Viability of a 20 player party game

In a word, no. Just consider the confluence of circumstances your game requires just to be played: a gathering of 20 people, all of them are up for playing a game, all of them want to play a game about football, none of them know you and therefore none are playing just to humor you, etc. I don't think I've ever been in a situation that could have met these criteria.

The only hope I could see would be that your game could be played at a Super Bowl party, but it would have to be quick and easy, as people are there to eat and watch the game (and the commercials!), not to play a game. Even then, you're still going to face the inertia of people not being interested in a game, and that's always going to be the rub.

Just my opinion, but I really think a game should probably be playable by 4-5 people if it is to have a hope of selling. I think that the largest "minimum" size a game can have would likely be 7-8.

What is the reason that the game needs to seat 20? Do the players represent football players, or teams in a league, etc? There must be ways to get the count down, but the route to achieving that would depend on the scope of the game.

Good luck,

Jeff

People do buy those 'werewolf' decks... I'm guessing he's probably right about commercial viability in America, but if the theme is as flexible as you suggest (or you're European to begin with and meant what we'd call soccer), I would'nt completely rule out a very small print run in Europe. A lot easier to get 20 interested people together there. Greater % of people interested in the hobby, greater population density, good public transportation... just remember that you're selling to a smal niche market, and for every game you sell, you're satisfying 20 customers in that market. Not that I suppose I should be encouraging you to do so, since I'm planning on completing my GDS entry targeting the same niche...though it should be able to play as few as 7 comfortably. Speaking of which, if I ever get a large enough group to do a proper test of mine, I'd be happy to do a blind-test exchange...after all, none of your friends have any reason to take it especially easy on my game, or vice versa. Let me know if you're interested.