Tabletop sports game appreciation

[winters in buffalo]

On 1/23/2016 at 10:14 PM, Sodboy13 said:

This exact version is somewhere in my parents' basement, with the Kansas City Kings and San Diego Clippers among those logos on the front. My friends and I would play that for hours on end.

A few years later, they came out with an updated version that had Michael Jordan on the box. Those back shooting spots were circled in red to signify they were 3-pointers, and the hoops were made out of rigid plastic, instead of a thin, foldable sheet. Fantastic game.

 

I always loved the "dated" versions of those games. I had a tabletop hockey game from the early 80s that caught the brief period of time where the Colorado Rockies and Calgary Flames were both logos on the side. It came with the Islanders and Flyers as the previous Stanley Cup participants. 

 

[Discrim]

IIRC my rod hockey game was Isles-Flyers too, I think the Rockies logo was there but I'm not 100% sure.

Figure I'll post another of my forays into print & play football while I'm at it.  I'm thinking about pre-playing the Super Bowl...just not yet.  The other day, I decided to go with something of a dream matchup: the 1990 Eagles @ the 2004 Falcons.  Cunningham vs Vick, in other words. 

Far as the game of choice, this time out I went with Coach's Call Football (another Soren Narnia game), which has two basic schticks: first, like Heroes & Rallies, the ability to rate each team's players; second, aside from the first few rolls of the game, you'll only need to roll the dice once per play.  Anyways, on to the highlights:

The Falcons started this one off fast, as Allen Rossum took the opening kickoff from the 4 to the Eagles' 11, and then Warrick Dunn ran it in on the first play from scrimmage.  After forcing the Eagles to punt, Atlanta started the next drive from their own 41, and drove down to the Eagle 1, where Vick snuck in for the second TD to make it 14-0 Falcons.

Atlanta's next drive kickstarted something of a comedy of errors...after making it to the Eagles 32, the Falcons got pushed back to the 37, where the drive stalled, and figuring it was too early for a long field goal, Atlanta elected to punt, but Chris Mohr bobbled the snap and had to fall on the ball to prevent what might have been a huge Philly return, though it was now the Eagles in prime field position at the Falcon 48.  A 26-yard pass to Calvin Williams was the highlight of the drive, which stalled out at the 21, so the Eagles trotted out Roger Ruzek for the field goal...which was blocked, and the Falcons took over at the 29.  Atlanta didn't have the ball for very long, however, as after reaching the 39 on a keeper, Vick coughed it up, with some guy who's now a radio host falling on it.  This time, the Eagles were able to cash in, with Cunningham connecting with Keith Byars for their first score.

The ball security issues flared up again after that, however, as Justin Griffith had a good news/bad news run...the good news: he'd rumbled for 30 yards.  The bad news: he managed to cough the ball up, with the Eagles recovering.  Somewhat fittingly, Cunningham was picked off by Keith Brooking...who almost negated the INT by fumbling almost immediately, though he managed to fall on it.  Vick wasn't so lucky, as he wound up fumbling again, and the Eagles managed to reach their 39 on the recovery, and then tied it on a ten play drive that started with a 7 yard run from Heath Sherman and ended with Sherman punching it in from two yards out, which would be the last score of the half.

The third quarter was largely  defensive struggle, as the Falcons only managed a field goal.  There was one highlight, though: Eagles returner Marvin Hargrove returned a punt 65 yards before being brought down at the Falcons 8.  A few plays later, Byars had his second touchdown grab to put the Iggles ahead 20-17, but the extra point was blocked, and though I didn't know it at the time, this would be Philly's only lead.

Early in the fourth quarter, Mohr made up for his earlier fumble with a great punt that pinned the Eagles at their own 2, and then the bottom fell out for Cunningham and company, as Sherman bobbled a handoff, which an Atlanta player quickly walked into the endzone with, giving the lead back to the Falcons.  The next Eagle drive started in a more favorable spot, the 30 yard line, but didn't last much longer, as a third down pass was intercepted by DeAngelo Hall, whose return to the Eagle 22 set up another touchdown, which made the score 31-20 Falcons.  The Eagles' generosity wasn't exhausted just yet, as a long haul by Keith Jackson was nullified when a Falcons player managed to strip him at their 38, and the loose ball was picked up by a Falcon and returned to the Eagle 47.  About the only thing to go wrong for Atlanta in this stretch was when Dez White was injured after making a diving catch for 15 yards.  Atlanta was able to punch it in for six again, and it was 38-20 at this point.  The Eagles attempted a furious comeback, but their butter fingers had ultimately doomed their chances at victory, it was simply too late in the game and Atlanta had made them pay dearly for their mistakes, as a touchdown drive featuring several long passes and capped off by a Cunningham bootleg were ultimately too little, too late.  The onside kick was recovered by the Falcons, and that was all she wrote, Atlanta 38, Philadelphia 26.

 

It's ironic...or maybe it's not.  Football is my favorite sport, but as far as board games where you simulate every play, there are honestly very few I've played that I don't hate some aspect of, and sadly, few I can honestly say I can actually stomach playing a full game, let alone say I enjoyed.  I loved Vince Lombardi's game, I wish I knew as a kid what I know now about electric football, and I can honestly say that while Coach's Call may not be the game I've dreamt of, it is the most pleasurable play I've had since the last time I played Lombardi.  I could never get Strat-o-Matic or Statis Pro truly figured out, never really gave Paydirt a fair shake, I think APBA football is a joke, and then there's Pizza Box, which I have something of a love-hate relationship with.  PB has some good ideas...and also a few notable problems: calling defenses tends to be somewhat of a joke, as there's the distinct possibility that there'll be absolutely no effect on the offense, even if you guess right.  By that token, if the offense has the advantage, in most other games they can burn the defense, sometimes badly.  Pizza Box?  Yeah...probably not gonna happen.  And yet, every now and then, I attempt to play it, still.

[Discrim]

And now, a moment no one's been waiting for the Discrim Super Bowl pre-play I (Heroes & Rallies), where the first half was a defensive struggle, and the Panthers pulled away in the third quarter.  Carolina 24, Denver 12 the final.  Some days, you don't have to break out the rare play chart at all, but today I think I saw more of it than the field goal chart: in the second quarter, Carolina broke out the ol' halfback option, with Jonathan Stewart connecting with Greg Olsen for 42 yds, and later in the game, the Broncos were able to pull off a flea flicker.  There were a lot of fumbles and picks more than anything though, thus a number of missed opportunities on both sides.

[FiddySicks]

There's a pretty solid documentary about electric football that ESPN put out about a year ago.

 

 It's Not Crazy, It's Sports: The Subterranean Stadium

[CS85]

This sucked, but as a kid I loved it because I just ripped off the TMNT characters and played with them once I lost all the other pieces.

 

 

[Yac12]

Besides the basketball game with the holes in the floor, I had a Monday Night Football game. This game had mini records that you played in the record player they gave you. The offensive player picked a play and put the record into the player. The defensive player rotated the record to the defensive play, then the record was push down into the player. You would then listen to the play and more the football on the board accordingly. 

The endzones were blank, so I drew team ones on green construction paper. 

YouTube has some videos of this game. 

[Discrim]

An interesting find I've come across recently...essentially, someone has decided to answer a question I never thought to ask: what would happen if you turned Tecmo Super Bowl (with a dash of NFL Blitz) into a board game?  No, really!  If nothing else, they've cornered the market on punny names, many likely easily guessed as to who their RL counterpart is (Tom Baby, Rock Knockowski, Clint Portly, Perry Freezer, Joey Mean, Roy Gonnamaulu, Ed Lazy, Rodger Dodgers, Vic Mexico, Quentin Bartholomew Eagles), some guys a bit more esoterically named (J.J. Joule, Randy Lichen, Andrew Zephyr, Mack Two, Mack Koi, Al Stop, Julian Salts, Chad Sesentayseis).

[neo_prankster]

15 hours ago, Discrimihater said:

An interesting find I've come across recently...essentially, someone has decided to answer a question I never thought to ask: what would happen if you turned Tecmo Super Bowl (with a dash of NFL Blitz) into a board game?  No, really!  If nothing else, they've cornered the market on punny names, many likely easily guessed as to who their RL counterpart is (Tom Baby, Rock Knockowski, Clint Portly, Perry Freezer, Joey Mean, Roy Gonnamaulu, Ed Lazy, Rodger Dodgers, Vic Mexico, Quentin Bartholomew Eagles), some guys a bit more esoterically named (J.J. Joule, Randy Lichen, Andrew Zephyr, Mack Two, Mack Koi, Al Stop, Julian Salts, Chad Sesentayseis).

This has got to be the biggest development in years. Was this project crowd funded?

[Discrim]

IIRC the maker's running into a few problems, pricing being a notable one.  Last I'd read, it sounded like including all 32 teams was gonna cost somewhere in the $70-80 neighborhood.  IIRC they were aiming for releasing at some point during the fall...my attention's mostly been elsewhere, so as I said I haven't really checked up on it in a while.

 

Had something of an adventure in gaming the other day, taking on a Soren Narnia offering I hadn't previously in Nailbiter Football.  Decided on a semi-replay, 93 Oilers @ 93 Bills, which had been a beatdown in favor of Buffalo IRL, but would be an "even" matchup given both teams finished 12-4.  I figure most football games have some sort of playcalling method for solitaire play nowadays...I think Strat has one, can't remember if Statis Pro had one or not, Vince Lombardi's Game had the first "ghost coach" I felt I was able to comprehend.  Anyway, to explain Nailbiter's gameplay, imagine a tabletop variant of Madden's Super Sim, except it switches to running plays at key junctures in the possession, then switches back at changes of possession and first downs, with a few exceptions.  And each play has a "pitch count" of sorts, after which you have to roll twice and use the worse result, so leaning too hard on one play will bite you in the ass if you let it.

Anyway, I called the plays for the Oilers while the ghost coach made his best Marv Levy impersonation...and I ended up on the business end of a 60-23 beatdown.  All I can say is the dice really fell in love with Buffalo that afternoon...that, and unlike the real Oilers, I managed to put some points on the board.  Made me reminiscent of one game in my old Raiders franchise in Madden 10, when I suffered a curbstomping at the hands of the Jaguars in Oakland (though I returned the favor in the playoffs, with interest and in Jax, no less).

You might think "60-23?  How the hell is that an even matchup?"  Hey, stuff happens.  I'm gonna give it another go later.

 

[neo_prankster]

21 hours ago, Discrimihater said:

IIRC the maker's running into a few problems, pricing being a notable one.  Last I'd read, it sounded like including all 32 teams was gonna cost somewhere in the $70-80 neighborhood.  IIRC they were aiming for releasing at some point during the fall...my attention's mostly been elsewhere, so as I said I haven't really checked up on it in a while.

 

Had something of an adventure in gaming the other day, taking on a Soren Narnia offering I hadn't previously in Nailbiter Football.  Decided on a semi-replay, 93 Oilers @ 93 Bills, which had been a beatdown in favor of Buffalo IRL, but would be an "even" matchup given both teams finished 12-4.  I figure most football games have some sort of playcalling method for solitaire play nowadays...I think Strat has one, can't remember if Statis Pro had one or not, Vince Lombardi's Game had the first "ghost coach" I felt I was able to comprehend.  Anyway, to explain Nailbiter's gameplay, imagine a tabletop variant of Madden's Super Sim, except it switches to running plays at key junctures in the possession, then switches back at changes of possession and first downs, with a few exceptions.  And each play has a "pitch count" of sorts, after which you have to roll twice and use the worse result, so leaning too hard on one play will bite you in the ass if you let it.

Anyway, I called the plays for the Oilers while the ghost coach made his best Marv Levy impersonation...and I ended up on the business end of a 60-23 beatdown.  All I can say is the dice really fell in love with Buffalo that afternoon...that, and unlike the real Oilers, I managed to put some points on the board.  Made me reminiscent of one game in my old Raiders franchise in Madden 10, when I suffered a curbstomping at the hands of the Jaguars in Oakland (though I returned the favor in the playoffs, with interest and in Jax, no less).

You might think "60-23?  How the hell is that an even matchup?"  Hey, stuff happens.  I'm gonna give it another go later.

 

 

Nailbiter Football? Where can I find that?

[Discrim]

Right here...first link, can't miss it.  Setup's real simple, all you need is records (in this way, I'd call it Paydirt Lite, in the category of Differentiation between teams but not athletes).

 

On a related note, those endzone sigs got me thinking about a little side project I work on occasionally...while screwing around with Boardgame Geek, I stumbled upon a game called All-Pro Football, and decided to make a field...and then a few more...and then a Canadian version...and then an Arena version.  I hadn't really given much thought to posting any of em here (or anywhere), but I think I will soon.

[greyraven8]

Grandmother got me a game like this a long time ago. 

Kind of wish I had kept it now.

 

 

 

[ElwoodCuse]

Cadaco All Star Baseball (with the spinners) was awesome. I had my dad's game from the 60s and also the one they made in the late 80s.

[Discrim]

For anybody who liked MLB Showdown, a few years back, you might have heard about what wound up as an aborted rebirth as MLB Clutch.  Well, they've decided there were too many hoops to jump through for an MLB license, so they'll be releasing it as Clutch Baseball, and are aiming for a spring release.

Clutch Baseball - Trading Card Game - Clutch Moments Happen Here

[Discrim]

...And for anyone whose interest was piqued by Techno Bowl, I have good news: a second stab at crowdfunding was successful, and...well, the designer said this at BGG on the 4th:

Quote

Quote

Also, what are we looking at for the date of arrival? Mayish? Maybe April? I can wait, but I would like to know.

 

The physical sample/proof copy of the game should be shipping out tomorrow from China. After receiving it, there will be several independent and then group reviews of the product. Assuming there are only a couple of small corrections to be made, we should be able to begin manufacturing almost immediately after that. If that happens, we should be on track for late March/early April. Any delay in that portion of the process and it will be more like mid-April/early May. I'm hoping for the former, but this isn't a portion to rush through.

???????????????

If you're wondering how this "board-game-version-of-Tecmo-Bowl" thing's supposed to work, and are too lazy to scroll up, go here.   There's a how-to video, and if you have a BGG account, you can download a few freebies, including a draft of the rules, two teams and a few fan-made items.  I've read over the rules a few times, and I gotta say...I REALLY like what I see.  And I haven't even played it.  Using jersey numbers as ratings is a sneaky-good idea, and you actually have to think about who moves on a given play, especially because the offense isn't guaranteed the first move.  Hell, they threw in a piece of NFL Fever (when passing, in addition to being able to throw to a receiver, you can also throw to a spot and hope you can get your man there before an opponent can).  There are even missed tackles?...just about the only thing you can't do is punt (because there are only four downs to score....the tagline is, after all, Arcade Football Unplugged)

[Seadragon76]

I had an old game that was based on March Madness... it was a simulation style game where you rolled multiple dies to score the game.

 

I wonder if I can find it on Google...

[Discrim]

Sounds like this soccer game I read about a few times...you rolled different dice, depending on how strong each team is (dice used in an Arsenal-Man United match will yield a closer match than Liverpool-Stoke, for example)

 

Anyways, got to playing one of the print & play baseball offerings yesterday and today.  The funny thing was yesterday, I went with two great teams (82 Brewers vs 69 Mets), and today I went the opposite direction (2003 Tigers vs 62 Mets)...and despite rather disparate starting points and journeys, I wound up with the same score in both sittings: 7-3 Mets

Admittedly, since I didn't have detailed rosters handy yesterday (given that this is another one where you rate the players before rolling any dice...my best short explanation is that players can have exceptional (or exceptionally bad) hitting, power, speed or fielding (pitchers can be aces/closers, average, or scrubs), and team standings determine how many of the good traits you can afford, as well as how many crappy traits you have to assign), I probably butchered both Milwaukee and 69 NYM to various degrees, notably handedness...like I said though, the journeys to 7-3 Mets wins were notably different from one another.  About the only similarities they shared besides the score were that the Mets' bats were able to get to the opposing SP relatively early, and the Mets starter (Seaver for the 69 crew, Roger Craig for the 62's) made it to the 9th.

Not gonna bore you with the boxscores, I'm just gonna give summaries: in the first game, the Brewers actually struck first, and took a 2-0 lead in the 2nd inning.  By the end of the 3rd, though, the Mets had tied things up.  A pair of Gorman Thomas errors, as well as Robin Yount going 0-4 and committing an error himself, paired with the Brew having to turn to the bullpen in the 5th were what largely doomed the Ball & Glove boys, as after a rough second inning, Tom Seaver only allowed one more run as he was able to finish what he'd started, with special mention to the 9th inning, better known as the Ed Kranepool Show...seriously, all three outs were hit his way, the man was practically standing on his head.  One of the Mets' few lowlights was when I'd decided to send one of their slowpokes (who may have been Kranepool) home instead of holding him at third, which ended up in him being beaten by the throw home.

In the Bad-tle between the '03 Tigers and '62 Mets, I guess I caught Marvelous Marv and co. on a good day, as they had two big innings: 4 runs in the first, and then 3 in the fourth, and never looked back, even as Detroit's pitching settled down.  Errors and poor defense didn't play as large of a role as they had in the Milwaukee game, but there were a few balls that Tigers SS Ramon Santiago couldn't get to, IIRC at least one of which led to a Mets run.  Dmitri Young and Craig Monroe each homered off of Craig, though both were basically too little, too late.  Even though Monroe's blast ended Craig's day in the top of the 9th, the Tigers couldn't do anything else.  Hey, even the '62 Mets had some good days.

[Discrim]

For anyone who was wondering about it, the full version of Techno Bowl came out at the end of July.  (The main reason I'm just posting about this now is back at the end of July and most of August, I was dealing with a family health issue, and I'll leave it at that.)

Reviews, from what I've seen, have been of the rave variety.  And I know one thing...if this wasn't alerady something I wanted to play, the addition of the Oilers Coilers would do the trick.  I'm just gonna say one thing: look the out electric football, you have a new rival!

[RichO]

On 1/14/2017 at 7:22 AM, Seadragon76 said:

I had an old game that was based on March Madness... it was a simulation style game where you rolled multiple dies to score the game.

 

I wonder if I can find it on Google...

 

Was this the one? March Madness by Avalon Hill

 

I had this.

 

A good chunk of paper route money went to various Avalon Hill sports games. Statis Pro Baseball, Superstar Baseball, Statis Pro Basketball, and Bowl Bound.

[leopard88]

I spent many days playing Statis Pro Baseball back in the early 80s.

 

It always felt like an added bonus that it was a local Baltimore company.