The quick choice
All of these are Kairosoft games, so they share the pixel-art look, the season structure and the habit of running long. The differences that decide which one to buy are what you manage day to day, how a match or race plays out, and how the game is sold.
| Game | Sport | What you manage | How matches work | Price model (US stores, Sept 2026) | Platforms |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pocket League Story | Soccer | A club: squad, training, facilities, sponsors | Simulated; you set the lineup and watch | Paid app | iOS, Android |
| Pocket League Story 2 | Soccer | A club: tactics and formations set before the match | Simulated | Free, ads and in-app purchases (ad removal sold separately) | iOS, Android |
| Basketball Club Story | Basketball | A club: roster, training, town facilities | Simulated | Paid app | iOS, Android |
| Home Run High | Baseball | A high school team and its campus; practice drills | Simulated | Paid app | iOS, Android |
| Boxing Gym Story | Boxing | A gym: fighters, equipment, training | Simulated bouts you watch from ringside | Paid app | iOS, Android |
| Grand Prix Story | Motorsport | A racing team: cars, parts, drivers, sponsors | Simulated races | Paid app | iOS, Android |
| Grand Prix Story 2 | Motorsport | The same, with a newer car and parts system | Simulated (“sit back and watch”) | Free, ads and in-app purchases | iOS, Android |
Price models come from the US App Store and Google Play listings; prices themselves change, so check the store. Progress in these games is stored on the device.
Soccer: Pocket League Story and Pocket League Story 2
Pocket League Story is the one most people mean when they say Kairosoft soccer game. You run a club: recruit players, train them, build facilities around the ground, sign sponsors and work up through the divisions. Matches are simulated; your decisions happen before kickoff.
Pocket League Story 2 keeps the club and changes how it is sold. The first game is a paid app; the second is free with ads and in-app purchases, including a one-time ad removal. Its listing has you decide tactics and formations and take the team from a local league to international level.
Choose the first if you would rather pay once and see no ads. Choose the second if you want to try the format free first.
Basketball: Basketball Club Story
Basketball Club Story applies the same club-management structure to basketball: recruit and train a roster, build facilities in the town, and play through seasons. Games are simulated; the listing describes no in-game controls. It is a paid app with no in-app purchases listed.
Choose it if basketball is your sport or if you want a Kairosoft sports game where the town-building side is as visible as the team.
Baseball: Home Run High
Home Run High is baseball with a twist: you run a high school, and the baseball team is the point of it. You build classrooms and facilities, recruit students, assign practice drills, and try to reach the championship. Paid app.
Choose it if you like the idea of a management game where the team comes with a campus attached.
Boxing: Boxing Gym Story
Boxing Gym Story puts you in charge of a gym rather than a team. You recruit fighters, buy equipment, run training and send fighters into bouts you watch from ringside; the listing’s own line is that you never know how a match will go until the end. Paid app.
Choose it if you want one fighter at a time to care about rather than a squad.
Racing: Grand Prix Story
Grand Prix Story is Kairosoft’s racing team manager: develop cars and parts, hire drivers, sign sponsors and race through a season. Races are simulated. Both games are on the stores: the original is a paid app, Grand Prix Story 2 is free with ads and in-app purchases and its listing tells you to sit back and watch the cars race.
Choose it if you prefer engineering decisions to roster decisions.
Which one to start with
Start from the decision you enjoy making. If it is picking a lineup and watching a season unfold, Pocket League Story or Basketball Club Story. If it is building the place around the team, Home Run High. If it is one athlete’s career, Boxing Gym Story. If it is parts and development, Grand Prix Story.
All of them ask for attention while you play. Nothing progresses when the app is closed, and a season takes real sessions to finish. That is the trade for the depth.
If you want the business without the season
Our own Idle Sports Stadium Tycoon is not a Kairosoft game and does not play like one, so it is not in the table above. It is for a different kind of reader: someone who likes the idea of a sports business but does not want to run a season.
You own the venues, not the team. Buy customers for a stadium, automate it so it earns while the app is closed, and expand across 20+ sports, from football and basketball to cricket and Grand Prix racing, with new levels every week and weekly events. There are no lineups, no training and no simulated matches; venues are preset builds you upgrade rather than a team you develop. It is free with optional purchases and rewarded ads, where five of the Kairosoft games here are paid apps and the two sequels are free with ads and in-app purchases.
If you read the Kairosoft entries above and thought “I want the growth, not the management”, that is the fit. The stadium builder game page shows how it works.
