While most people will never get to experience being a general manager or owner of a professional sports team, over the last few years, millions have joined virtual games, called fantasy sports, to do just that.

In these fantasy sports leagues, players have the option to join an existing league or create their own. They can play with friends or strangers, and while many leagues cost a small fee to join, there are still many free options. Many leagues also offer cash prizes to the top finishers at the end of the season.

“In our fantasy football league there was a pot, and all 10 members paid $20 to join,” Brett Kennett, sophomore, said. “At the end, first place got $140, and second place got $60.”

Kennett added that he played with his friends and their dads, but many options still exist if aspiring players don’t know enough people to start a league on their own. There are thousands of leagues that are open for anybody to join and play with strangers, and many are free and still offer cash prizes.

The most popular sport for fantasy sports is professional football, but baseball, basketball, hockey and college football offer fantasy leagues too.

And while different websites may have different rules, most fantasy leagues follow the same layout. At the beginning of the season, there is a draft, where players can pick manually or have an automated system pick the best players for them based on statistics from the previous season.

“We chose our players manually, and the draft took about two and a half hours,” Kennett said. “Demarco Murray was my best draft pick, and I would say Matt Forte was my most disappointing.”

If a player is not happy with his team after the draft, he can trade players with other teams, add players that aren’t on a team, and drop players whom he doesn’t want anymore at any time throughout the season. He can also change his starting lineup whenever he pleases if he sees a bench player performing well and a starting player struggling.

Traditional fantasy sports are the most popular, but over the last few years, a new type of fantasy sports, called daily fantasy sports, has been growing. In daily fantasy sports, people can choose to buy players with real money for one day only, and based on that player’s performance that day, the person will receive a certain amount of money. However, because this type of fantasy sports is much more like gambling, it is only legal to play for those who are over 18 years of age.

While many are drawn to fantasy sports for the competitiveness and money-winning potential, for those who don’t win, the finish can be disappointing. “I hated losing the money at the end,” Kennett said. “It sucked.”