Gakumas FAQ: Produce, Plans, Cards, Contest and Spark Answered
A quick roundup of the most common Gakumas questions. If you're brand new, read the Beginner Guide first; if you want to understand scoring, read Produce Mechanics. Below are standalone questions about plans, cards, contest and Spark — each answered briefly and strictly to verified mechanics, no invented numbers.
About Produce and Stats
Produce is the core loop: guide one idol through a multi-week season, raise the three stats — Vocal/Dance/Visual — then take exams to lock a rank. Stat caps by difficulty: Regular 1000, Pro 1500, Master 1800, Legend 3000. Final produce rank follows your total evaluation, which mostly comes from summed stats × factor 2.3 (2.1 on Legend) plus placement rewards.
About Plans
There are three plans: Sense (bursty, on Good Condition + Concentration), Logic (steady, on Good Impression + Motivation), Anomaly (the third plan, its own mechanics using abnormal statuses), plus shared Free cards. A plan is locked to the P-idol; you choose a plan by choosing a P-idol.
About Cards and Contest
Skill cards come in three types: Active (score), Mental (buff/recovery), Trouble (junk). Rarity N → R → SR → SSR, and many cards have a + upgraded version. Contest is asynchronous score-battling against other players' lineups (AI-simulated); contest power is the summed power of the cards and p-items in your lineup. The contest-sim tool adds up that power for you.
About Spark and Gacha
Gacha pulls P-idols and support cards, with SSR the rarest. Spark is pity: bank enough pulls and you exchange for a limited P-idol you want. The community cites a threshold of roughly 200 pulls, but the exact number, SSR rate and jewel cost need official verification and may vary per banner — check each banner's conditions before pulling.
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Frequently asked questions
Can I play Gakumas free-to-play?
Yes. The produce core rewards deck-building and scoring skill more than spending, and Spark guarantees a limited P-idol once you bank enough pity. We don't quote specific costs since jewel prices need official verification.
How much do I need for rank S / SS / SSS?
By total evaluation: S sits at 13,000, SS at 16,000, SSS at 20,000, S5 at 35,000. Use the produce-rank tool to turn a threshold into a concrete final-exam score for your difficulty and situation.
How does contest scoring work?
Contest is asynchronous score-battling against other lineups. Contest power is the summed power of the cards and p-items in your lineup; power varies by rarity and source (pIdol/support/produce). The contest-sim tool sums it to help you estimate.
Is there a P-idol tier list?
Yes — GameVika's P-idol tier list runs in two modes. Signature power ranks 108 SSR P-idols by the total power of their signature set (their own cards and P-items), computed with the actual contest formula, so anyone can recheck the number. Community rating ranks 59 P-idols by tier and star score voted by the Japanese community, with the source and update date stated on the page. Caveats: community ratings shift between versions, and signature power is a static figure that does not capture live play perfectly.
Is Anomaly strong — should I play it?
Anomaly is the third plan, with its own mechanics using abnormal statuses. Its detailed combos still need verification, so we won't claim it strong or weak. If you enjoy tinkering with unusual mechanics and have an Anomaly P-idol, build around that P-idol's recommended effect.
How many idols are in the game?
There are 14 base idols at Hatsuboshi Academy. Each idol has multiple P-idol versions across different plans, so the number of P-idols (the units you actually produce and pull) is much larger than 14.