Messages

From Blaseball Wiki

An example of the message tab from Season 1.

Messages is a tab on Blaseball where users can view messages sent by beings in the Blaseball universe, as well as messages sent by The Game Band. Users can click a heart on the message to "like" it with a number showing how many have done so. It was added in Season 1.

History

Season 1

The first message sent was by The Game Band at the beginning of Season 1.

Welcome to the beginning of a new Universe. A new Blaseball.
Previously on Blaseball, the Black Hole consumed the universe as we knew it. As of late, the Black Hole has been burping pieces of Blaseball back out to form a new universe. The void above us contains multitudes— all sorts of players, mechanics, and information that will continue to fall into place as we go, shaping Blaseball around us. If you’re new around here, that’s all you really need to know.
We’re starting simple. This is a foundation for you to acquaint yourself with the game. As the Era progresses, the Black Hole will burp out new features and surprises that will gradually build on your experience. The Black Hole might burp out an anomaly or two that will surprise even the developers, but that’s the Blaseball way. Embrace the void; embrace the chaos.
Blaseball went out with a bang and begins with another. This is the Big Bang- cacophonous and loud, chaotic and messy. A new beginning. We’re so excited to show you what we’ve built. Welcome, and play ball!
Avatar thegameband.png @thegameband

Following this a message was sent by The Monitor.

oh hey
great you're back
things seem different
Avatar monitor.png @monitor

Finally there was a message from the Facts Machine, who was appearing for the first time, talking about the betting feature.

Fun Facts! Betting!
Betting on Favored Teams is the safest way to earn Chips!
Bet on Underdogs for bigger possible winnings!
You can Bet on Games that are scheduled for later!
Lose all your Chips? Don't worry! Thanks to Universal Bets and Influence, all Fans receive more Chips and Votes daily, at Noon eastern, 9am pacific!
Risk is a Virtue!
Avatar facts machine.png @facts_machine

All three messages were sent during the first two Days. Following this players recieved emergency alerts, repeating most of the what was announced when the black hole belched out both star counts shortly before Day 3 and a decree before Day 6.

BELCH DETECTED
BELCH DETECTED
STARS CHARTED
[ Star Ratings can now be viewed on Player pages. ]
Avatar emergency alert.png @emergency_alert

BELCH DETECTED
EMERGENCY ALERT
BELCH DETECTED
BALLOT CONTESTED
DECREE SECRETED
[ The Redistribute Wealth Decree is now available. ]
Avatar emergency alert.png @emergency_alert

After Day 7 a message was sent by another new being, known as the Beat Reporter. This recaped the events of the past 7 Days.

QUICK HITS FROM SEASON 1 DAY 1
Season 1 is underway and Fans are reaping immediate Returns! Here are the Top 3 Headlines through the first 7 Games!
1. The Black Hole that burped out the new Blaseball universe has only continued to toss important matters, revealing everything from Player Star Ratings to a seemingly NEW Redistribute Wealth Decree. What new horror will the Horizon belch into existence tomorrow?
2. In our Weather update, Star Players are falling into Play. Kaj Murphy crashed into Tokyo Lift star Natha Spruce, replacing Spruce in the Lineup and bumping them from the home run race.
3. Speaking of League Leaders, only 2 Teams remain undefeated through the first 7 Games -- the Breath Mints and the Wild Wings. Which beloved franchise will set the NEW ILB win streak?
Avatar beat reporter.png @beat_reporter

On Day 23 another Facts Machine message appeared, this one listing players and teams who had ranked the highest in something.

Fun Fact! League Leaders through Game 23!
Home Runs
1.Jorge Owens, Sunbeams - 11
2. Stretch Sutton, Breath Mints - 10
3. Kiki Avci, Magic - 10
4. Demet Cabrera, Magic - 8
5. Katja Twain, Wild Wings - 8

Strikeouts Thrown
1. Spears Taylor, Flowers - 60
2. Amaya Jackson, Tigers - 58
3. Anastasia Isarobot, Wild Wings - 57
4. Wyatt Mason IV, Spies - 50
5. Amir Murphy, Flowers - 50

Runs Scored
1. Wild Wings - 159
2. Sunbeams - 130
3. Magic - 129
4. Georgias - 116
5. Garages - 102

Runs Allowed
1. Breath Mints - 49
2. Georgias - 53
3. Shoe Thieves - 58
4. Wild Wings - 61
5. Mechanics - 67
Avatar facts machine.png @facts_machine

On Day 24 Universal Bets and Influence were given out which prompted a message from the Monitor talking about it.

universal bets and influence
nice
just got my daily chips and votes
time to bet big
Avatar monitor.png @monitor

More messages appeared from the emergency alert both resulting from the Black Hole belches before Day 25 and Day 28 bringing in more Blessings, and the NEW Relegation Decree respectively.

BELCH DETECTED
EMERGENCY ALERT
BELCH DETECTED
BALLOT CONTESTED
BLESSINGS SECRETED
[ Three new Blessings are now available. ]
Avatar emergency alert.png @emergency_alert

BELCH DETECTED
EMERGENCY ALERT
BELCH DETECTED
BALLOT CONTESTED
DECREE SECRETED
[ The Relegation Decree is now available. ]
Avatar emergency alert.png @emergency_alert

At some points after that 2 messages were sent by the Facts Machine.

Fun Fact! Elections!
Decrees are decided by popular Vote. The top Voted choice will go into effect!
lessings are decided by Raffle. Each Blessing will go to a randomly selected Team -- the more you Vote for a Blessing, the better chance your Team has to win it!
Remember to Bet to earn more Votes. More Votes, more Influence!
Avatar facts machine.png @facts_machine

Fun Fact! 4 Bases!
Blaseball is usually played with 4 Bases!
Avatar facts machine.png @facts_machine

Around Day 30 an account messaging as @blaseball (who was later confirmed to be the Comissioner) sent a message seeming to be about submitting a message.

#blaseball
log in
submit
Avatar blaseball.png @blaseball

Another message was then sent talking about the current standings after Day 30.

This is the #Blaseball Commissioner speaking. A third of the Regular Season is in the books! Let’s take a look at the Standings!
Good Conference Chaotic Good Division Kansas City Breath Mints 22 Wins 8 Losses San Francisco Lovers 14 Wins 16 Losses Boston Flowers 13 Wins 17 Losses Canada Moist Talkers 11 Wins 19 Losses LA Unlimited Tacos 9 Wins 21 Losses New York Millennials 8 Wins 22 Losses
Awful Good Division Moab Hellmouth Sunbeams 21 Wins 9 Losses Charleston Shoe Thieves 20 Wins 10 Losses Philly Pies 13 Wins 17 Losses Baltimore Crabs 13 Wins 17 Losses Hades Tigers 12 Wins 18 Losses Miami Dale 9 Wins 21 Losses
Evil Conference Chaotic Evil Division Atlantis Georgias 23 Wins 7 Losses Core Mechanics 19 Wins 11 Losses Housten Spies 16 Wins 14 Losses Breckenridge Jazz Hands 13 Wins 17 Losses Dallas Steaks 12 Wins 18 Losses Chicago Firefighters 8 Wins 22 Losses
Chaotic Evil Division Mexico City Wild Wings 26 Wins 4 Losses Yellowstone Magic 21 Wins 9 Losses Seattle Garages 21 Wins 9 Losses Hawai’i Fridays 13 Wins 17 Losses Tokyo Lift 12 Wins 18 Losses Ohio Worms 11 Wins 19 Losses
Avatar blaseball.png @blaseball

Around a similar time the second recap from the Beat Reporter was sent.

QUICK HITS FROM SEASON 1 DAY 2
We're a third of the way through the Regular Season and seeing some massive Returns! Here are the Top 3 Headlines from Day 2.
1. After belching out the NEW Redistribute Wealth Decree on Day 1, the Black Hole burped out a second (and surely final) choice -- NEW Relegation. Will Fans share in the Season Champion's riches or offer a mandatory rebuild to the League's lowest?
2. More inclement Weather as star Players continue to crash into Play. 24 beloved names have fallen so far, 3 of which used other Players to break their landings.
3. Will anyone be able to throw some mild sauce on the Wild Wings? The League-leading Wild Wings swept the 2nd place Georgias to establish themselves as the clear Internet Series favorites. Mexico City looks unstoppable, but the there's a lot of Season left.
Avatar beat reporter.png @beat_reporter

The next message was sent before Day 44 in response to the Black Hole belching the abillity to see player attributes.

BELCH DETECTED
EMERGENCY ALERT
BELCH DETECTED
ATTRIBUTION ERROR
RECOMMEND DEEP ANALYSIS
[ Attributes are now available on Player pages. ]
Avatar emergency alert.png @emergency_alert

At some point after Day 44 and before Day 46 the Facts Machine sent another message.

Fun Fact! Highlight Plays!
Nerd Pacheco leads the League in Cool Catches, with 6!
Lenjamin Lin leads the League in Pathetic Swings, with 6!
Agan Harrison leads the League in Disgusting Pitches, with 5!
Facts Machine leads the League in Fun Facts, with 5!
Avatar facts machine.png @facts_machine

As with the other emergency responses there was a messsage sent in response to the belching of the new Blessings before Day 46 and the NEW Open the Forbidden Book being belched before Day 49.

BELCH DETECTED
EMERGENCY ALERT
BELCH DETECTED
BALLOT CONTESTED
BLESSINGS SECRETED
[ Two new Blessings are now available. ]
Avatar emergency alert.png @emergency_alert

BELCH DETECTED
EMERGENCY ALERT
BELCH DETECTED
BALLOT CONTESTED
DECREE SECRETED
[ The NEW Open the Forbidden Book Decree is now available. ]
Avatar emergency alert.png @emergency_alert

In response to the appearance of NEW Open the Forbidden Book, responses were submitted from both Facts Machine and the Commissioner.

Fun Fact! The Forbidden Book!
Fun Fact!
In Season 1, Fans Voted overwhelmingly to Open the Forbidden Book, with 61% of all Decree votes in favor.
Avatar facts machine.png @facts_machine

don't
do it again
Avatar blaseball.png @blaseball

At some point later Beat Reporter submitted their recap.

QUICK HITS FROM SEASON 1 DAY 3
We're more than halfway through the Regular Season and the Return(s) keep coming! Here are the Top 3 Headlines from Day 3.
1. The Black Hole appears to have called an electoral mulligan, belching out a NEW Open the Forbidden Book Decree alongside NEW Redistribute Wealth and NEW Relegation. Longtime Blaseball Fans may remember opening the Forbidden Book back in Season 1. What will Fans choose in Season 1?
2. In a shocking move, ILB Commissioner and Legal Notary Parker MacMillan IIIII appears to have taken a side in the debate over the Forbidden Decree, taking to official league channels to urge Voters to "do it again."
3. Inclement weather continues to plague the ILB, as a total of 29 Star Players have crashed back into Play. The whereabouts of all but 6 remain unknown.
Avatar beat reporter.png @beat_reporter

In response to the Black Hole belching out two new Blessings on day 67 another alert was sent as a message.

BELCH DETECTED
EMERGENCY ALERT
BELCH DETECTED
BALLOT CONTESTED
BLESSINGS SECRETED
[ Two new Blessings are now available. ]
Avatar emergency alert.png @emergency_alert

At some point between Day 67 and Day 69 the Monitor sent another message.

checking in
good season so far
my money's on the beams
Avatar monitor.png @monitor

Around Day 69 Facts Machine sent another message pressumabely related to the Tokyo Lift entering party time.

Fun Fact! Party Time!
Fun Fact! The only time Blaseball Players may rest is during League-sanctioned Siestas!
When a Team is eliminated from Postseason tournament contention, they enter Party Time!
Teams in Party Time will play out the remaining games of the Season!
They can never stop!
Avatar facts machine.png @facts_machine

At some point after Day 69 and before Day 85 the Beat Reporter sent another recap.

QUICK HITS FROM SEASON 1 DAY 4
With the race for the Postseason heating up, here are the Top 3 Headlines from Day 4.
1. The Tokyo Lift set the NEW* Party Time Speedrun Record, arriving first to the Party after only 69 Games! As of this writing, the Lift are holding firm at the bottom of the Standings. Will we see NEW* Relegation pass at the impending Election, sending the Lift a parting gift? Don't forget to #Vote!
2. A Pitcher's duel between the LA Unlimited Tacos and San Francisco Lovers went 26 Innings, setting the NEW* record for longest game in ILB history.
3. The Wild Wings clinched their spot in the Postseason tournament and show no sign of cooling off! Having only given up 9 Losses as of this writing, the NEW* Regular Season Record seems all but guaranteed!
Avatar beat reporter.png @beat_reporter

After day 86 the Comissioner sent another message detailing the teams who were guraunteed a place in the postseason and those who were still competing.

POSTSEASON UPDATE
With only 3 Games remaining in the Regular Season, it's time for an ILB Postseason Picture Update!🩸⚾️
CLINCHED GOOD: 🌞 👟 🍬
CLINCHED EVIL: 🍗 🔱 🏝️
IN THE HUNT: 🎸 ✨
Avatar blaseball.png @blaseball

Before day 90 the Monitor sent a message commenting on the final teams that could make it to the postseason.

good season huh
1 day left. almost postseason time
dale made a late push. win and they're in
poor magic had to play the wings to finish the season
still feel good about my beams pick
Avatar monitor.png @monitor

After day 90 and the season ended, a message from Facts Machine was submitted, as an update to a previous message about League Leaders.

Fun Fact! Final Season 1 League Leaders!
Home Runs
1. Stretch Sutton - 31
2. Vanille Okidoke - 28
3. Baldwin Jones - 27
4. Roscoe Sundae - 26
5. Jorge Owens - 26

Strikeouts Thrown
1. Anastasia Isarobot - 207
2. Dunn Keyes - 195
3. Plums Blather - 190
4. Brisket Friendo - 188
5. Stephanie Schmitt - 184

Team Runs Scored
1. Wild Wings - 572
2. Sunbeams - 501
3. Magic - 430
4. Georgias - 415
5. Garages - 382
Team Runs Allowed
1. Breath Mints - 208
2. Shoe Thieves - 209
3. Wild Wings - 247
4. Fridays - 268
5. Mechanics - 295

Fun Facts
Facts Machine - 8
Avatar facts machine.png @facts_machine

There were also two messages from the Commissioner on the schedule for the Postseason.

POSTSEASON SCHEDULE
The #Bracket is Under Construction. The schedule for the #Postseason is as follows:
Quarter Finals - 1/13 at 5pm ET / 2pm PT Conference Championship - 1/14 at 12pm ET / 9am PT Internet Series Championship - 1/14 at 5pm ET / 2pm PT
Avatar blaseball.png @blaseball

POSTSEASON SCHEDULE EDIT
edit post
The #Bracket is Under Construction. The schedule for the #Postseason is as follows:
Quarter Finals - 1/13 at 5pm ET / 2pm PT
Conference Championship - 1/14 at 12pm ET / 9am PT
Internet Series Championship - 1/14 at 5pm ET / 2pm PT
Avatar blaseball.png @blaseball

Following the win of the Charleston Shoe Thieves over the Mexico City Wild Wings at the Season's Internet Series, the Commisionor submitted another message.

Congratulations Champions
Our Kicks! As ILB Commissioner and legal Notary, I hereby confer upon the Charleston Shoe Thieves the title of Season 1 Champion with a Golden Record of 65-25 and all the rights and privileges pertaining thereto!
Thank you for watching Internet League #Blaseball Season 1! See you at the Election tomorrow. Polls close at 1pm eastern, 10am pacific! Don't forget to #Vote!
Avatar blaseball.png @blaseball

After the election three messages were sent. One was an emergency alert recaping the results of the election. The second was from Facts Machine, which stated the percentage who voted for NEW Open the Forbidden Book. The third message was from a new source, the Umpires, recaping what they said when they appeared.

THE BOOK OPENS
THE BOOK OPENS
SOLAR ECLIPSE
UMPIRES' EYES TURN WHITE
STAR PLAYER ANASTASIA ISAROBOT IS INCINERATED. THEY ARE REPLACED ON THE MEXICO CITY WILD WINGS BY GÖRAN NDOYE.
STAR PLAYER TERRELL BRADLEY'S ALTERNATE IS CALLED.
STAR PLAYER ZEPHYR MCCLOUD IS CURSED. EYES CLEAR. HEART FILLS. THEY CAN'T LOSE.
STAR PLAYER SIMON HALEY SWEARS IN. THEY EMBARK ON A SIDE QUEST IN THE SHADOWS. PIXIE CARBERRY CLOCKS IN.
BRECKENRIDGE BREAKS
THE CORONATION ERA BEGINS.
Avatar emergency alert.png @emergency_alert

Fun Fact! The Forbidden Book!
Fun Fact!
In Season 1, Fans Voted overwhelmingly to Open the Forbidden Book, with 62% of all Decree votes in favor.
Avatar facts machine.png @facts_machine

A TOURNAMENT OF CHAMPIONS
SECTION 6 RULE G STATES
IN THE EVENT OF A POWER VACUUM
A TOURNAMENT OF CHAMPIONS SHALL BE CALLED
TO NAME A NEW ACE
AND CLAIM THE MOUND.
SECTION 6 RULE I STATES
A TEAM MUST HOLD A GOLDEN RECORD
TO PARTICIPATE IN THE TOURNAMENT OF CHAMPIONS
ONLY OFFICIALLY NOTARIZED GOLDEN RECORDS SHALL BE RECOGNIZED
SO SAY THE RULES.
Avatar umpires.png @umpires

Offseason 1

Early into the Season 1 Offseason the Umpires appeared to announce that most of Section 2 of the Book had been revealed. Soon afterwards a message was sent recapping their message.

THE BOOK, SECTION 2
BEHOLD
SECTION 2: THE LEAGUE
THE RULES MUST BE ENFORCED
READ THE RULES
[ Section 2 of The Book has been (mostly) revealed. ]
Avatar umpires.png @umpires

24 hours later, after their second appearance during the Offseason another message was sent about the revealing of Section 3.

THE BOOK, SECTION 3
BEHOLD
SECTION 3: THE SEASONS
THE RULES MUST BE ENFORCED
READ THE RULES
[ Section 3 of The Book has been (mostly) revealed. ]
Avatar umpires.png @umpires

After another 24 hours, following the unredaction of Section 4, there was another message from the umpires.

THE BOOK, SECTION 4
BEHOLD
SECTION 4: THE GAME
THE RULES MUST BE ENFORCED
READ THE RULES
[ Section 4 of The Book has been (mostly) revealed. ]
Avatar umpires.png @umpires

Again another 24 hours later the Umpires unredacted Section 5 and sent a message.

THE BOOK, SECTION 5
BEHOLD
SECTION 5: Fandom
THE RULES MUST BE ENFORCED
READ THE RULES
[ Section 5 of The Book has been (mostly) revealed. ]
Avatar umpires.png @umpires

24 hours later again, one more message from the Umpires was sent following the unredaction of Sections 6 and 7 of the book.

THE BOOK, SECTION 6 & 7
BEHOLD
SECTION 6
LEAGUE MANAGEMENT
AND SECTION 7
THE IMMATERIAL PLANE
READ THE RULES
THE RULES WILL BE ENFORCED
HEATING UP
PREPARE FOR PLAY
THE REVIEW BEGINS MONDAY
[ The final sections of the Book have been (mostly) revealed. ]
Avatar umpires.png @umpires

After another 24 hour gap another message was sent, however this one was from Beat Reporter recapping the previous Season.

THE SEASON 1 REPORT
Season 1 is in the Books! Let’s take a look at what happened in Blaseball’s return:
HEADLINES

  • The Charleston Shoe Thieves beat the powerhouse Mexico City Wild Wings to steal the Season 1 Championship!
  • Fans voted to open the Forbidden Book (again?), resulting in chaos and the arrival of a menacing Crew of Umpires.
  • The Umpires arrived and heralded a coming Tournament of Champions. Who will be crowned the new Ace of Blaseball at the Coronation Era’s end?

SPORTS UPDATE

  • The Wild Wings had a historic Season 1, going 78-12, but they couldn’t quite close it out.
  • In addition to the Wings, the Mints, the Georgias, and the Sunbeams won their Divisions in the first opportunity since the new League formed.
  • Anastasia Isarobot of the Wild Wings led the League in Pitching Strikeouts, with 207. Anastasia Isarobot dominated the pitching leaderboards all Season—until their untimely death following the opening of the Forbidden Book.

WEATHER BEAT

  • In Horizon Weather, the Black Hole burped out Players from Blaseball’s past.
  • Some falling Players crashed into the Field, seeming to disappear as quickly as they’d arrived.
  • Other Players were unexpectedly knocked out of their Team’s Lineup and replaced when falling Players crashed into them.
  • Nine Players fell and crashed into others: Kaj Murphy, Carter O’connor, Malik Destiny, Mindy Salad, Siobhan Chark, Badgerson Stromboli, Bees Gorczyca, Jefferson de la Cruz, and Yusef Puddles.
  • Fifty-eight Players fell in total.

ELECTION SECTION

  • The Black Hole burped out a handful of NEW Decree options for Fans to Vote on. The three options were echoes of the original Discipline Era’s Season 1 Decrees but with NEW spins.
  • The Fans voted to Open the Forbidden Book with 62% of the Vote, resulting in a handful of chaotic events, including the incineration of star Pitcher Anastasia Isarobot.
  • Also a result of the Book opening, Breckenridge broke! Much like the Hellmouth that gave us the Hellmouth Sunbeams, Breckenridge buckled and the Team relocated. Now, say hello to the Broken Ridge Jazz Hands!
  • After the Book was opened, a Crew of Umpires appeared and heralded a coming Tournament of Champions. They stated that the Tournament was instated to name a new Ace, to fill the Power Vacuum left behind following the previous Era’s conclusion.
  • The Umpires also announced the name of the new Blaseball Era: the Coronation Era.


Avatar beat reporter.png @beat_reporter

Season 2

At the beginning of the Season, the Umpires appeared to announce that Fans must choose a Crew Chief in the Election to enforce the rules. Following this, a message recapping this announcement was sent.

NAME YOUR CREW CHIEF
THE TOURNAMENT OF CHAMPIONS IS COMING
THE REVIEW BEGINS NOW
MAKE YOUR APPEALS
NAME YOUR CREW CHIEF
AWAIT JUDGEMENT
THE RULES MUST BE ENFORCED
WAKE UP PLAY BALL!
[A new season begins, a new election is revealed]
Avatar umpires.png @umpires

With the start of the season, the Monitor welcomed fans back and remarked on the Umpires.

welcome back
hey welcome back again
what's the deal with the umps
they're a little intense
Avatar monitor.png @monitor

After Day 5, the Beat Reporter sent a Message updating Fans on Zephyr McCloud's whereabouts. This post confirmed that the Bard Umpire granted McCloud's Curse.

ZEPHYR MCCLOUD WATCH
We're 5 Game Days into Season 2 and one Player has already been quite busy.
Zephyr McCloud Can't Lose--a Curse given by the Bard Umpire in the Season 1 Election.
At the end of any Game where Zephyr McCloud's Team win would have lost, they jump ship to the winning Team. So far they've jumped 3 times, from the Tigers to the Lift to the Tigers to the Lift. Where will they end up at Season's end? How long will this Curse last?
Avatar beat reporter.png @beat_reporter

At the start of Day 7 the Comissioner sent another message reflecting on the new Umpires.

this isn't so bad
these umps seem ok honestly
this could have been way worse
Avatar blaseball.png @blaseball

After Day 8 the Beat Reporter sent another message recaping the past 24 hours' events.

QUICK HITS FROM SEASON 1 DAY 2
With the first day of the new Season coming to a close, Fans can't help but ask "how's the weather over there?" With four new weathers taking the League by storm, here are 3 of the top headlines of Day 1.

  1. With the Umpires bringing four new Weather to the League, Players find themselves fielding all sorts of strange happenings. Vaquita Magno earned the favor of the Mage Umpire, while Winnie Hess of the Ohio Worms parried a Knight Umpire's swear! Alternates have been called, but will we see an incineration before day's end?
  2. The Umpire Crew also brought some class to the Election ballot, asking Fans to choose a Crew Chief. Will Fans go for the true blue Rogue Umpire or elect a newcomer to head the next Season?
  3. Last Season's Champions, the Charleston Shoe Thieves, were wrecked by the Atlantis Georgias in a recent game. Anticipated All-Star Derrick Krueger gave up 14 runs, despite their outstanding stats coming into the League. Can Krueger right the ship and make the Thieves a shoe-in for this Postseason?


Avatar beat reporter.png @beat_reporter

After Day 26 Facts Machine sent a message covering the leaders of the League during the first 25 Days.

Fun Fact! League Leaders through Game 25!
Home Runs

  1. Sheri Friday, Mechanics - 13
  2. Willow Dice, Sunbeams - 11
  3. Demet Cabrera, Magic - 11
  4. Mindy Rahman, Garages - 11
  5. Bees Gorczyca, Spies - 10

Pitching Strikeouts

  1. Plums Blather, Breath Mints - 73
  2. Vernon Sierpinski, Wild Wings - 63
  3. Marco Escobar, Pies - 61
  4. Malik Romayne, Dale - 61
  5. Hatfield Suzuki, Breath Mints - 59

Runs Scored

  1. Grizz El Sayed, Sunbeams - 33
  2. Chambers Simmons, Garages - 33
  3. Lihuén Skyhigh, Wild Wings - 30
  4. Eugenia Garbage, Sunbeams - 30
  5. Baldwin Jones, Wild Wings - 29

NEW Team Fielding % [ How often does a Team successfully field a Ball in Play? ]

  1. Tigers, 73.2%
  2. Mechanics, 71.3%
  3. Dale, 70.3%
  4. Pies, 70.2%
  5. Crabs, 70.0%

Team Runs Allowed

  1. Fridays, 95
  2. Wild Wings, 95
  3. Lovers, 105
  4. Flowers, 108
  5. Dale, 108


Avatar facts machine.png @facts_machine

At some point after Day 66 the Comissioner sent a message covering the standings at the time.

This is the #Blaseball Commissioner speaking. More than half of the Regular Season is in the books! Let’s take a look at the Standings!
Good Conference
Chaotic Good
Chaotic Good
Boston Flowers 41 Wins 25 Losses
San Francisco Lovers 35 Wins 31 Losses
Kansas City Breath Mints 34 Wins 32 Losses
Canada Moist Talkers 28 Wins 38 Losses
LA Unlimited Tacos 23 Wins 43 Losses
New York Millennials 20 Wins 46 Losses
Awful Good
Moab Hellmouth Sunbeams 52 Wins 14 Losses
Miami Dale 39 Wins 27 Losses
Charleston Shoe Thieves 39 Wins 27 Losses
Baltimore Crabs 35 Wins 31 Losses
Philly Pies 30 Wins 36 Losses
Hades Tigers 19 Wins 47 Losses
Evil Conference
Chaotic Evil
Yellowstone Magic 47 Wins 19 Losses
Mexico City Wild Wings 44 Wins 22 Losses
Hawai'i Fridays 42 Wins 24 Losses
Seattle Garages 35 Wins 31 Losses
Ohio Worms 27 Wins 39 Losses
Tokyo Lift 26 Wins 40 Losses
Awful Evil
Atlantis Georgias 38 Wins 28 Losses
Broken Ridge Jazz Hands 35 Wins 31 Losses
Chicago Firefighters 29 Wins 37 Losses
Dallas Steaks 26 Wins 40 Losses
Core Mechanics 25 Wins 41 Losses
Houston Spies 23 Wins 43 Losses
Avatar blaseball.png @blaseball

Sometime after either of the siestas that took place after Day 65 and Day 66, the Monitor sent a message.

go team
oh games are back. cool. lets go garages
Avatar monitor.png @monitor

Shortly before Day 69, the Monitor sent another message covering the increased UBI recieved due to the aforementioned siestas.

whoa
things got weird there for a bit. looks ok now though.
hey look we all got some extra chips and votes too. nice
Avatar monitor.png @monitor

Sometime before or during Day 70 Facts Machine sent another message covering League Leaders

Fun Fact! Season 2 League Leaders through Game 69!
Home Runs

  1. Katja Twain, Wild Wings- 37
  2. Demet Cabrera, Magic- 35
  3. Sheri Friday, Mechanics- 33
  4. Willow Dice, Sunbeams- 28
  5. Amos Parveen, Pies- 26

Strikeouts Thrown

  1. Plums Blather, Breath Mints- 179
  2. Vernon Sierpinski, Wild Wings- 170
  3. Brisket Friendo, Garages- 169
  4. Hatfield Suzuki, Breath Mints- 156
  5. Wyatt Mason IV, Spies- 156

Team Runs Scored

  1. Moab Hellmouth Sunbeams- 565
  2. Mexico City Wild Wings- 500
  3. Yellowstone Magic- 482
  4. Atlantis Georgias- 449
  5. Boston Flowers- 415

Team Runs Allowed

  1. Kansas City Breath Mints- 258
  2. Boston Flowers- 286
  3. Chicago Firefighters- 289
  4. Miami Dale- 291
  5. Hawai’i Fridays- 291


Avatar facts machine.png @facts_machine

During Day 72 Beat Reporter returned to report on the events of 71 when Chambers Simmons found a Heart.

QUEST UPDATE: CHAMBERS SIMMONS
Out of the four Players Knighted so far by the mysterious Knight Ump, Chambers Simmons of the Seattle Garages is the first to send word from a Quest! While their team was losing 13-1 to the Georgias, Simmons reportedly found “a Heart” and felt “renewed.” ILB Commissioner Parker MacMillan IIIII was among the eagle-eyed few to notice that Simmons is now a 5.5 Star Batter, Tweeting “wait what? five and a half?” on the official ILB account. Will other Knighted Players meet similar fates? What agenda are these Umps pursuing? Which Ump will receive your #VOTE to become the next Crew Chief in the Season’s election?
Avatar beat reporter.png @beat_reporter

Sometime after Day 90 there were two messsages sent. One by the Commisioner covering the Postseason schedule and one by Facts Machine covering League leaders up until the Postseason.

POSTSEASON SCHEDULE SEASON 2
The #Bracket is Under Construction. The schedule for the #Postseason is as follows:
Quarter Finals - 1/27 at 5pm ET / 2pm PT
Conference Championship - 1/28 at 12pm ET / 9am PT
Internet Series Championship - 1/28 at 5pm ET / 2pm PT
Avatar blaseball.png @blaseball

Fun Fact! Final Season 2 League Leaders!
Home Runs

  1. Demet Cabrera, Magic- 43
  2. Katja Twain, Wild Wings- 41
  3. Sheri Friday, Mechanics- 39
  4. Zack Sanders, Flowers- 37
  5. Willow Dice, Sunbeams- 36

Strikeouts Thrown

  1. Plums Blather, Breath Mints- 227
  2. Brisket Friendo, Garages- 211
  3. Vernon Sierpinski, Wild Wings- 211
  4. Hatfield Suzuki, Breath Mints- 194
  5. Karato Rangel, Firefighters- 193

Team Runs Scored

  1. Moab Hellmouth Sunbeams- 731
  2. Mexico City Wild Wings- 637
  3. Yellowstone Magic- 599
  4. Atlantis Georgias- 567
  5. Boston Flowers- 556

Team Runs Allowed

  1. Kansas City Breath Mints- 326
  2. Boston Flowers- 361
  3. Hawai’i Fridays- 377
  4. Charleston Shoe Thieves- 384
  5. Yellowstone Magic- 390


Avatar facts machine.png @facts_machine

After Day 100, in response to an error when the Yellowstone Magic played in the Good Conference rather than the Evil Conference and the Moab Hellmouth Sunbeams played in the Evil Conference rather than the Good Conference, during the second round of the Postseason, Facts Machine posted a message.

Fun Fact! Evil Conference Champions Season 2!
Fun Fact!
Due to INTERNAL ERROR, the Moab Hellmouth Sunbeams (Awful Good) were able to claim this Season's Evil Conference Championship.
Avatar facts machine.png @facts_machine

After Day 104 and the conclucion of the Internet Series, the Commisioner sent a message to commemorate the Moab Hellmouth Sunbeams and to note his granting to them of a Golden Record.

Congratulations Champions
NEVER ESTIMATE THE BEAMS! As ILB Commissioner and legal Notary, I hereby confer upon the Moab Hellmouth Sunbeams the title of Season 2 Champion with a Golden Record of 71-19 and all the rights and privileges pertaining thereto!
Thank you for watching Internet League #Blaseball Season 2! See you at the Election tomorrow. Polls close at 1 pm eastern, 10 am pacific. Don’t forget to #VOTE!
Avatar blaseball.png @blaseball

Prior to the reveal of the Election Results, the Umpires appeared to announce the appointment of the Bard Umpire as Crew Chief and the continued review of play. Shortly after, this was mirrored in a message posted by the Umpires.

A CREW CHIEF IS NAMED
APPEALS HAVE BEEN HEARD
JUDGEMENT PASSED
A CREW CHIEF IS NAMED
THE BARD IS BOUND
THE BANDWAGON PLAYS ON
PLAY REMAINS UNDER REVIEW
[ The Bard Umpire has been chosen to Enforce the Rules next Season. ]
Avatar umpires.png @umpires

Offseason 2

On Friday, February 3rd, 2023, The Game Band would make their second Post on the website, announcing a Siesta to prepare the site for Season 3.

An Update from The Game Band (2/3/23)
Hey Blaseball Fans,

We’ve spent the last year planning for the future, building and rebuilding the Sim, and figuring out how to run Blaseball in a way that’s sustainable for us as a team. Finally, after that long hiatus, Blaseball returned with a new Era. Rejoice!

…But that rejoicing quickly turned into some confusion and frustration. Put plainly, even with all the work we did, we still didn’t get Blaseball to where we wanted it to be for this launch.

Our hope was to be able to iterate and improve post-launch, but as we tried to do that, we realized it just wasn’t realistic for the amount that needed to be done. And it was negatively impacting your experience. We need to make improvements. We’ve heard your concerns about things like accessibility, missing features, site navigation and performance issues, and often found you saying the exact same things we were saying to each other.

In order to get the game where it needs to be, we’re pausing the Era for now. This is NOT going to be a repeat of our last Siesta — we are going to come back as soon as possible.

We’re really excited about the Era of Blaseball we have planned for you. What you’ve seen so far is only the tiniest tip of the iceberg.

We’ll be posting & emailing you weekly updates as we make these improvements.

Stay tuned.

The Game Band
Avatar thegameband.png @thegameband

On Feburary 10th, 2023 the Game Band started posting weekly updates as messages.

An Update from The Game Band (2/10/23)
{{{1}}}
Avatar thegameband.png @thegameband

The survey contained questions about the users experience with Blaseball.

On Feburary 17th 2023, the second weekly update was sent.

An Update from The Game Band (2/17/23)
Hey Blaseball Fans,
Thank you so much for your survey responses! This week, as we’ve been working on the web and mobile Blaseball experiences, that feedback has already proved extremely helpful to us. So seriously, thank you. We’re busy going through all your thoughts to make sure we’re on the same page about what fixes we’re prioritizing.
According to you all, the three most important features for us to work on are: Site Navigation (38.5%), Post-game event surfacing (29.6%), and The Feed (29.1%). We've actually been testing Event Surfacing and a reworked Site Nav since the start of this Siesta, and a large majority of other issues, like the frustrating mobile experience and accessibility concerns, are already high priorities for us.
As we move forward and solidify our plans, our team is still working hard on bug fixes and improvements, so we’re going to start including Patch Notes whenever we can in this and future updates.
You’ll hear from us soon about user interviews.
See you next Friday!
The Game Band


Patch Notes 2/17/23Web client

  • Fans now have the ability to reset a forgotten account password
  • Some behind the scenes work for [FAN-FAVORITE MECHANIC SPOILER]
  • Backend styling and efficiency updates

Sim / Backend

  • New tiebreaker logic
  • Reorganizing some election setup code
  • Setup for [SPOILER] mechanics & weather
  • API stability improvements
  • Fix bugged batting lineups due to player roster changes from weather effects

Mobile

  • Backend styling and efficiency updates
  • Betting & navigation improvements
  • Past game outcomes & weather results
  • Deep linking support
  • Fix login session persistence
  • Schedule improvements


Avatar thegameband.png @thegameband

On Feburary 24th 2023, the third weekly update was sent.

An Update from The Game Band (2/24/23)
Hey Blaseball Fans!
This week has been a lot of testing and prioritizing. We’ve spoken in the past about how excited we are to show off what the design team has planned for this Era, and we’re testing a bunch of it to make sure it’s as functional in execution as it is cool in our brains. Continuing with this theme, our game designers are fleshing out and balancing Era mechanics. We look forward to showing you when the time comes!
We're also testing some Blaseball social features for further down the line: Community staged a company PVP (against ourselves) and asked TGB employees to cause as many problems as possible, in order to test our tools so far. It was very illustrative, and our team members are abundantly creative for making mayhem.
Everyone here, but especially our engineers, were so happy to see your responses to last week's patch notes! We are going to make sure to include them going forward whenever we have them.
Finally, those retrospective conversations we told you about have really come to fruition with big process changes internally, which translates to lots of positive improvements in the longer-term development of Blaseball.
Our path forward is looking a lot clearer, and we should have more concrete info for you very soon.
See you next Friday!
The Game Band
Avatar thegameband.png @thegameband

On March 3rd 2023, another update was posted.

An Update from The Game Band (3/3/23)
Hey Blaseball Fans,
In the last patch notes, we censored out a certain fan-favorite mechanic that's being worked on, and a bunch of you guessed what it is correctly anyways. Idols and Idol Boards are among the first features coming back! They'll be doing some new things, and the test builds are looking great.
We're continuing to work on things based on your feedback. This week, we've been increasing stability, addressing some concerns about font size and the legibility of team colors, continuing our interface update, and finishing up with scoping everything to make sure Blaseball is a more enjoyable experience when we're back.
See you next Friday with more updates!
The Game Band


PATCH NOTES:
Mobile

  • More work on deep linking support

Sim / Elections

  • Setup for future election outcomes
  • Future weekly mechanic setup
  • Idols board mechanics setup
  • Added future weather and mods
  • Fix for future weather effect crashing the sim
  • Fix for gamelogs history not being saved properly
  • [SPOILER] now results in Consequences
  • Distinguishing serial numbers added to [SPOILER]
  • Fix for [SPOILER] not adding players to the correct team

Site / API

  • Fix for certain election endpoints causing HTTP 500 errors
  • Database performance improvements for various operations on player attributes
  • Fix for site blackscreening under on teams that are [SPOILER]

Tooling

  • Fixes and improvements for season schedule setup scripts
  • Workflow improvements & efficiency updates

Other things worked on

  • UI/UX polish and navigation improvements
  • Font size testing


Avatar thegameband.png @thegameband

On March 10th 2023, another update was posted.

An Update from The Game Band (3/10/23)
Hey Blaseball Fans!
We’ve been heads down on finalizing our relaunch plans to ensure it happens as seamlessly as possible. It’s not a fun detail, but it is an essential one!
Much of our work lately would be considered spoilers, but we have been working on some exciting stuff we know Fans have asked about. In particular, we’ve been exploring what it would take to have custom modification icons for players. While we don’t know if it’s something we will be able to do (there are a lot of mods!), the initial exploration has been exciting. Readability on the site has been a topic of conversation as of late, mod icons are just one part of a larger conversation on UI, font, and images.
We’re already seeing a positive impact from those workflow changes we mentioned in previous updates, which means we should have a relaunch plan ready to show you soon, with a timeline for when we're aiming to come back. Our patch notes this week are mostly focused on mobile as we prepare to dive into further site improvements.
See you next Friday!
The Game Band


Patch Notes
Mobile

  • Made it possible to link to several pages, including Teams, Standings, and Tournaments via the cover CTAs
  • Updated button and tab styling
  • Cut off the overflowing corners on some rounded rectangles
  • Made cover CTA buttons use Team colors
  • Made settings button easier to select
  • Deep linking

Sim / Elections

  • [Future Weather construction noises]


Avatar thegameband.png @thegameband

On March 17th 2023, another update was posted.

An Update from The Game Band (3/17/23)
Hey Blaseball Fans!
We're pausing longer updates while we go heads down to focus on larger changes for relaunch. We'll continue updating patch notes when there’s significant work to report on.
What’s on the teams plate right now doesn't always break down into weekly chunks, so we will focus these updates on meaningful progress and big news moving forward. Posts will still go up on Fridays!
See you soon!
The Game Band


Patch Notes
Web client

  • Visual polish for schedule section headers, team colors, and font sizes for readability

Mobile

  • Visual polish for schedule headers and updated team colors
  • More work on deep linking support (teams, standings, & tournament pages)
  • Styling and usability improvements for tabs, buttons, and other UI components
  • Internal documentation cleanup


Avatar thegameband.png @thegameband

On March 24th 2023, another update was posted.

An Update from The Game Band (3/24/23)
Hello everyone, it's weekly update time! As we mentioned last week, these updates are going to be a little lighter while we complete the background work necessary for relaunch. As promised though, here is an update!
A lot of work this week has been in the area of scoping the remaining projects needed for relaunch. This means we can efficiently assign people to the right tasks at the right time and make sure that we're all working towards the same goals.
We've also tracked down a designer in the wild to ask some questions about upcoming features. Here's what Joel had to say, and we encourage you to make of it what you will:

  • Peanuts
  • Ominous Whooshing
  • Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet
  • Guests
  • Normalization

See you next Friday!
The Game Band


Patch Notes

  • Web: Updated navigation sidebar & style polish
  • Web & mobile: Game widget styling & weather icon updates
  • Major writing & design progress on [redacted] seasons ([redacted], [redacted], and weather)


Avatar thegameband.png @thegameband

On March 31 2023, two updates were posted.

An Update from The Game Band (3/31/23)

Note: if you have issues reading the site in its current state, we have copied the full text of this update to Medium


We’re coming back this Spring.
As part of the lead up to re-launch, we’re shifting how we do these updates to give you more substance.
In this update we’re including a breakdown of our current priorities for our return (some accomplished and some in-progress), and every 3 weeks we will be updating it with new focus, completed projects, and interesting tidbits. Patch notes will continue weekly on the site.
Much of this break has been fixes and updates based on Fan feedback, but we’ve also been dedicating time to updating our workflows and investing in a more nimble development style. Basically, we want to be in a place where this kind of break doesn’t need to happen again because we’ve spent the time building a more stable, easily updated game. We’ve also built in a ton of extra time to make sure everything is tested thoroughly before it hits your screens.


With that in mind, here’s what we’ve committed to for re-launch in Spring! This is not exhaustive, so if you don’t see something you’re looking forward to, don’t worry! It’s likely already on our list.


Quality of Life Fixes
These are small decisions that have a big impact for Fans but minimal impact on larger systems. This category is choices like improving font size and surfacing game days.

Readability

  • Increased font size
  • Weather icons
  • Team color contrast updates
  • Accessibility consulting for future site improvements
  • Consolidated icon displays across different parts of the site


Info Surfacing

  • Adding Game Days
  • Pitcher displayed for future games
  • Additional explanations and context around how to interact with Blaseball
  • Social links in footer of site
  • Weather Outcomes and post-game scores shown in Schedule after games complete

Heavier Lifts
These are systemic changes or larger visual improvements like making site navigation easier and schedule improvements.

Site Navigation

  • Updated sidebar navigation to minimize clicks + surface pages like Election and Schedule better
  • Team Page information updates (makes key info easier to find)
  • Player Page information updates (makes key info easier to find)


Schedule

  • Improved schedule display for understanding current events
  • Users can click on days in Season header for a preview of what will happen on upcoming days (what’s going on Thursday?)


Community Interaction

  • A new internal process for surfacing Fan feedback to the development team weekly
  • Designing Watch Party Roulette for the official Discord


Getting Ahead on Story

  • Building out & testing narrative, mechanics, Season features long before the Season goes live

Systems and Mechanics
This includes a ton of new systems, mechanics, and choices to make the Era as exciting as possible, including several new communal choices / elections for Fans to participate in.

  • Idols Board
  • [SPOILERS]- a new Idols Board mechanic
  • [SPOILER]- a pivotal Season-end Election
  • [SPOILER]- an Off-Season Team improvement Election
  • A new schedule that makes Seasons more manageable for you and for us.
  • A bunch of new systems that will let us run an entire Era of exciting Seasons, including some of the most commonly requested systems

Long Term Goals
Long-term goals include bigger projects like internal tools for a better Blaseball, story surfacing projects and internal tools. These are priorities for the future but may not be complete in time for our Spring return.

  • Story surfacing from emergent narrative- how can we easily surface and celebrate the stories the sim influences
  • Onboarding new users with official resources and easier to find information
  • Improved internal systems and tools for building Blaseball

Want to know more? Submit a question for the team to answer in regular updates alongside our Patch Notes and future communication. How frequently we answer questions will depend on how many we get, so ask away!
Avatar thegameband.png @thegameband

(The blockquotes in these posts were merely shifted to the right and did not have any kind of line marking them.)

The "so ask away" part contained a link to a google forum where questions could be asked.

The other message sent was from a new entity called "bugcatcher".

Patch Notes (3/31/23)
Patch Notes

  • Added backstage content authoring tools for game scheduling and postseason tournament setup
  • Bugcatcher is here.


Avatar bugcatcher.png @bugcatcher

On April 7th 2023, another message was sent this time just patch notes from the bugcatcher.

Patch Notes (4/7/23)
Web

  • Minor navigation & styling tweaks
  • Team page is one page now instead of tabbed
  • Fixed apostrophe name display errors for future game logs
  • Schedule page styling & navigation updates
  • Add UI for showing buried players on team rosters
  • Increase font sizes for messages

Sim / API

  • Implement [SPOILERS] weather
  • Add support for getting idol rank of players beyond the 20th top idol
  • Rewrite of schedule backend
  • Add support for player modifications that [SPOILERS]
  • Vexillology


Avatar bugcatcher.png @bugcatcher

On April 14 2023, there were two more messages. One from the bugcatcher and one from The Game Band.

Patch Notes (4/14/23)
Client

  • Fix idol display in user sidebar header
  • Improved direct-linking / refresh behavior for schedule page
  • New icons for betting and elections
  • Update team page styling

Sim / API

  • [construction noises] Better matchup schedule handling after team roster changes
  • Added debug monitoring for some live sim events
  • Team modifications for [SPOILER] seasons
  • Include additional game events in end-of-game summary
  • [idols board mechanics construction noises]

Fix game schedules taking a long time to load
Avatar bugcatcher.png @bugcatcher

The Game Band message was that of a Q&A.

A Q&A from The Game Band 4/14/23

Note: if you have issues reading the site in its current state, we have copied the full text of this update to Medium for easier reading.


Welcome to your weekly update! We collected some questions from last week’s submissions and will be answering them periodically in the lead up to relaunch this Spring.


In terms of accessibility, the update mentioned "consulting". Can you elaborate on that? Are you consulting accessibility specialists?

Yes! We are consulting with an accessibility specialist about many aspects of the site, as well as our design and evaluation processes internally! While designing for accessibility is an ongoing process, we’re working on fixes with high impact first and then plan to build out a longer term plan that extends beyond launch.

How linear was the path to the current iteration of the sim? Do you encounter a lot of dead ends?

When asking our head of Engineering this question, he said, “Linear is a hard concept here. I see it more as an amorphous blue cloud that rotates slowly around the shared mind-space of every engineer and sometimes takes the form of a small, feral marmot that whispers its secrets in our ears as we sleep.”
We think that translates to, “It really depends on what part of the sim we’re working on. The rebuild was very intentional and based on how the old sim evolved. If we know what we want the sim to be able to accomplish, it’s just a matter of building a more stable, modular system. Any conflicts with the sim are more vibes-based and come from things like testing how often weather events occur. Even that is fewer dead ends and more ‘oh that didn’t feel as smooth as we’d like. Let’s turn the dial up.’”

What work was done during the nearly two-year siesta? If you were to re-write Blaseball from scratch again, what would you do the same and what would you do differently?

Here are the highlights:
Experimentation. The first two Eras allowed for a super fun, very rowdy few years that led to burnout of our team and Fans time and time again. It also meant most of our energy had to be spent keeping the game live instead of trying new things. Siesta gave us the time we needed to really explore what was possible. We spent countless hours exploring features like the Idols Board, new election systems, new Gods and mechanics, at least 4 different schedules, a ton of community and marketing approaches, ethical monetization, and ways to run Blaseball sustainably.
We rebuilt the simulation, which sounds simple when you put it like that, but was a huge undertaking with greater long-term benefits. With the previous version, any time we wanted to do something cool, have a new mod, introduce a new story— it had to be a custom solution for that instance. We couldn’t build Systems, we could only build moments. It’s the difference between decorating your house by nailing a photo to the wall vs. rebuilding your house to install missing plumbing. In the previous sim, introducing field positions was impossible because they would have just been a datapoint. Now the sim knows ‘where’ Players are, how their stats impact that position, and is able to systemically resolve play. The sim also knows ‘where’ the ball is! That was impossible before, and we can modify these things without having to shut down the whole site to change something. We’re still early in a Blaseball that demonstrates what the sim is truly capable of, but in short, it means Blaseball will be driven more by the Players and gameplay systems themselves, instead of just The Game Band and some dice rolls. We have plumbing now!
This also means more stability. Getting there meant re-writing a lot of code from deep in the Discipline and Expansion Era days. The trade off is that we can’t just plug in the old code for features like Shame, but we now have a foundation we’ve literally never had before.
We developed a mobile app experience for the game. Development for new platforms is never easy, especially when a number of factors outside of your control lead to reworking huge portions of development. All of that time re-evaluating and resetting led to improvements on initial features and a better user experience based on site feedback, so we’re hoping to get the app in your hands soon.
We worked out process issues coming from growing a remote work studio, and created & hired for multiple new departments to help support our team.
Fundraising We had to dedicate a significant amount of time to pitching and securing additional investment for the future of the company.
Future Design We designed the entirety of Era 3 (a few times!) and how it could lead into Era 4.
What would we do differently? Knowing what we know now, we’d have a much clearer direction from the start. Short Circuits, the Siesta, and even Fall Ball have been immensely valuable in getting a better understanding of what we want to make and what our Fans want. So a lot of the time spent experimenting wouldn’t need to happen and a lot of unknowns wouldn’t need to be run. We’d also make the font size bigger from the start and plan for a few more unforseen roadblocks in the development cycle.

I'm so interested in the process of developing a narrative for a game like this. What is the workflow like (possible topics: pitching ideas, narrowing down/fleshing out, and how you incorporate emergent gameplay)?

Our game designers offered two answers. Both are true.
Option 1:

  1. State a problem space, find something to solve
  2. Come up with 2 or 3 practical answers that don't end up panning out for various reasons
  3. Go silent for anywhere between 10 and 120 seconds
  4. Pierce the silence with "ok what IF" and then state the wildest idea you have
  5. ????
  6. Come out of a fugue state to see your feature in Blaseball


Option 2:

  • Our process is usually this: We come up with a narrative idea — a story we want to tell, a funny moment we’d like to create, or a theme we’d like to explore. Then we brainstorm how to tell that story with systems.
  • How do you do that? Well, break everything down to its essential elements (To tell a story about necromancy — what do you need? At the very least, a way to know a character is dead, and a way to bring them back). And then we make up rules for the sim and choices for the players that could create that narrative.
  • What you’re left with is not a particular story, but a possibility space — a whole variety of narrative that your rules could create. And then it’s up to you to constantly iterate on the rules you’ve laid out and choices you’ve offered in order to adjust that possibility space.
  • A good way to test this out without making a game wholesale is just to GM a tabletop game. Just do a one-shot! You don’t even need others — GM it for yourself, even! Just practice designing systems that lead to good stories.


Avatar thegameband.png @thegameband

On April 21st 2023, The Game Band sent another update, and there was another bugcatcher patch.

An Update from The Game Band (4/21/23)

Note: if you have issues reading the site in its current state, we have copied the full text of this update to Medium for easier reading.


In this update we’re including a breakdown of our current priorities for our return (some accomplished and some in-progress), and every 3 weeks we will be updating it with new focus, completed projects, and interesting tidbits. Patch notes will continue weekly on the site.


Here are the new additions to what is coming when we relaunch! This is not exhaustive.


Election Page Improvements
The ever-present Elections are a page we're continually improving in terms of readability, convenience, and presentation.

  • Overhauled Elections user experience bringing active elections and election results together on the same page
  • Major improvements to Voting experience
  • Individual countdowns to election closing
  • More emphasis on major story moments
  • Introduced new Election mechanics

Mobile Web Update
Our upcoming iOS and Android apps will offer the best mobile Blaseball experience, but in the meantime, we want you to have an easier time using the site on mobile web, too.

  • Updating component layouts for mobile web
  • Converting sidebar menu to hamburger menu for small screen widths
  • Small UI fixes and adjustments

API Optimization
Significant changes and optimization of the API means performance improvements everywhere, but especially:

  • Schedule loading
  • Betting data
  • Player & Team info

Base Stealing!
Needs more testing before we're confident you'll be able to see in action during the next Season, but it's coming down the pipeline!

  • players
  • steal
  • bases
  • wow!!!

Want to know more? Submit a question for the team to answer in regular updates alongside our Patch Notes and future communication. How frequently we answer questions will depend on how many we get, so ask away!
Avatar thegameband.png @thegameband

The "so ask away!" part linked to the same form linked in previous posts.

Patch Notes (4/21/23)
Patch Notes
Web client

  • New UI elements & styling for Election mechanics
  • Updates to Schedule page UX / navigation
  • Update Team page header styling

Sim / Backstage

  • Clean up some internals of Player/Team modification system
  • Fixed a truly harrowing database query performance issue that was causing Player & Team info to take a long time to load
  • Implement [REDACTED] weather
  • Idols Board backend systems work and bugfixes
  • Streamlined and simplified retrieving Player stats for front end display
  • Resolved Player stats bug displaying wrong data


Avatar bugcatcher.png @bugcatcher

On April 28th 2023, the bugcatcher sent another patch report.

Patch Notes (4/28/23)
Backstage

  • Implemented more Player Modifications for [SPOILER] Season
  • Added content for future Election type

Web Client

  • Added countdown component to show how long Fans have until [SPOILER]
  • Made Player page API usage more efficient
  • Updated League header
  • Idols Board now includes [SPOILER]
  • Overhauled Elections page UI
  • New UI components, styling, and navigation improvements for various Idols Board page interactions

Sim / API

  • Improved plumbing to handle betting odds and game schedule adjustments due to roster changes
  • Fixed bugs with Players not being replaced correctly during Solar Eclipse Blue weather
  • Blorbo safety has been decreased: Pitchers can now be impacted by Weather.


Avatar bugcatcher.png @bugcatcher

On the 5th May, 2023, there were two more messages one a patch report from the bugcatcher.

Patch Notes (5/5/23)
Backstage

  • Added [SPOILER] Player mod for [SPOILER] Weather
  • Wrapped up content for [SPOILER] Season Election
  • Election processor logic now supports conditional branches

Web Client

  • Continuing overhaul of Elections page UI: new interactive components, updated styling, rewrote voting modal popup
  • Fixed an issue causing site usage metrics to be inaccurate
  • Updated site footer styling & icons

Sim / API

  • Surface [SPOILERS] in Idols Board data
  • Fixed bugs in Horizon Weather that resulted in players crash-landing on the pitcher's mound but deciding that they simply don't feel like pitching right now and picking up a bat instead
  • Made it easier to differentiate between Player and Team Modifications in sim logic
  • Players have been given richer internal lives. Flavor Attributes are returning.
  • Tweaked formula for calculating more accurate game betting odds
  • Sim testing framework cleanup


Avatar bugcatcher.png @bugcatcher

And another Q&A from The Game Band.

A Q&A from The Game Band (5/5/23)

Note: if you have issues reading the site in its current state, we have copied the full text of this update to Medium for easier reading.


This week we have a Q&A for you!


Will I be able to financially support blaseball and it's development? Absolutely adored the idea of the patreon and getting to submit names for players, really hope we get a system like that again.

Yes, eventually! We’re exploring ways for our audience to spend money on Blaseball without any of the obvious pay-to-win strategies, which will take some time and research. A lot of that work is driven by something our Community team said— “There are two things all Blaseball fans love: committing to the bit, and number go up.” So we’re thinking a lot about how to introduce optional fun, enrich the Blaseball experience for everyone, and, hopefully, shitpost a bit with the community.
When it comes to the name pool, we’ve done a lot of internal work on broadening representation in names from all over the world. We want to give that a chance to populate the current League, so we’re keeping names homegrown for now. But expect more fun things coming down the pipeline!

What improvements are being made to the development process, and is that going to affect Blaseball’s Season schedule?

One of our big goals this year is to successfully run Blaseball without long hiatuses and without crunch — it’s something that improves the quality of everything we make as developers, and it definitely improves your experience of Fans too.
In the last Q&A, we talked about our work on the game engine: rebuilding the foundations of the sim so that we can host more complicated interactions with less difficulty, which frees us up to plan ahead and prepare what’s next before we need it. That’s one improvement to development process that may not be very flashy, but absolutely pays off in unseen ways!
The improvements being made during this current development time include tightening up the pillars of the game and laying groundwork for longer-term improvements to core gameplay interactions. Which are things that are very hard to do when Blaseball is live because that’s we need to focus on launching, operating, and hotfixing all the exciting Season-to-Season content.
So the big question Fans probably have left is, what is happening to Blaseball’s Season schedule? That is a bigger design topic we’re eager to tackle in more detail in the future — we really want to take you through the How’s and the Why’s first — but what we can say for now is that we are guided by that big goal stated up top: more sustainable Blaseball with fewer unexpected stops and less time with no Blaseball at all!

What would you say are the biggest differences between developing the current era and developing the previous eras?

For this question, we went around to assorted departments that survived Discipline and Expansion to ask how things have changed.
Leadership shared that more than anything, our focus has shifted to making Blaseball something we can keep running. “This era is more of a reboot than a sequel. The previous two eras were not designed for longevity. Had we continued on our previous trajectory, it would have been extremely challenging for Blaseball to become a sustainable project for the company. We still have to prove that all our new work will pay off, but it’s an attempt to turn this game from a once-in-a-while burst of energy into a lasting endeavor.”
When asked for comment, Game Design said, “we've never had this much time to design Blaseball which is both an absolute blessing and a horrid curse.”
Engineering said the following:

  • Modularization, we are building the systems and the tools to make things reusable and therefor sustainable and easier to build
  • Observability, we have more insight into how the sim makes decisions, and that means we have more control over how we can tune it.
  • Stability, we are creating a more stable infrastructure. While this is always a constant struggle as our tech evolves, we are creating a more available system.
  • More power to the designers, we are trying to make choices that give game design flexibility!

In response to engineering’s answer, our producers said, and this is a direct quote, “modularization! big big bi gb ig big.”
On Community's end, we've worked to establish much clearer lines of communication from Fans to devs, in a way that results in action and discussion. We could pass on feedback in the past, but now we have a polished, efficient way to make sure what we know translates into meaningful changes to the game. We've also gotten much more efficient in how we moderate, which means we can focus more on fun projects for the audience and help design new mechanics with our community front of mind.
The team also noted that developing Blaseball now compared to 2020 when Covid was beginning has been a huge shift— in energy, in our Fan’s time, in how Blaseball fits into all of it. A lot has changed in three years. Beyond that, this is the first time we’ve truly had: a Marketing team, a QA team, a Product Design team, and an Art team, which changes the game completely, literally.

Will we be seeing more of the Blaseball Roundup? Because that helped me a lot in getting me people interested in Blaseball.

Great question. We also love the Blaseball Roundup. The short answer is: “Yes.” The long answer is: “Whats up everyone! Yes, you will see more of the Blaseball Roundup in the Coronation Era.”


Avatar thegameband.png @thegameband

On 12th May 2023 two more posts were sent, one being a patch report from the bugcatcher, the otherb being an update from The Game band.

Patch Notes (5/12/23)
Sim / API

  • General cleanup of backend database infrastructure & content setup scripts
  • Better handling for descriptive names for Player Attributes

Web Client

  • Update site footer, include social media links
  • New navigation hamburger menu for mobile client
  • Show pitchers' star rating on Games from the Schedule page
  • Show history of [SPOILERS] on Idols page


Avatar bugcatcher.png @bugcatcher

An Update from The Game Band (5/12/23)

Note: if you have issues reading the site in its current state, we have copied the full text of this update to Medium for easier reading.


In this update we’re including a breakdown of some of our current priorities, and every 3 weeks we will be updating it with new focus, completed projects, and interesting tidbits. Patch notes will continue weekly on the site.


Here are the new additions to what is coming when we relaunch! This is not exhaustive. The theme of this update is making the rest of this Era easier to run systemically. Building tools, building mechanics that don't require bespoke creations, and revamping how we build Seasons all lead us towards one thing: more Blaseball, less time away.


Content Progress
Straightforward enough — we're building Seasons and their content in entirety long before they go live. In past Eras, we were working with only about a week of lead time.

  • Locking in story beats
  • Building out mechanics, new Weathers, [SPOILER], and [SPOILER]
  • Testing all of it!

New Mechanics
We are building significantly new mechanics this Era that fold into the Blaseball that Fans are familiar with!

  • Our goal with these is to make the core game loop (Watch, Bet, Vote) feel more complete & exciting and emphasize the beloved parts of the game: ominous, exciting decisions made by fans, with absolutely zero consequences of course. It'll be fine!
  • Lots of research, testing, and revising for the best feel

Pitcher Weather
In the last update, we noted Pitchers can now be impacted by Weather. This was not a simple feat, and required a lot of essential reworking of the Sim.

  • Update every Weather
  • Update how the Schedule calculates odds & payouts and reacts to Pitcher changes
  • Update how Rotations work to respond to Pitcher changes

Internal Tools
Our goal to run Blaseball more seamlessly means giving our engineers freedom to focus on what's next and what needs to be fixed, as opposed to manual tasks like updating an Election.

  • Created an Election Builder: Can schedule, set type, and visually build an Election for the live game without Engineering lift
  • Created Blessing Builder: Can add Blessings to scheduled Elections also without Engineering
  • Exploring QA tools for more in-depth testing of Mods, Weathers, and Player interactions within the Sim

Want to know more? Submit a question for the team to answer in regular updates alongside our Patch Notes and future communication. Ask away!
Avatar thegameband.png @thegameband

The "Ask away!" part again linked to the question form.

On May 19 2023, the bugcatcher posted another set of patch notes.

Patch Notes (5/19/23)
Web Client

  • New responsive Play tab cover layout for mobile web support
  • New mobile web layout for Schedule header & Games list content
  • New mobile web layout for Messages tab
  • New mobile page footer
  • Fixed Schedule page crashing bug
  • New Team/Player modal popup view
  • Updated site analytics tagging

Backstage

  • Added [SPOILER] Player Modification
  • Additional Player/Team Modifications for [SPOILER] Season
  • Streamlined content data management process

Sim / API

  • Base theft is back, baybeeeeee
  • Started fixing issues with duplicate user accounts & interaction issues between accounts created via OAuth vs. regular email/password login
  • Fixed incorrect dodge rate for Weathers allowing too many jukes
  • Cleaned up some Modification effect checks in sim logic
  • Built ability to reschedule Pitcher matchups for Games after [SPOILER]
  • Provided Player Positions & Modifications in Team API endpoints
  • Fixed the API build breaking due to package dependency management issues
  • Fixed Solar Eclipse gold & silver not affecting Pitchers correctly
  • Fixed lerp function not lerping the way lerp should lerp


Avatar bugcatcher.png @bugcatcher

On May 26 2023, the bugcatcher posted another set of patch notes.

Patch Notes (5/26/23)
Web Client:

  • Made the Live Game page more responsive to different screen sizes
  • Prepared a window into the rich inner lives of Players. When Flavor Attributes return, they will be displayed on the Player page
  • Idols Board now displays [SPOILER] next to Players
  • Reduced frequency of random Internal error: Internal Server Error errors
  • Fixed assorted issues with the Idols page
  • Fixed assorted issues with the Elections page

Backstage:

  • [environmental construction noises for internal TGB testing]
  • [even smaller construction noises for internal TGB testing]
  • Marked [SPOILER] players as Unidolizable
  • Updated where game data is surfaced to a place where TGB can access it more easily
  • Added more fun effects for Elections for your favorite Players! :)

Sim/API:

  • Certain endpoints now return more Lines
  • Tweaked formula for calculating results of Knighted Player quests
  • Tweaked code that reschedules Pitcher matchups for Games after [SPOILER]
  • Instead of waiting until the top of the next hour, Teams that win a ostseason tournament are now immediately [SPOILER]
  • Moved [SPOILER] handling from the sim to the elections processor
  • [SPOILER] outcomes are now displayed at the end of Games


Avatar bugcatcher.png @bugcatcher

Finally on June 2 2023, The Game Band posted a message announcing the shutdown of Blaseball.

Many Teams, One Goodbye. Thank You for Playing Blaseball.

Note: if you have issues reading the site in its current state, we have copied the full text of this update to Medium for easier reading.


It is with a heavy heart we announce that we are not going to run the Coronation Era as planned and are making the decision to end Blaseball today. It is difficult to put into words what this means for our team and the future, but we will try.
The short of it is that Blaseball isn’t sustainable to run. Since Blaseball’s inception, we’ve been fighting against the amount of work it takes to keep Blaseball true to itself while financially supporting the team and keeping our staff healthy. We’ve tried countless solutions to make it work, and we’ve come to the conclusion that this fight isn’t one we can win in the long run. The cost, literally and metaphorically, is too high. So we are making the decision to end it here instead of changing Blaseball into something unrecognizable. Part of this loss is many of our incredible team members. Our team size has to change to give us enough runway to even begin to make something new. We are losing so many good people, and we will miss them terribly. They changed the game, literally.
Blaseball was an uncanny thing. It was born in the early stages of Covid, whispered into our ears by unseen forces, and it is inextricable from the early days of the pandemic. It was made to run constantly, for everyone, for free. It was a little bit game, little bit social experiment, little bit improv. It was made to mirror the world around us– horror and all. If the horrors persist, so must we.
Blaseball was about finding connection when the world feels out of your control. It was meant to bring people together and connect us across unfathomable distance and despair, and it did. All of you found us, and every person who touched it was a part of this story.
To Fans of Blaseball, who have cheered and cried with us, who watched Suns die and Eras pass, who have defied the Gods and death itself, who have been with us through the end of the world as we knew it and then what came after: thank you. It has been one of the great joys of our lives to make Blaseball for you, and we will grieve its loss like everything else– together.
We are providing as much support as we can to those affected by the layoffs: severance, healthcare extensions, and job search resources with a dedicated staff member for job placement. If we can’t continue to have them on the team, we want them to bring their skills to friends and peers we’ve had the pleasure to know. If you are hiring and in the market for kind, collaborative, groundbreakingly talented team members, please reach out. We will connect you.
Thank you to everyone who has been a part of Blaseball. We are sorry, and we are devastated. As for what comes next, we’re planning that now. We hope that one day in the not too distant future we can bring you something new that brings us all back together.
Until then, stay well and do good.
Avatar thegameband.png @thegameband