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Pocket Sports - GridIron or American Football

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Wed, 02/11/2015 - 01:50
HPS74
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I'm hoping some Nth Americans can chime in here

Firstly - not being about to call the game NFL, which is more commonly used, or may be the better for appeal, Gridiron or American Football?

Without too much detail, I have 4 main positions that need a few words/ terms to reflect a typical 'play' that position would be receiving orr involved in.

WR - Hail Mary? Slant? Long pass.I need 3 terms
TE - Hook infield, Short pass....I need 4 terms
RB - Up the middle, Sweep? I need 5 terms

QB - I have Scramble (looking for pass options) and Option (where he runs himself)

Being Australian, I don't have a great knowledge of common/popular terms for plays or passes. I'd love some input if you know your football!

Thanks

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Wed, 02/11/2015 - 14:16
#1
JewellGames
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I think American Football works fine or "Pocket Pigskin" if you are looking for something catchy.

WR/TE run routes during an offensive play so this link may help: Passing Routes. On that page, scroll down past the diagrams and find terms that match the various yardage you want on the dice.

Here are some RB routes: Running Routes. In fact, that whole website may be beneficial if you poke around there.

Quarterbacks can "audible", which is a play called by the quarterback at the line of scrimmage to make a change from the play that was called in the huddle.

So, I am not sure how that would work with your planned gameplay mechanics but you could allow each player to make one audible per game and manually set an offense die to what they want.

Anyway, if you need me to look over the rules and terms or tune the gameplay before you send it out, let me know. I am a big fan of (American) football.

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Wed, 02/11/2015 - 03:14
#2
JewellGames
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*

*

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Wed, 02/11/2015 - 03:17
#3
JewellGames
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[triple post from posting lag]

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Wed, 02/11/2015 - 19:57
#4
HPS74
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Gold! - but pass on 'Pigskin'

That's what I've been looking for! Thanks for the link.

Our games are quite simple mechanics wise. A central die roll leads to another die roll etc. I may add some counters for team representation and some in game variables (like a decoy runner, blocker for QB).Not sure if the audible play would work but it's something else to consider.

None of our titles use/need a board or any other components. Simply dice with words create a narrative and people playing the games naturally feel themselves calling the commentary.

That being said, Baseball, one of new games is the first to introduce counters and a PDF scoresheet/diamond....so I guess I can't help myself!

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Wed, 02/11/2015 - 20:43
#5
IcePeddlerGames
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Personally, I like Gridiron

Personally, I like Gridiron more than American Football. However, I am from the USA and we naturally equate gridiron to American Football.

Just an idea you might also want to consider "Arena Football", which is a generic term for the Arena Football League. It is a more offensive minded variant of American Football.

Here is the wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arena_football

JewellGames nailed the second part of your question.

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Wed, 02/11/2015 - 21:34
#6
HPS74
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That's the thing with

That's the thing with 'football'

We have 4 football codes here. Aussie Rules, Rugby League, Rugby Union and Soccer. So popularity is spread out over all 4.

If you say you play football in Australia, I'd really have to ask which one. I'm leaning towards Gridiron....I think Arena Football would have people asking why we didn't do normal...football.

All great feedback though. Thankyou for taking the time!

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Wed, 02/11/2015 - 23:37
#7
Stajin Imaizumi
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Joined: 01/30/2015
The Line of Scrimmage

Growing up as an American football fan and having played for several years I'd like to introduce you to a few expressions to hopefully persuade you to ditch 'Gridiron' as a name for your game. The term gridiron hearkens to the game Vince Lombardi coached. Moreover, I played in the 80's and my generation never really referred to it as 'the gridiron'. It's antiquated.

Very often the coaches pounded into our heads 'It's a game of inches!'

The short yardage lines used on the fields are referred to as 'Hash Marks'.

'First and Ten' is a very common expression.
'First and Goal' means you have a great chance of scoring.
'Special Teams' have a very important role to play.
In scrimmages, practice games, sometimes we would play other teams without the big bodies and only use the 'Backfield and Receivers'.

'The Line of Scrimmage' is the place where each play starts. All of the players off of the line of scrimmage including the quarterback are referred to as 'The Backfield'.

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Thu, 02/12/2015 - 19:06
#8
HPS74
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Awesome input!

I've heard most of those terms and that's a good reference about your thoughts on 'Gridiron'

Our Pocket Sports games only use dice. With no field or board, I'm eliminating (don't hate me now) the whole 10 yard gain requirement for a first down, as this takes out the need for marking the line of scrimmage (nice..I used the right term!) Think of it as a highlights reel of the tasty plays that you might see in a weekly round-up.

When you/your team is in possession and making a drive, you'll have 4 attempts to represent 4 downs. You'll either score or not. Either way, your opponent then has 4 plays/downs to do the same as many times as each quarter time clock allows.

In a nutshell, each offensive position (WR,TE,RB,QB) has varying faces on their dice with a term (pass or run) and a number (Slant 6). The defender has to roll and meet this number to force the play to be incomplete, fumbled or turned over.

There's a lot involved in American Football, I realise that. A kind post on the BGG suggested I should do more research and perhaps stay with games in my own country/backyard! I'll take that as an honest assessment about trying to make a football game with so many nuances and varied opinions fans of the game.

I'm feeling confident that keeping with our style of games (fast, fun dice mini sims), we can scratch an itch with a 15-20min game.

Anyone interested in trying it out?

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Thu, 02/12/2015 - 22:38
#9
Stajin Imaizumi
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Joined: 01/30/2015
Play test

Yeah. I'm up for a play test. More over, I meet regularly with a group of about 8 and we play a wide variety of games. Moreover, four of the group are American/Canadian football fans. You wouldn't even have to send us any dice. We have a supply of blanks and can make our own. Just send me the rules and I will get them to play it for you.

Stajin Imaizumi.

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Thu, 02/12/2015 - 23:10
#10
HPS74
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Cool

Sounds good - the dice haven't been made yet, so it'll be a table thingy you can use a D6 six with.

I should make it clear, it is a light dice rolling game. I make special mention for each game I post here because inevitably someone bangs on about lacks of strategy etc. So letting everyone know helps them to decide if it's the type of game they'd enjoy playtesting.

It would be good if you checked out our website and other games so you know what you'll be getting into :)

I do appreciate the kind gesture of rolling a few games though. Thank you. I'll post the basics here soon.

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