Sides — even teams, straight into the group chat

Who it's for

The one person who runs a pickup group.

The Tuesday shinny. The Thursday beer league. The Sunday skate. Just you, a group chat, and a recurring headache: who's in, who's out, which team, what color, who paid. You already do all of this by hand. Sides does the busywork; you keep the judgment.

And your crew doesn't have to split into two sides. Run a single team the same way — the beer-league squad that faces someone else on Thursday. Same roster, same spare hunt, same dues, same "who's in?" — pick your format when you create the group, and the team-splitting stays out of your way.

The promise

Nobody in your group downloads anything. Not tonight, not ever.

Every feature has to work as a plain text on any phone before it ships. That's why your players never tap, rate, sign up, or install a single thing.

What it does

The whole Tuesday-night headache, in one app.

Team builder

Even teams, your way

Keep last week's sides and fill just the holes, shuffle a fresh deal, or start from the night that played best. Then tap any spot and change it — the teams are never locked, and the app never redraws them under you. No skill forms. Nobody rates themselves.

Spare hunt

Fill the gap without DMing one at a time

Short a defenseman? Sides ranks your spares by who actually fills the hole. Pick a few, or blast the whole D-capable list, first-yes-wins. It even surfaces your Thursday guys as Tuesday spares.

Still waiting on

Let the group do the chasing

Post the ghosts into the thread and let the pile-on work. A league app can only send Dave a notification he swipes away. Sides makes the whole group ask him.

Schedule

The season, into everyone's calendar

Set the pattern — every Tuesday, 9pm, Rink 2 — trim the holidays, send it once. Every phone, iPhone or Android, offers "Add to Calendar." No app required to read it.

Dues

Track who owes — chase it privately

Sides remembers who's paid and drafts the private, one-to-one reminder — never a callout in the group chat. Money moves the way it already does; Sides just keeps the ledger.

Score & season

Game tracking — only if you want it

Log the score in two taps and Sides drafts the recap for the thread. Score a few nights and a season board grows out of them — wins, games played, bragging rights. Never log one and nothing nags; the board never posts itself, either. Sharing standings is always your tap.

In the thread

Runs right under your thumbs — in any chat app

On iPhone, Sides shows up where you're already typing. In iMessage it rides in the app drawer; everywhere else — WhatsApp, or wherever your crew talks — the Sides keyboard puts the same panel under the compose field. Tonight's roll call, one tap staging "who's in?" or the lineup into the message, without ever leaving the thread. Nothing sends until you send it.

Every output

Plain, editable text

Every lineup, notice, ask, and reminder is text you send. Sides writes the message; you tweak the tone and tap send in your own thread. You're always the one talking to your crew.

Tuesday 9pm. 12 in, need 2. Still waiting on: Dave, Mike, Steve.

The sharpest thing a destination app can't do — because Sides never left the chat.

Tonight screen — the roll call: who's in, who's waiting, full sides — Mark who's in.

Team builder — White and Dark columns, an open defence spot waiting — Even sides in one tap.

The message — tonight's lineup as plain editable text — One text. They just read it.

Find a spare — ranked by who fills the hole, asked one at a time — Spares — asked one at a time.

The Sides drawer inside a Messages thread — the roll call without leaving the chat — In the thread — iMessage or any chat app.

The night's game scored 2–0 — who played, and the season tab — Log the score, send the recap.

What it is

Sides is the roster brain for the person who runs the game.

You build the teams, chase the spares, and track who owes — then the app hands you a plain text to drop in the chat. Your crew never installs anything, never makes an account, never learns the app exists. They just get a message, like they always have.

Today you have two options: a note on your phone and twenty back-and-forth texts, or a league app all twenty guys have to sign up for. Sides is the middle you actually wanted — organized like the league app, invisible like the group chat.

The wedge

Your group does nothing.

Every other team app is a destination: everyone installs it, everyone makes an account, everyone has to keep showing up inside it. That works for a league with a budget and an admin who can make people join. It falls apart for a volunteer with a group chat — half the crew never signs up, and now you're running two systems.

No rollout. No "hey everyone, download this" moment. The app works at full strength on night one, with a group that has no idea it exists.
You buy it for yourself — like a better wrench. You need nobody's buy-in, and you can't look daft if half of them ignore it.
It can't rot. Nothing to decay, no half-adopted RSVP list to babysit. Correctness depends on one person: you.

Your crew keeps talking where they already talk — iMessage, WhatsApp, green bubbles, whatever. Sides only ever writes into that conversation. It never moves it, hosts it, or reads it.

Two balanced sides. Nobody downloads a thing.