How did 82-0, the NBA pick’em game, go viral? We talked to its creators

A couple weeks ago, NBA internet began obsessing over 82-0.com, a relatively simple pick’em game based around basketball’s history. The concept was easy: Spin for a team and an era, choose a player from that team, slot them into your own starting five, and repeat. You can re-spin for team and for era once. Once your five-man lineup was assembled, the site grades your squad on how many games they would win in the regular season. Five superstars, it turns out, isn’t nearly enough to achieve an undefeated season.

The game was so viral that even Tyrese Haliburton expressed his frustration at coming five wins short with this lineup.

Last week, I spoke to Bar Almog, the CEO and founder of the Israeli gaming company PlayVault, whose company has partnered with 82-0’s creator, Roy Saar. Almog discussed the game’s inspiration, what it was like to experience its viral explosion, and what’s next for this gaming craze that has spawned dozens of imitations.

What was the moment you realized this game was really going viral?

I think after Tyrese Haliburton (posted about playing it). I think everything started to go viral. And I think it’s taking the most classic debate in basketball in general: Who are your top-five players? I think that’s it, and the simplicity behind this game, an arcade-type game, is so simple and yet addictive in terms of the audience, because it took the most common thing that every basketball fan in the world is speaking of, and literally is doing something with it for the first time. So I think that moment around a week ago is where we started seeing the website explode with a lot of traffic with a lot of good feedback, all over socials and emails from different fans.

Yeah, there’s a reason slot machines exist, and this feels like a harmless version of it, but that drew me to it when I first came across it. What was the inspiration behind this?

Roy’s been an NBA fan since he was born. Basically, this kid grew up on basketball. I, myself, same thing here. I played basketball for my entire life, still playing, I love the sport and every aspect of it. I just got back from a five-on-five run with friends, and I’ve been following closely I think every year for the past, I don’t know, forever. As long as I can remember.

What’s interesting to me is not that this just went viral, but that it caused viral imitations everywhere. I sunk some hours into 8-0, which is a similar concept about the World Cup. Two questions: First of all, are any of those yours? And…

You nailed it. This is a great question, I have to be fair. We recognized here this classic debate around basketball and NBA exist in every different sport, basically, right?

You have so many different sports and the debate exists everywhere. I think as Play Vault, we have Vaulty Studios, this is, like, our publishing company, which technically publishes these games. And we realized that this is yet another way for us to create sports genre-related games.

Right.

We just launched Ultimate 11, ultimate11.com, which is our version for the World Cup and for soccer going forward. And we’re working on other versions for different sports like (league) soccer and NFL. The mimics that you’ve seen out there are not ours. Some of them have, like, brutally copied and took the 82-0 challenge (concept) to ride on our wave. But technically speaking, we’re working on many different games and we’re implementing a lot of gamification into it to make it fun for the users. It’s going to be free for them. I think we’re going to work on it and deepen the gamification aspect of it to make it more fun and engaging for them yet keep the simplicity behind it, which makes it so viral and, I think, fun for everyone.

Does it bother you that there are all these mimics who kind of latched on to the viral success? Or is that, I’m not in this online game world behind the scenes. Does that just come with the territory when something goes viral, when it’s free like this?

I totally think it’s natural, like every good game out there in the world. So whenever something goes viral, you will see other clones and things like that, which is totally normal. I think at the end of the day, there is a new genre that is on the rise here, which is very interesting to see. And I think it’s best for everyone, for the fans, for people who love to play, to have different versions of it. It’s super nice. Why not?

So many people are curious about the grading algorithm. What’s the secret behind that?

That’s the secret sauce. We’re always working to improve it and add more statistics and then make sure that the data that sits behind it is the most accurate and relevant, but that’s definitely our secret sauce.

That’s fair. Let me phrase the question this way: Tyrese Haliburton, as you mentioned, posted his lineup: LeBron James, Kobe Bryant, Michael Jordan, Larry Bird, Moses Malone. His grade was 77-5. Is there any advice you would give Tyrese about why that, you know, wasn’t given an 82-0? Maybe which player was his weak link?

I would say my best advice is to keep on playing and you’ll nail it.

It does seem like Wilt (Chamberlain) and Oscar (Robertson) aren’t necessary, but they help a lot. Would you agree with that?

I will say again that we are working on improving constantly the algorithm to make sure that the odds and everything just aligns and gets better and more realistic over time, which is already very, very good to date. That’s pretty much it.

What was the most surprising or shocking moment of just the kind of virality that this had? What stood out most to you, perhaps something you didn’t expect?

I think that the answer lies within the question. Technically speaking, the fact that it went viral like that (at all). I think when Roy (the creator) spoke to me about it — we first met, I think it was around a week-and-a-half ago, when everything started. We met, we both looked at each other and he was stunned by how it went viral. And if I (feel this way), this is the answer. There was no moment or something that, once you see it, it made sense. When things go viral and organic growth happens like this, you can’t really explain it. You know what I mean?

I do. I’m also in this world in a different way.

Yeah, so you can’t really tell other than being super pumped about it.

What convinced you this was something you wanted to bring into Play Vault? I guess, more specifically, it’d be funny if you played the game yourself and you found yourself hooked.

I got a few shares from different friends and from Roy and social media posts, and I didn’t really understand what the hype was all about at the beginning. I hadn’t played the game at first. You know, Israel and the United States are very different. It exploded in the U.S. and then he shared the link to the game and I fell in love immediately. I knew that Roy was onto something that could potentially be big. I immediately thought, “82-0 is nice but we can take this and make a lot of games around this classic debate.”

And, again, (we want to) create something more gamified but keep the simplicity behind it. So, like, you can see that we add leaderboards and things like that. So there are a lot of exciting things coming and I think this is the potential that I signed it from the first place and I’m excited to have Roy with us on the team. I think it’s key to have a brilliant mind.

Do you remember how long it took for you to have an 82-0 team?

It was actually yesterday that was my first time. I’m playing quite a bit but we’ve been insanely busy right now in the past week and a half. We’re plugged in, working 24/7, so it took me a couple of days to get it. But it is possible.

Do you remember what your team was? What your starting five was?

Absolutely not, I do not remember. You’re looking to ask me whether I had Wilt or not.

Hah, guilty.

I honestly don’t remember what the team was.

We’ve seen quite a few without Wilt go 82-0, I know it’s possible. I don’t think I ever got closer than 80-2.

You gotta keep trying.

Definitely. I appreciate the time.

Tim Cato is ALLCITY’s national NBA writer currently based in Dallas. He can be reached at tcato@alldlls.com or on X at @tim_cato.