a motivated bunch, bringing in more fans and hence potentially larger crowds to your games. Happy supporters also attract the attention of other cricket fans, and will help your club's supporter numbers grow. But beware, when things turn sour on the pitch and morale drops, the disheartened group bring in smaller crowds and might lose faith and stop following your club.
The weekly schedule is as follows:
| Day | Events |
|---|---|
| Mon | DEV Matches |
| Tue | Finance Updates & Members Friendly Matches |
| Wed | Scouting & T20 Games |
| Thur | Coaching & Members Friendly Matches |
| Fri | OD League Matches |
| Sat | Friendly Matches |
| Sun | Members Friendly Matches |
Game credits can be spent to run an affiliate team. An affiliate team is basically just a second team operated by the same user. It must be setup and operate in a different league to the main team, and no trades can occur between the teams, but otherwise it is like a main club. An affiliate team costs 25 game credits per season to operate. If you have an affiliate team, be careful which team you are operating as whenever making changes to the game, the title menu has different icons to change to your affiliate or your main account, check you have the correct one.
Players
Stumped! teams are made up of players. Each player has a number of abilities and attributes, many of which will change during a player's career, some in the control of the manager, others not (for instance aging is an inevitable process!). Player attributes are:
All players have 11 skills, 9 of which are limited by a potential. Skill is the current ability of the player. Skill can be improved by training with coaches and/or playing in matches. Skill decreases when players don't play or train, and older players suffer worse from this than younger players. Potential is the limit to how good a player could ever be, fortunately your staff and players are an experienced group so very quickly and accurately determine the potential of each skill. As a player's skill nears his potential it becomes harder to gain skill, but training when skill far below potential can lead to very rapid improvement. The 11 skills are:
There are 28 possible characteristics a player can have, each has either one or two.
| Name | Effect | Name | Effect | Name | Effect |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Strike Rotator | Uses extra attacking skill on push shots but less effective when slogging | Reverse Swinger | Movement becomes important again when the ball gets older (but not too old), but variation gets less important | Dry Hands | Team maintains the ball better from the general deterioration (not from being hit), but the fielder is a slightly worse catcher. |
| Slow Starter | Has less effect of the settling in period but aggression very limited early in the innings | Partnership breaker | Gets a bowling bonus when a partnership has been going for a long time, but a penalty for small partnerships. | Ice Man | Suffers less from pressure but that means experience is less effective |
| Quick Runner | Takes runs where others can not, but gets run out (and his partner) more often | Tail Clearer | Gets a bonus against lower order batsmen but a slight penalty against the top order | Crowd Pleaser | Higher attendances in home games he plays, but slightly less in home games he misses. Senior and DEV match attendances are only negatively affected by missing Crowd Pleaser from the relevant squad. |
| Opener | Better against a new/swinging ball, gets out more to variations (e.g. slower balls at end of innings) | Unorthodox Action | More difficult to read - reduces the batsman's shot selection, but at the detriment of accuracy | Erratic | Touch varies much faster than other players |
| Finisher | Effective at finding the boundary, even off balls with high variation but the swinging ball is bad news | Death Bowler | Better with an older ball, bowls more variations all through the innings but is less effective with a newer ball | Influential | His touch affects the whole team (more so when captain). |
| Front Footed | Performs well on low pitches but worse on faster bouncy ones | Poker Faced | Doesn't give away which delivery he is about to bowl, making his variations more effective | Superstar | Improves under pressure! Experience means even more, but he disrupts dressing room morale, so the rest of team play worse |
| Back Footed | Performs well on bouncy pitches but worse where the bounce is low | Effort Bowler | Has a chance of an effort ball which is bowled faster, but less accurately and more likely to be a no ball | Late Bloomer | Skills decline slower but train slower |
| Bullet arm | Less runs and more run outs when he fields the ball in the deep, but more chance of overthrows | Economy bowler | Concedes less runs but doesn't try to take wickets | Precocious | Skills train faster but also decline faster |
| Safe Pair of Hands | Better catcher (including keeping), but weaker ball stopping abilities | Flight and Guile | Batsmen become more attacking against this bowler, resulting in more runs and wickets | Close catcher | Preferentially selected as a close catcher if required. Better fielding ability when in close catching positions. |
| New ball spiner | Bowls better with a new ball than an old one. |
Any player on your team can be fired (unless this would leave you unable to select a team!) by paying off 2 weeks of their wages (free for trialists), this completely removes them from the game. Once a player reaches 30 years old, they can take on new roles for your team as coach or groundsmen. The coaching and groundsman skills they have depend on their abilities as a player. Making this transition acts similarly to firing: they can no longer play in matches and any wage drop must be covered for 2 weeks as if firing.
Competitions
Your club in Stumped! will play in 4 competitions, as well as possibly friendlies. All matches are of limited overs cricket, with different rewards for success, the competitions are:
Each of these formats are played during the week, each season lasting 15 weeks (including one week off season [time flies when you are having fun and in Stumped! your team really do enjoy winter]). Leagues are arranged to play each team home and away during the season, with prizemoney awarded at the end of the season.
League matches score points for the league, a win scores 4 points, a tie 2 points and 0 for a loss, but there is also a bonus point available. If the winning team has a run rate more than 25% larger than the opposition, they score the bonus point (total 5 points for the match). If the run rates are within 25%, the losing team gains the bonus point. The league positions are determined by points followed by net run rate.
The leagues each have levels based on a pyramid structure, with 3 times more leagues at each level (so there is a single division 1, 3 division 2s and 9 division 3s, etc.). Each team winning the league (except in the first division) is promoted to the next level in the pyramid (the winner of division 1 is the champion!), the 3 worst placed teams are relegated to the division below for the subsequent season.
You can also play friendly matches, these occur on Saturdays or Sundays (only members can arrange friendlies on Sundays) and can be of any of the available formats. To make a friendly challenge, visit the club page of the team you wish to play (the search function may be useful), selecting date, which pitch to use, the match format and make the challenge. To accept a challenge, visit your own club and the right menu will offer you any challenges you have received. Friendly games are played exactly as league matches, but don't wear pitches, don't generate gate income, don't affect ranking and have no fatiguing or training effect on your players (and players are treated as having 100% condition).
For league competitions, there is prize-money available for the first 4 finishing positions as in the table below. The cup provides prize-money for each victory (on top of the revenue from gate receipts which are split equally for home and away teams), provided each round.
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Matches
The matches are really the point of Stumped! They happen automatically and can be viewed via commentary or live scorecards. League tables and statistics are updated shortly after the match is completed.
Match Engine
- Captain sets the field at the beginning of the over
- Bowler chooses desired line, length and speed
- Attempts to bowl ball at that place. Less skilled (accuracy) bowlers are more inaccurate
- Difficulty to hit is determined by line, length, speed and the deviation of the ball from a "normal" trajectory - i.e. swing, seam, spin movement, drift in the air, unusual bounce
- Batsman judges the line, length, speed and probable difficulty to hit. Looks at the placement of the fielders. Chooses and plays his preferred shot.
- Ball goes into the field (or to the keeper). Fielder placement and fielder skill determines how many runs are available.
- Batsmen attempt to take the available runs. Misjudgement might mean that fewer runs are attempted.
Pace: fast balls are more difficult to hit. Simple.
Swing: med/fm/mf/f balls swing more and for longer the slower you bowl. But swing and pace together are more difficult to hit. The maximum amount of swing is determined by the ball condition, and decreases through the innings.
Reverse swing is much more effective with faster bowlers, faster bowlers reverse it a greater amount and for more overs. Below 70mph, the effect is minimal.
Spin: more spin on dry and high wear pitches. Prefer to bowl on windy days. Wrist spinners turn it more than finger spinners but are less accurate.
Batsman assesses how difficult the ball could be to hit, basing his judgement on the bowler type, skill and pitch and weather conditions. He also assesses the placement of fielders. When the ball is bowled, he judges the line and length of the ball and decides which shot provides the best risk/reward ratio.
The set aggression provides strong control on which shot is favoured, except at the end of the innings when the need to score runs is given higher priority.
The batsman will play his selected shot. If he is less skilled, or the ball is difficult to hit, the chance of mistiming, edging or missing the ball completely increases.
Once the ball has been hit it will then change direction and the fielding team must stop it. If a ball is missed or thin edged it could hit the stumps or continue to the wicket keeper.
Depending on how well and how hard the ball is hit, it will travel to a different location on the field, where a fielder will have a chance to stop it (except a few cases of well hit slogs that go directly for 6). There are three fielder zones (close catchers, infielders and outfielders), each of which is subdivided into several spaces for fielders. If a ball goes to an area of the field with no fielder or the fielder misses it, it will pass to the next area (e.g. close catcher -> infield, infield->outfield, outfield->boundary) or roll to a stop in the current area, depending on how well/hard it has been hit.
The captain places the fielders based on the fielding setup you chose for that over. A better captain positions the fielders better (eg where the ball is more likely to go, and doesn't place outfielders directly behind infielders, for example). A better captain will also put the best fielders where the ball is more likely to go.
Batsmen with better shot selection skill are more able to play the ball into gaps in the field.
Number of runs available
The batsmen judge the number of runs available, based on where they hit the ball, where the fielders are and how good the fielders are. If they believe they can complete the run(s) safely, they will run.
Run outs
Sometimes the batsmen will misjudge whether they can make the run or not. They may get run out when trying to run, or be over cautious and not take a run when it was available. The judgement considers the experience (and shot selection) of the two batsmen at the crease, with a stronger weighting to the batsman currently on strike.
As the innings progresses, the batsmen are prepared to take more risks when running.
Moisture: Dry pitches strongly favour spinners. Moist pitches strongly favour the quicker bowlers.
Wear: Unworn (flat) pitch: Bounce is very predicatable, easy to bat on. Worn pitch: bounce is very unpredictable, difficult to bat on.
Speed: Slow pitches: difficult to time the ball well, more difficult to bat on. Medium pitches: Easy pace for batsmen. Fast pitches: reduced reaction time, so more difficult to bat on.
Cloud: Zero cloud: no swing. More cloud: lots of swing (and reverse swing)
Wind: Calm: no effect. More windy: favours spin bowlers, catches are more difficult, bowlers are more inaccurate
Heat: Cold: fielding more difficult. Hot: players tire faster
Setting Orders (Tactics, etc.)
The most important influence you have on matches as a manager is setting orders (by clicking the icon next to any forthcoming game involving your team). You should select your team by position in the batting order, each batsman then has a value from 1-9 for their aggression, 1 being very defensive, 9 focused almost entirely on scoring rapid runs. In the match, players will assess the current innings position and in conjunction with this setting determine how to play. Next you must select one wicket keeper and one captain (who can be the the same player).
Next you need to select your bowlers and the field aggression (determined by value 1-9, where 1 is a defensive field with most fielders set back on the boundary and none in catching positions, 9 being aggresive with a lot of infielders and close catchers, likely to take wickets given the chance, but liable to concede runs). Your captain will use his ability to set the field to your orders, placing fielders within the close catching, infield and outfield areas based on his assessment of their ability.
Note: on the simplified orders page, there are 10 spells of 2,4 or 5 overs each (depending on match length). See the table below for the allocation of overs in each spell.
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When it comes to the match each player enters the game with current skills and physical condition, matches then progress ball by ball. Each ball is reported via commentary which tells you how your players are performing.
At the end of each over, the ball ages, the players tire (or recover) and the players change ends. At the end of the innings, the players have a bite to eat and a rest where they will recover some energy ready for the second innings.
Before each game, a local reporter examines both teams to assess their abilities, the reporters do their best, but assessing the skills before the game is played is a hard task and so he may misrepresent skills which matter in any particular situation, of course some bad luck can quickly put an end an innings, despite the skill of the batsman. At the end of the match the scorecards etc. can be viewed and league tables, tiring and statistics are updated shortly after the game reaches its conclusion.
Coaching
Your players change their abilities each week (though rarely will a skill change by enough to display as a level). Without practice, all skills decline each week, older players deteriorate faster than their younger colleagues. But playing matches gives vital match practice to your players and this boosts their skills, the youngest players if playing every week will improve in their abilities, but to reach the highest levels a player needs coaching. Most skills benefit only if used (equally so however much they are used though), experience is built up from playing games, the factor determining how much is the match length.
Your club can recruit coaches, the number is not limited, but only 3 may be active each week each can concentrate their efforts on 3 players from your club. Coaches have 4 skills relating to their ability in training your players:
Coaches can also improve their abilities, but this does not happen inside your own club, coaches improve by attending courses (for which the club pay a fee), courses run for one week, with the coach unavailable to the players during the time (but are active for the three active coach limit). Five different courses are available, one for each skill will focus on that skill, gaining a level, also available is a generic course, which is more focused on the less practical elements and means the benefits are more varied and can be applied to different skills. As a coach ages they begin to lose their abilities (the ravages of time).
The coaching provided is intensive, so a player can only be coached by a single coach for a single session in any week. Each coaching session intensively works on one of the skills of the assigned player, another skill may also benefit, but on many sessions a 3rd skill suffers a small detrimental side-effect.
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Grounds
Your ground is where you will host all of your home matches, it will generate income through ticket sales and have a significant effect on the success or failure of your season. You have groundstaff to look after your ground and prepare the pitches, although it is not essential to have any groundstaff, they provide benefits in pitch preparation.
Groundstaff have 2 skills, changing is the skill that determines how fast a groundsman can change a pitch, consistency is the ability to maintain a pitch at the current state. You can have a whole team of groundstaff, just a one man team, or even do without. Your best goundsman will operate at the peak of his abilities, but subsequent groundstaff operate at a lower level, so a large groundstaffing team will operate quickly, but may be rather expensive to maintain. Your groundstaff can improve their skills by going on a training course. The cost of these courses increases as the required teaching is of a higher level. Once sent on a course, the groundsman is unavailable for a week, during this time, they are not able to assist with any pitch changes, Upon their return, the groundsman will have improved his abilities.
Each day, your groundstaff are at work on your pitch, the weather acts upon your pitch, for instance, high levels of cloud cause rain (but fortunately on Stumped! it only ever rains at night - no overs are lost to the weather) which makes your pitch greener. Depending on your orders, the grounds team will act to maintain the pitch to your orders, and reduce the wear on your wicket.
You can purchase covers for your pitch for $50,000 these mean your pitch suffers vastly reduced influence from the weather.
You can upgrade your ground to include larger capacity to enable a larger attendance, and hence greater gate receipt potential, but remember that the number of people wanting to attend is not affected by the size of the ground, so only upgrade when you a liable to reach capacity. The cost of the upgrade is $20,000 plus $25 per extra seat added. But remember, your ground costs money to maintain (each week a seat costs $2 to keep clean and in a good state of repair [including the facilities such as toilets]).
Finances
An important aspect of Stumped! is the incomings and outgoing of your club. As with so much of the world, money is what makes your club tick, your club finance page will help you keep track. Each week your finances are updated (though outgoings are accounted for instantly) on Tuesday, this means you gain income from your sponsors (they pay out based on your league levels), but pay the wages to you players and staff as well as to maintain your ground. Further income or outgoings are added to your finance page each week, and this is where to check your current balance, the money you will use to make any expenditure. Your players are under contract with you, so to fire a player you will need to pay them two weeks wages. New teams players arrive with short term contracts, meaning for 7 weeks this is not needed, at which point full contracts are signed automatically. Newly scouted youths are also exempt for two weeks as they initially sign trialist contracts.
You can buy and sell players, coaches and groundstaff via the transfer markets. To make a sale, simply navigate to the player or staff member page and select to transfer list (and confirm) from the right menu. When listing staff you can set a reserve price, the point at which bidding begins, but there is a charge of 10% of this reserve to make this listing. To place a bid, visit the relevant player/staff member page, enter the maximum you are willing to pay for the player (you must have the required funds) and you will enter the auction with your agents. Bidding takes place automatically leaving the highest bid now winning. Do not be afraid to bid more than you think others will, you pay only the next increment above what the next highest bid was. Note, you can't bid on your own staff. The transfer market may be a great source of money, critical to the members of your club or a black hole for your money, so use it carefully. Once an auction is finished, the player will soon transfer to their new club and payments made.
To maintain fairness, the game's financial model operates in a way balanced to your levels. That means that a fair market is policed, over priced sales can and will be corrected, and where they appear to be used as a method of unreasonable transfer of funds between clubs, both parties can be punished, both financially, or from expulsion from the game. Adding money to the accounts of others is cheating and will not be tolerated.
Membership
Stumped! will always remain free to play, but you might like to consider buying membership which gives you some nice extra features for the game to make it more fun. By making any purchase, you help support the game, by helping to cover the hosting costs and by financing further developments.
Membership is purchased in days, any days you purchase will be added to any existing count, so days will not be lost by renewing early. You will also get an extra bonus for your purchase, the manager gaining the membership will also get membership for today for free.
Current Membership benefits:
| Benefit | Description |
|---|---|
| No Adverts | Maybe this is the biggest benefit, you will see no adverts in the game, the advertising supports the games expenses, and you have already done that! |
| Match Replays | Missed you game, don't fret, you can rewatch your game as live, with full scorecard and worm charts as if it was live, even watch multiple games with a time delay to keep your whole league running as live. |
| Custom Logos | Change your club logo. |
| Current Matches | Keep up to date with Stumped games with a current matches page that even keeps to any replay times. |
| National Management | As a member you can nominate for elections to national team management. |
| Player Notes | You can keep some notes on your players - that noone else can see. |
| More Friendlies | You get to organise friendlies (with members or non-members) on a Sunday. |
| Name Ground | Give your home pitch a nice new name. |
| More Stats! | We can't get enough of stats... but membership will bring you a bit closer. |
| Graphs | You'll get a selection of graphs around the game, such as worm charts and training charts. |
| More Groups | You'll get five new groups (non-members get "batsman", "bowler", "allrounder", "keeper" and "U21") to define and use as you see fit. |
| Training History | You'll get a record of any skill changes on players when they were in your teams ownership and graphs to show their development. |
| Warm Fuzzy Feeling | You will of course get a warm fuzzy feeling for helping the game maintain itself. |
Game Credits
Stumped! will always remain free to play, but like membership, you might like to buy game credits which allow bonus features. By making any purchase, you help support the game, by helping to cover the hosting costs and by financing further developments.
There are currently three uses of credits:
To buy credits, please visit the shop.
Skill Levels
Skills have a level described by a name, those level names are given here.
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