About

 

Strategy + Simulation for a realistic and fun table top gaming experience.

The tag line above is my goal for each of the games I create which for now is limited to football and hockey.

Hockey - Growing up in Canada may make one think that hockey is embedded in our DNA. It certainly is for me, but my skating skills, or lack of per Canadian standards kept me playing at anything more than house hockey. That did not take away my enjoyment of what I believe hockey is and led me to wanting to figure out a way to incorporate that feel of the flow and essence into a board game. 

Another of the oddities to incorporate with hockey is that speed and constant changing of lines which is a crucial part to a game. I wanted this to be part of my 49 game, and I settled on the Team Chart approach, although individual player cards are also available for all of my seasons. The Team Chart allows you to set up and start a game in a couple of minutes because the Team is already to go and switching lines is as simple as moving a token to the next line. For those have some basic Excel skills, such as copy and paste, I provide an Excel sheet so you can make lineup changes.

One of my projects is playing through each of the 1974-75 Vancouver Canucks games on the same day (or as close as possible) in 2024-25. I'm using as played lineups using the box score's from hockey-reference, and doing my best to create line combinations for both teams. I will sit and create the next 3-4 games at one time and have them printed and ready for when I want to play a game. This has been a ton of fun as I do remember watching some of those Canucks games on TV and the day of the week is the same 50 years later. One in particular was a January 1st game where the Flyers played in Vancouver. This was a central part of our families January 1st celebration that year which included a turkey and the trimmings. In the real game Bernie Parent stole the show for the Flyers as he turned aside everything the Canucks could throw at him. I can still hear my Mom's excitement throughout the game as she sat on the edge of her seat. Gary Smith was almost the equal for the Canucks, just giving up 1 goal, but an empty netter that day sealed the deal. In my replay, it was fun reliving that experience, memories of us all sitting around watching the game, hearing Jim Robson describe the action. My game ended up 3-1 for the Flyers, just one game that has made this project special. 

Football -Forty Nine Football was originally designed to play your favorite team through the current season. This quickly progressed into a game that makes replaying any season a lot of fun due to its statistical accuracy, and each game playing like a real football game with many of the coaching decisions needed to be successful. I have played through multiple seasons playing my favorite teams in the CFL and NFL and I'm very happy with the results.

One thing you will find is all of the player and team ratings come from statistics, opposed to subjective ratings. This does make it a challenge with older seasons where statistical data is not as available.

 

If you own Forty Nine Football, all of the new seasons will still work perfectly with your original game. But, it is being rebranded into two games, Quick Decks Football, and On The Turf Football. Quick Decks is a perfect standalone quick play game where you play through all the plays in a game with realistic stats. On The Turf Football brings in Defensive play calling, and special plays for both Offense and Defense. This is a much more immersive game, but you can still play in just over an hour and a half.

There are two options when purchasing;
49 QUICK DECKS FOOTBALL
This is the most basic version and one you can play right away. No need for spreadsheets, all you need are two team charts, the two Quick Decks (Game Action and Results), and a way of tracking the game (which is all included). I designed Quick Decks Football as an easier way to learn On The Turf Football, and this does work really well. It also became evident during play testing that Quick Decks is a perfect standalone game. Even in it's basic format, this game gives truly realistic results and is a fun tabletop experience. On averge games take just over an hour to complete.

https://youtu.be/BawiUwyfZ3c

49 ON THE TURF FOOTBALL
- Includes the two Quick Decks which makes learning the Standard game much easier. This is also a great quick play option that does not require access to a spreadsheet. Or, switching to Quick Decks during a blowout requires to just simply switch to the Quick Decks Game Action and Results cards.

Basic Quick Play Game.
This version "does" require access to a spreadsheet in order to create the Basic Quick Play Chart. ***Note, if you do not have access to Excel, or are not proficient at it, simply email Grant (grant.fines@icloud.com) and he will generate the Quick Play Charts for each game you are playing.
In the Basic game, you, or the Solitaire charts call the Offensive plays. These are then modified by the results of a D20 roll and comparing it to the Basic Quick Play Chart. Each chart is specific to the game you are playing because it combines the overall stats for both teams.  Statistical results from multiple season replays are very good and best of all, each game plays out like a real game and they take just over an hour to play.

Standard Game.
The biggest addition with the Standard Game is the inclusion of Defensive play calling, and the use of special plays on Offense and Defense. You can either use the charts at the bottom of the Team Chart, or create a Game Chart using Excel which is specific for each game. The Game Chart can be created by clicking here [Game Chart Creation], or email Grant for a specific link. The Game Chart is where you (or the solitaire charts) call Defensive plays. Instead of a D20 as in the Quick Play version, you choose from any of the 9 basic Defensive plays, and optionally add in any of the 9 Special plays. This really is an immersive way to play football!! The Standard Game will take roughly an hour and forty minutes depending how quickly you move and how many stats you keep.
- Advanced Options. There are a number of special plays you can add for both Offense and Defense which gives a variety of strategic play calling on offense and defense. You can also choose which of these to use in order to personalize the game to your tastes.

Standard Offensive plays include;  Running In, Off Tackle, Stretch or Out, Passing Short, Intermediate, Medium, Long or Deep. You can also use Play Action, throw a Screen Pass, provide Extra Pass Blocking Protection for your QB, execute a Draw play, or run a Zone Read. Other options include going out of bounds or staying in bounds late in the half.
Advanced Offensive plays include; Read Option, Bubble Screen, using a Jumbo Package, Empty backfield, or 4WR 1TE

Standard Defensive plays include; Basic Run, Basic Run Blitz, Basic Pass, Basic Pass Blitz, Run Defense, Aggressive Run Blitz, Pass Defense, Aggressive Pass Defense and Prevent. Other options include; Spying the QB, Double covering a receiver, or Keying on a RB.
Advanced Defensive plays include; 3 Zone coverage areas, moving the Safety into the box, Keying on an Inside Run, Keying on an Outside Run.

The flow of each play sets up a great narrative for the table top gamer, and isn't that what we really want from our table top experience! Any of the "49" products play great whether you're playing your favorite team or season from the past, or playing In-Season with the most current statistics. If you want accurate game play, a great feel and flow with results based on a players statistics, then 49 On The Turf Football or 49 Quick Decks Football is your game.