Stick Premier League, a game that was made by the people over at Stick Sports, is one of the most fun games to play, especially during the IPL season. With the Indian Premier League reaching global levels of engagement, you may already have a team that you support (Sorry if you are an RCB fan), and while you may not be the best cricket player out there, you may have, at some point, wanted to take your favourite team to glory.
Well, Stick Premier League allows you to do just that.
Table of Contents
Platforms and Basics
The game can be played on both iOS and Android smartphones, as log as you are runnning compatible versions of the mobile OS. Thankfully, both, the Play Store and the Apple App Store will automtically let you know if the app is compatible for your device, so you no longer have to spend that extra time looking up the minimum requirements.
The basis of the Stick Premier League game is simple – Choose your favourite team, and win the title. The game offers you five attempts/ five seasons, and if you are good at the game, you can win all five seasons, and then, you can start over again with another team.
The app is free to download and while the base game is free to play, there are some paid features, but those paid elements do not really affect the overall experience.
Game Modes and Initial Setup
The Stick Premier League offers three games modes:
- Stick Premier League (India) – Indian Premier League
- Stick Premier League (Australia) – Big Bash Australia
- Make your own franchise – Paid feature
Out the above, the first two game modes are absolutely free to play. Yes, you have options to buy in-game credits for real money, but even if you don’t want to, you can progress through the seasons and use your skills to win the titles.
So, getting into the game, let’s take a look at SPL India, as it the alternative to the Indian Premier League.
The first thing you need to do, is name your player, who will also be the captain of the team by default. The naming process is fairly simple, you have a single letter first name followed by your surname.
Now, if you want your first name to be shown in full, simply put the first letter of your surname as your first name, and enter your name in the surname window. This way, when you play the matches, the scoreboard will display your first name in full.
Once you have named your captain, you will now be taken to your captain creator window, where you have three customisation options –
- Your skin shade
- Hair colour
- Right Handed or Left Handed (as you will only be batting in this game)
After you have created your player, you are now taken to the team selection screen. At the moment, you can only choose from the initial 8 teams. The two new teams (Gujarat and Lucknow) are currently not in the game, but hopefully, the developers add them in as well.
Pick the team you want to lead to glory and the game will officially begin. We went for the Bangalore team (The mens team has not yet won the title in real life, but in-game, we can try to get them up to 5 titles)
Getting started with your Stick Premier League journey
On selecting your team, you are then greeted with a message from your team owner, where he informs you that he has signed you up on a five year deal, as he knows you can lead the team to victory. He also adds that he will be funding some big name buys for the lineup as the seasons progress.
The next screen will give you a brief on how the game works. Yes, it is possible to win every game and every title, but it won’t be a simple walk in the park. You will need to hire some marquee players and coaching staff to the team, in order to give your player and the team in general, the tools needed to win the ultimate prize.
You then receive a perk for your player, as the team owner signs a batting coach for you, making you a marquee/star player as well. This means your player will have better batting stats and timing. Simply put, the shots you play with your player will be executed with a better outcome. The thing to note here is that this batting coach doesn’t cost you for the first season, but before the second season begins, you will have to sign him up again using in-game credits.
Next up, we have ‘The Agent’. This character comes along once in a while, offering up a player for free or for a discounted price. For the first season, he comes to you with a free player, and most of the time, it if Shane Warne. You may receive a different player, and if you do, let us know who it was, in the comments section. Now, you do have the option to either accept the player or reject this offer. We accepted the offer as Shane Warne was a legendary player and the best in his craft. He is no longer with us, but by adding him as an active player in the game, it is a nice little homage.
Once these formalities are done, we are ready to go into the main game itself.
In-Game menu and Gameplay
The in-game menu is fairly simple. Front and center, we have the league table, where you can see the position of your team in the tournament. Next to the table, we have the sixes counter. This shows the number of sixes you have hit as a team. Next to that, we have the name of the captain and the current year (2024). Below that, we see the upcoming fixture.
We also have the ‘Manage’ button. Pressing this button allows you to do the following –
- Re-arrange the batting order of your team: If you are someone who likes to have a left-right opening pair, you can do so. You can even switch out players you do not want in the team. There are 12 players and 11 players who play the match, which means you have one extra player that you can use in certain games if you want to.
- Recall from retirement: One of the cool features of the SPL game is the ability to lure players out of retirement. Players like Andrew Flintoff, Brian Lara, and even the legend Sachin Tendulkar, are available, and these players cost less than your current roster of players. So, if you want a marquee players but also want to focus on your player’s growth, you can consider signing one of these older legends.
- Hire Coaches: The next section allows you to invest in coaches. In the first season, you have a free batting coach perk. However, once that contract runs out, you can reactivate the coach license for one more season or for all seasons. The cost will vary, so keep that in mind.
As we mentioned earlier, batting coach allows your player to become marquee level. Your shot timing will improve and as such, chasing down big totals will be easier. We also have the option to sign a bowling coach. The conditions are similar to the batting coach. The only difference is that the bowling coach will improve the overall bowling performance of your team. Simply put, you will have to chase down smaller targets.
- Player Auction: Much like the real-life IPL, there is a player auction in the SPL game, where you can sign your favourite players from the list of available marquee players. The auction is open as long as you have not started your season. Once you play a game, the auction is closed until the beginning of the next season.
Since you start your first season with zero credits, you will not be able to afford any players for the season, and will have to rely on your skills and the free star player. However, if you are someone who enjoys spending real money to buy in-game credits, you can buy some credits, and participate in the player auction.
- Trophy Cabinet: Here you will see your performance in each of the seasons that you play. If you are tired of playing for the current team, you can also tap the retire button to finish the season and start over with a new team.
You also have the option to purchase the in-game stick dollars in the Manage section, but that is totally up to you.
Once you have completed the navigation, you can start your first game. As mentioned earlier, you will only be doing the batting in this game, and yes, you can control the entire team if you wish. By default, your player will be opening the batting, but if you are someone who wishes to play your captain at a different role, you can do so using the option mentioned above.
The game goes something like this –
- You are given a target to chase down.
- You have 10 overs to accomplish this chase.
Each team will play 5 bowlers, each bowling 2 overs each. The game puts forward a host of bowlers to challenge you and stop you from chasing down the total. We have –
- Fast In-Swing Bowlers (Easy to target, but can throw you off guard at times)
- Fast Out-Swing Bowlers (Very Deceptive)
- Medium Pacers (Perfect Targets. Make the most of these bowlers)
- Fast Bowlers (They can bowl leg or off at random)
- Leg Spinners (Timing is key)
- Off Spinners (Timing is a big key!!)
The controls are very simple. You have two buttons, one to hit on the leg side, and one to the off side. All you need to do is correctly predict and time the direction you want to hit. If you time it perfectly, you hit it for a 6, slightly good timing is 4 runs, OK timing is either 3 runs or 2 runs. Poor timing will end up in a wicket. That’s all there is to it.
Now, every match award you with 10 stick dollars just for playing it. If you want to earn more, all you need to do is hit more sixes. That’s right – Each six you hit is equal to one stick dollar. This means, if you hit 16 sixes in the match, you get 10+16= 26 stick dollars. This makes it more of a challenge.
At the end of every season, you also get an investment from your team owner, which you can use to either hire coaches, or dip into the market for some big name players. If you have a balance, you can even do both.
You will play each team in the league once (This is the league stage). If you are in the top 4, you have a semi-final match, followed by a final. Keep in mind though, the target to chase down is usually the highest in a final game, so make sure you bring your A-game for the finals.
Closing thoughts
Stick Sports is a developer known for a great attention to detail, and immersive gameplay. Stick Premier League offers you a great way to enjoy some fast-paced mobile sports gameplay, and if you want to make it more fun, you can try to win every season without spending a single dollar on player signings.
You can also try winning the season with every playable team. Finally, if you are someone who loves spending on in-app purchases, you can even try out the make a team mode and guide you very own cricket franchise to greatness.
We hope that the developers show this game some love and give us the new updated teams, including Gujarat and Lucknow, but other than that, we absolutely love and enjoy this game, and you will too.
As we already mentioned, the game is free to play, and free to download as well for Android as well as iOS.
