If you’re looking for a new, addictive game/hobby, then you need to check out Sorare. With deals with more than 155 football clubs (with more being added every week) and nearly 500,000 users, Sorare combines your love of fantasy football with NFTs and blockchain.

The results? A highly-addictive experience that replicates the feeling of opening trading cards with the thrill of improving your team – and maybe even making some money.

So how does it work? Glad you asked.

Sorare allows users to collect player cards to create their own squad and then compete in game modes. Each team needs one midfielder, one attacker, one goalkeeper, one defender and one extra player (the extra player can be any position other than goalkeeper).

You assemble your team, and then hop in to the game modes. Every week you can play two game rounds, and your team needs to be tailored for the game mode. But here’s the catch: the points you score come from your team’s real-world performance.

So this is more than a set-it-and-forget-it simulator. Like fantasy football, you’ll need to monitor the news about teams and players to make sure you’re giving yourself the best chance to win. Luckily, Sorare makes this incredibly easy to do by going to SorareData.com. That site gives you access to player news and performance, as well as other games (so you can use your cards in different games).

You can sort data by player, and then get analysis for their last five, 15 or 40 matches. Everything is color coded and easy to read, so with a quick glance you can tell who is playing well, who is struggling and who might be worth starting (or benching).

So you want in, head over to Sorare.com and sign up. What happens next?

Firstly, you’ll create your account. Then you’ll be given some funds to draft players within your budget. These cards cannot be traded and aren’t stored on blockchain – so they’re ‘common’ and mostly worthless.

After the draft, you’ll have plenty of cards. While you can’t really use these cards to earn rewards, you can use them to play. If you’re content being mostly free-to-play, then you can jump in from there. But if you’re getting into Sorare to assert your dominance, you’re going to need to get into the marketplace.

The marketplace is where you’ll be buying and selling your cards. No earth-shattering information there, surely. In terms of a tier list, yellow/gold (limited) is at the bottom, then red (Rare), then blue (Super Rare), then black (Unique). Prices vary, but you’ll want to stay away from the Unique cards unless you’re willing to drop four digits.

So now you’ve purchased some players and set your lineup. What can you even win?

Depending on the league you select, you can win actual Ethereum and more player cards. If your squad scores more than 205 points, you’ll win 0.01 ETH. If you score 250 points, you’ll win 0.02 ETH. If your team places in the top 130 overall, you’ll earn an additional player card.

Sorare is in a really intriguing spot at the moment. The inclusion of the Limited card tier made the game much more accessible (because those cards are cheaper to purchase) for new users, but they’re also aggressively expanding into a worldwide market.

They’ve also got some powerful backers, including Antoine Griezmann and Gerard Pique.

You’ve got a number of different options if you’re looking at Sorare as less of a game and more of an investment opportunity, too. If you want to play the long game, you can purchase cards of players who don’t play much right now, but will in the future. Because those cards won’t score you any points, they also won’t cost you as much cash.

Or, you can go for the gold right out of the gates, purchasing the best players in the world and dominating the games. The world’s greatest players will more than likely retain their value, so you can always flip them later if you want.