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Did you ever play a fun football board game?

Mar 17, 2021
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Experimenting with various sports board games I found that they were the most mind-numbing experiences. A person can play but slowly and with the wrong side of the brain like in Pizza Box or Foto-Electric.
I'm working on more mechanics for a football-themed game. However, for that reason I want to know what you think makes a sports board game fun. Anything is more fun than NFL Game Day.
I'm mainly interested in football game mechanics. Football is the theme I'm working with now: Omaha Blitz Football.
 
I always enjoyed the APBA pro football game as well as the ones put out by Sports Illustrated. The results were pretty close to the real sports and fun and easy to play. If I remember right, a game took about 45 minutes to play but I might be mistaken.
 
My cousin and I spent hours in the late 1950's and early 1960's playing the old Electric Football Game. Set up the players on your team plug it in, watch the Board vibrate, and hope your player got to where you wanted him. We had another game that was manual where you had a magnetic rod you could put under the Board to move your players and Defenders.
Most of us remember the old ping pong Lever basketball game that somebody posted above. I remember getting another basketball game for Christmas one year. It had a floor surface and you set up a backboard/scoreboard with a hoop attached on both ends. The backboard was covered with replicas of school pennants from a number of Colleges and Universities. You had two different basketball figures with arms and a lever in their back , there were Plastic basketballs you placed in their hands and you flicked the lever to get the ball to release toward the Basket. After a lot of trial and error you learned how to put the right amount of pressure on the lever to accurately shoot the ball from various distances.
 
IU rarely lost as a kid in the 70’s in Ping Pong basketball. Not sure who got that game from the parent’s house, but wasn’t me.

The Electric Football game was a bit of a drag, but loved the Caleco computer hand held football. Liked it better than the Mattel version. Not sure where that went either.

Loved All-Star Baseball with the individual player circle cards and SI’s College and NFL board games.
 
I remember playing a game in the 80’s called VCR quarterback. It had a playing field where you would draw cards from a deck, some would say stuff like 4 yard gain, but others told you to push play on the tape, and whatever the play was in the highlight was the yards you moved on the board. For its time it was fun. There is gameplay of it on YouTube
 
There is an older game called NFL Strategy. There are 30 or so offensive plays to choose from, maybe a dozen defensive. Each play puts the ball on the left or right hashmark or the middle of the field. So if the ball is in the left hashmark, a play left will probably be less successful but if the defense is selling out right, it could be more successful.

The offensive play card has a whole bunch of numbers on it, the defensive card is opaque with 5 clear areas. Each area has a percentage chance of happening. The most likely chance is 40%, the least likely 5%. The 5% might be a huge gain, or a fumble/interception.

What I liked is the players do not matter. In too many games, if you are playing a great team and I am playing a poor team, the game isn't very balanced. While real, this comes down to play calling and the bead you flip to determine the results.
 
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My cousin and I spent hours in the late 1950's and early 1960's playing the old Electric Football Game. Set up the players on your team plug it in, watch the Board vibrate, and hope your player got to where you wanted him. We had another game that was manual where you had a magnetic rod you could put under the Board to move your players and Defenders.
Most of us remember the old ping pong Lever basketball game that somebody posted above. I remember getting another basketball game for Christmas one year. It had a floor surface and you set up a backboard/scoreboard with a hoop attached on both ends. The backboard was covered with replicas of school pennants from a number of Colleges and Universities. You had two different basketball figures with arms and a lever in their back , there were Plastic basketballs you placed in their hands and you flicked the lever to get the ball to release toward the Basket. After a lot of trial and error you learned how to put the right amount of pressure on the lever to accurately shoot the ball from various distances.
I had that magnet game as well.
 
I also still have a game where the defense and offense select a play- screen pass, draw, end run, etc.
The play was a notebook size sheet of paper. You placed the two papers together and put a light bulb under them that showed the play develop.
 
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I have a Tudor Tru-Action Electric Football game in its original box. It was a Christmas or birthday gift to me many decades ago and hasn't been used for a long, long time. After I pass on, my two sons can flip coins to determine who gets to inherit it.
 
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I have a Tudor Tru-Action Electric Football game in its original box. It was a Christmas or birthday gift to me many decades ago and hasn't been used for a long, long time. After I pass on, my two sons can flip coins to determine who gets to inherit it.


pretty sure the saying, "a level playing field", originated with this game.
 
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Just out of curiosity, does anyone know what one of these old games from the 50's or 60's might be selling for assuming they are still out there and in decent shape. Or is this like our old baseball cards that we stored in boxes with rubber bands around cards for each team and placed in our bicycle spokes to make noise as we rode? Our Mothers threw them out when we went off to College, and we couldn't even put Mom on a guilt trip for throwing something out that had value?
 
I also still have a game where the defense and offense select a play- screen pass, draw, end run, etc.
The play was a notebook size sheet of paper. You placed the two papers together and put a light bulb under them that showed the play develop.
I played that game as well.....recently tried to look it up online, but don’t remember the name. Could you post the name??
 
Well,Internet is filled with similar sports games, but unfortunately, not all of them are popular. Suppose developers want to make a great game that will always remain in the heart of the person who plays in it. Then, they should think about writing a profound story that will attract the player in the game and make him think about this game even when he is not playing. For example, Dungeon and Dragons managed to do that. When they came on the market, they didn't even have any competitors to fight with, and they entered the market with a new product. Read more about that on https://dndguide.net/.
 
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we had this for basketball.


What? You guys too good for hockey?
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