A made-up sport, live around the clock

Scorchball TV is a sports channel for a sport that doesn't exist. Eight invented clubs play Scorchball, a five-a-side game a little like football mixed with hot potato, around the clock, and the channel shows it live in pixel art: the matches, the table, the studio, the ads, and an evening podcast. Tune in any time and something's on.

A live match on Scorchball TV: the Wrenhollow Stormcrows and the Lisle Vintners in the first half, the match stats beside the pitch and the day's results along the ticker. — A live match: the Wrenhollow Stormcrows against the Lisle Vintners.

Is Scorchball real?

No. The sport, the league, its clubs, players, places, and sponsors are all invented. Scorchball is five a side on a walled pitch, the ball kept in play off the boards. The twist is the heat: the ball warms up the longer one team holds it, and once it glows red they must shoot or lose it. A fast, hard shot is a scorcher; holding on too long is a burn. Two halves of 20 minutes, a golden goal in extra time, and a shootout if that fails.

FROM THE VAULT: last season's final replayed, a scorcher by J. Laity marked with rings of heat on the pitch. — A scorcher, from the vault.

The full-time card: Skarren Rime 8, Varenne Royale 8, every scorer listed and the scorchers marked. — Full time, every scorer and scorcher.

Is it really live?

Yes: one league for everyone, on one clock. A season is a week: fourteen rounds from Monday, the playoffs and the final on Sunday, then the draft. A live match starts about every 2h 40m, with replays, highlights, the studio desk, interviews, and the ads between them, and OFF THE BALL, the podcast, in the evenings.

The league remembers. Players are drafted, sign contracts, age, and retire; the CHRONICLE keeps every season's champions, records, and legends. Viewers vote in polls that nudge the league, and the Director proposes rule changes when the numbers drift.

The studio between matches: two presenters at the desk, the table on one side and the next match on the other. — The studio desk between matches.

OFF THE BALL, the evening podcast: two hosts in the booth talking about the title race. — OFF THE BALL, the evening podcast.

How does it work?

There is no game server. The league is a simulation that runs in your browser: every browser rebuilds the same league from a weekly snapshot and a daily key, so everyone watching sees the same match at the same moment. The keys come from a secret seed, published a day at a time, so nobody can run ahead and spoil the final. The simulation does its own maths so that every browser agrees to the last digit.

Is it made with AI?

Yes. Scorchball TV is a solo hobby project built with Claude Code, Anthropic's AI, which wrote every line of it: over 900 commits in October 2026. Plain JavaScript, a 2D canvas, no framework, and no build step. The pixel art is drawn by that code.

The commentators, the studio presenters, and the players are AI voices made ahead with ElevenLabs, about 11,000 clips; the people they voice are fictional. The crowd, the ball, the whistles, and the jingles are synthesized as you watch.

Can I play?

You watch, and you can nudge: viewers vote in polls that change the league, and Fan Coins earned by watching go on FAN BOARD. MOMENTS collects what you've seen, in your own browser.

Can I watch on my phone?

Yes, and you can add it to your home screen. It's at its best on a big screen, full screen: F11 in most browsers, or Ctrl+Cmd+F on a Mac.