An IPL auction game puts you in a franchise's seat at the player auction. Here is how they work, how they differ from a draft game, and a free one to play.
An IPL auction game lets you play a franchise at the IPL player auction. You start with a budget, bid for players against other teams, and try to finish with a squad that can win. Most are fan-made and free, played in a browser or an app, alone or with friends.
What an IPL auction game usually has
- A purse. Every team starts with the same budget, and every winning bid spends some of it.
- Rival bidders. Other teams, run by friends or by the computer, push prices up on the players you want.
- Squad rules. As in the real auction, there is a limit on squad size and on overseas players.
- A result. Some games stop once the squads are full. Others play out a season to see whose squad was best.
How the real IPL auction works, briefly
Before a season, franchises can retain some of their players and then bid for the rest at the auction. Each franchise has a fixed purse, and every squad has a minimum and maximum size and a cap on overseas players. Every few years there is a mega auction, where most squads are rebuilt from scratch.
On match day a playing XI can field at most four overseas players. That one rule shapes most auction strategy, because an overseas star only helps if he is worth one of four seats.
Auction game vs draft game
| IPL auction game | IPL draft game | |
|---|---|---|
| How you get players | Bid with a budget | Take turns or spins, one pick at a time |
| What makes it hard | Overspend early and you are short later | The pool you are offered is limited |
| Overseas limit | Usually, as in the real auction | Usually four in the XI |
| Time to play | As long as the bidding takes | Minutes for a solo draft |
Both are about the same question: what is a player worth to this side, given what else it could have had? An auction answers it with money. A draft answers it with the picks you give up.
Want to play one? Read how these games work and how they compare in the IPL auction simulator guide.
The draft format BuildXI actually plays is covered on the IPL draft simulator page.
A free draft game to try: BuildXI
BuildXI is not an auction game. It is a free IPL draft game that keeps the part of an auction people enjoy most, choosing under a constraint. Instead of a purse you get eleven spins. Each lands on a real IPL squad from 2008 to 2025, and you take one player from it, with at most four overseas in your XI. Then your side plays a full simulated season, and the target is 14–0.
- No account. Nothing to sign up for and nothing to pay.
- About three minutes. From the first spin to the final league table.
- Play with friends. A multiplayer room takes two to five managers, shared on WhatsApp.
The full rules, including re-spins and difficulty levels, are on one page. How the IPL draft works.