Some info about the game:
Pregame:
Each player has a deck of cards for their team season ('87 Miami, 05 Texas, etc).
Each deck is made up of:
1 QB card
1 Special teams card (kicker, punter, kick ret, punt ret)
7 defense cards (1 key on inside run, 1 key on outside run, 2 key on short pass, 2 key on long pass, 1 base defense)
40 offensive play cards (10 run inside, 10 run outside, 10 short pass, 10 long pass)
There's a 10 yard long down marker, a place to keep track of the down, a scorecard, and team color-specific token to move up and down the field on offense.
There is a return and punting chart to use for special teams - I have mine so it stands up and is visible to both players.
So the home team kicks off (or flip a coin if you wan).
You look at your team's kick returner's average, then find it on the special teams chart. You then roll a 6-sided die:
roll a 4: return is his exact average
roll a 5 or 6: return is longer than avg
roll a 3 or 2: return is shorter than avg
roll a 1: return is a touchback (or fair catch, if a punt)
Offense takes possession where return man is down.
The offense picks which type of play it wants to run, but cannot see the play results on the card (one side says "long pass" and the data is on the other side.
The defense picks which play type it wants to key on and defend. Again, this needs tweaking.
If the offense picks a run play, it just turns the card over as the defense flips its card. The play result is the run card outcome (4 yard gain, etc) plus or minus the defensive card's influence (key on run will shorten the run, key on pass with lengthen the run). THe offense moves it's token x-number of yards, move the other marker to 2nd down.
If the offense picks a pass play, there is an extra step. Offense and defense flips their cards, then the offense must roll 2 die, both 10-sided, which creates a number from 0-99. Looking at the QB card, the roll may mean a complete pass, incomplete pass, or interception. The defense card may influence the completion %, interception %, or the yards gained.
So on a pass, you'll know that the incompletion you just threw was to x-receiver and would've gained X-yards. I like this, in that it's sort of like when watching a game, the QB's throw is in the air, and you see the potential gain if it's complete. Same with this game as you roll the 10-sided dice.
So anyway, you keep doing this until you need to punt, kick a FG, turn it over, or score a TD. A TD is scored anytime the play outcome crosses the goalline.
Punting is the clumsiest aspect of the game, where the kicking team checks the chart and rolls the 6-sided die (just like a kick return), then sees how far the punt went. and shows it with the game token on the field. Then the punt returning team does the same after checking their punt returner's average. If you played a game with the same team a few times, this would become much faster, though.
If the punt goes into the end zone, it's a touchback. If you roll a 1 as a returner, it's a fair catch. Your FG kicker has a card where 30-39 yds, his success % equals his real-life %. If it's a shorter kick, his % increases. For longer kicks, it decreases. The max FG attempt is 55 yds.
*note about short passes and long passes - I take the QB's completion % and add 10 for short passes and subtract 10 for long passes. That way, it doesn't make sense to spend all day throwing long passes.
64% comp = 54% long pass, 74% short pass
