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The What?
The PCFL
PCFL = Playing Card Football League
Before the fall of VSN a thread popped up asking VSNers if they had ever invented any games. I told a little bit about a game I had...well, I actually re-invented a game my friend created. Anyhoo, in that thread I said I would share what had become of the latest season, just as a fun diversion since there is no real football during this time of year.
For the uninformed, here's what I'm talking about...
Many moons ago, before the technology even existed for an 11-on-11 football video game, my best friend came to me with a game he invented. He created a football game using UNO cards. It was a rudimentary game in which 80 yard touchdowns were the norm. Since we were about 12 years old, excited about a football game of our very own, a little geekish and almost a decade before the original Madden would come out, it suited us perfectly.
Yup, this was cutting edge sports gaming – you could actually kick field goals!
Between the two of us, we then quickly decided to “sim” a season using our new game, though we didn't actually use that word since it didn't exist, at least not in the context it does today. Getting started was easy. We used the NFL schedule for that season. He did all the games for AFC teams and I did the NFC. Entire rosters consisted of 1 QB, 1 HB, 1 FB, 1 TE, 1 WR, 2 DE, 1 DT, 1 CB, 1 S and 1 K. For each player we simply kept the last name of the starter at that position for the real NFL team and gave him a new first name, often starting with the same letter. For instance, Jerry Rice became Joey Rice.
He doesn’t know he has a brother named Joey.
We wound up completing 3 full seasons of this game, played in tandem with the real NFL seasons, before life intervened and moved us onto other things. However, one thing always bugged me. There was nothing “sim” about our game. It was a quick, easy game but hardly “realistic” in terms of statistics. Yes, we kept stats. A normal game for a quarterback was to complete 5 of 7 passes for roughly 140 yards, 2 td passes and an interception. Running plays averaged about 17 and a half yards per carry. Teams almost never punted and rarely kicked field goals.
Years later, I was either bored or just looking for a hobby when I thought about the old game and decided to see if I could make it play like a real NFL game. It was time for a revamp. The first thing I did was change the playing field. No longer would the game be played with UNO cards. Instead, I switched over to a regular deck of playing cards. After that, I kept the basic play structure but added lots of plays (including play-calling based on game situations), more actual players, then incorporated penalties, injuries and most recently, a game clock. I won’t go into specific details as the list of rules and “what to do if…” scenarios are rather lengthy. I will say this: the game is “realistic” and getting better as I continue to tweak it, here and there. If there is one drawback, it’s that the time it takes to play a complete game went from about 30 minutes to over 2 hours – over 3 when you add the time it takes to calculate the stats.
For me, going from one to the other is like going from Atari 2600 to PS3.
SIDENOTE: There is another football game using regular playing cards out there called Card Bowl, which I recently became aware of. The creator actually has a PDF online with all the rules of his game. THIS IS NOT THE SAME GAME! That game is played completely different and is designed for two people to compete. My game is designed for one person to do, pitting two teams against one another to see which wins and create realistic offensive and defensive statistics in the process. During the course of the highlighted game I will give some insight into how the game is played within SPOILER boxes. If anyone has specific questions I will also answer those within a SPOILER box or in a separate post, since there will already be plenty of text for those who enjoy reading about the league but don’t necessarily care about how things were done.
I’m getting there.
All of that is background for what will follow. I’ve now completed 2 seasons of my new and improved game. The first season was actually finished over a decade ago, so I used rosters from the 1995 season (mostly). Being a pack rat, I still have most of the pertinent information from that season. The second season was started about a year ago using mostly the same rosters (changes to the game dictated that there be more players on each roster - I made up a few names, here and there) and completed only a few weeks back.
As a way of sharing without actually having you sit through an entire game, I’ll go through a season with you here as if I were a sports publication and/or TV network. What this means is basically, I’ll pick out the best game or 2 from every “week” on the schedule and do sort of a highlight show every few days or so. No, it won’t be a play-by-play of any game. That would require more work than even I’m willing to do, as long-winded as I am. Still, I figure, with it being the off-season for the real NFL, after the draft and before the release of the next Madden, maybe some of you can get your football fix this way. If I’m a halfway decent writer, it should be fun.
I actually started this over on TGL. One VSNer told me "I outkicked my coverage". He may have been right. There seemed to be no interest and mass confusion over what I was actually doing so I pretty much gave up. I will continue here, as long as there appears to be some sort of following. If not, it'll go bye-bye.
Cuz I feel like it.
However, before getting on to season 2, I’ll provide you with some background and let you in on what happened in season 1. The easiest way is for me to do a team by team recap/preview.
SIDENOTE: If there happen to be any NFL or ESPN employees lurking, this is purely for entertainment purposes. There is no money to be made from this. Trademarked NFL teams and logos are used merely to pay homage to the sport I love. Don’t sue me.
Really, there’s nothing to gain from suing me.
SIDENOTE: A quick note about the league. Due to the fact, it takes well over 3 hours to play a game and calculate the stats from that game the league contains only 12 teams. There are 6 in each conference, 3 in each division. Season 1 started before real life NFL realignment so the Seahawks are an AFC team and I have the Houston Oilers, not the Tennessee Titans.
No, I don’t remember how I picked the 12 teams other than purposely not picking the Giants, my real life favorite team, to remove the temptation to cheat for them.
And with that…
The PCFL
PCFL = Playing Card Football League
Before the fall of VSN a thread popped up asking VSNers if they had ever invented any games. I told a little bit about a game I had...well, I actually re-invented a game my friend created. Anyhoo, in that thread I said I would share what had become of the latest season, just as a fun diversion since there is no real football during this time of year.
For the uninformed, here's what I'm talking about...
Many moons ago, before the technology even existed for an 11-on-11 football video game, my best friend came to me with a game he invented. He created a football game using UNO cards. It was a rudimentary game in which 80 yard touchdowns were the norm. Since we were about 12 years old, excited about a football game of our very own, a little geekish and almost a decade before the original Madden would come out, it suited us perfectly.
Yup, this was cutting edge sports gaming – you could actually kick field goals!
Between the two of us, we then quickly decided to “sim” a season using our new game, though we didn't actually use that word since it didn't exist, at least not in the context it does today. Getting started was easy. We used the NFL schedule for that season. He did all the games for AFC teams and I did the NFC. Entire rosters consisted of 1 QB, 1 HB, 1 FB, 1 TE, 1 WR, 2 DE, 1 DT, 1 CB, 1 S and 1 K. For each player we simply kept the last name of the starter at that position for the real NFL team and gave him a new first name, often starting with the same letter. For instance, Jerry Rice became Joey Rice.
He doesn’t know he has a brother named Joey.
We wound up completing 3 full seasons of this game, played in tandem with the real NFL seasons, before life intervened and moved us onto other things. However, one thing always bugged me. There was nothing “sim” about our game. It was a quick, easy game but hardly “realistic” in terms of statistics. Yes, we kept stats. A normal game for a quarterback was to complete 5 of 7 passes for roughly 140 yards, 2 td passes and an interception. Running plays averaged about 17 and a half yards per carry. Teams almost never punted and rarely kicked field goals.
Years later, I was either bored or just looking for a hobby when I thought about the old game and decided to see if I could make it play like a real NFL game. It was time for a revamp. The first thing I did was change the playing field. No longer would the game be played with UNO cards. Instead, I switched over to a regular deck of playing cards. After that, I kept the basic play structure but added lots of plays (including play-calling based on game situations), more actual players, then incorporated penalties, injuries and most recently, a game clock. I won’t go into specific details as the list of rules and “what to do if…” scenarios are rather lengthy. I will say this: the game is “realistic” and getting better as I continue to tweak it, here and there. If there is one drawback, it’s that the time it takes to play a complete game went from about 30 minutes to over 2 hours – over 3 when you add the time it takes to calculate the stats.
For me, going from one to the other is like going from Atari 2600 to PS3.
SIDENOTE: There is another football game using regular playing cards out there called Card Bowl, which I recently became aware of. The creator actually has a PDF online with all the rules of his game. THIS IS NOT THE SAME GAME! That game is played completely different and is designed for two people to compete. My game is designed for one person to do, pitting two teams against one another to see which wins and create realistic offensive and defensive statistics in the process. During the course of the highlighted game I will give some insight into how the game is played within SPOILER boxes. If anyone has specific questions I will also answer those within a SPOILER box or in a separate post, since there will already be plenty of text for those who enjoy reading about the league but don’t necessarily care about how things were done.
I’m getting there.
All of that is background for what will follow. I’ve now completed 2 seasons of my new and improved game. The first season was actually finished over a decade ago, so I used rosters from the 1995 season (mostly). Being a pack rat, I still have most of the pertinent information from that season. The second season was started about a year ago using mostly the same rosters (changes to the game dictated that there be more players on each roster - I made up a few names, here and there) and completed only a few weeks back.
As a way of sharing without actually having you sit through an entire game, I’ll go through a season with you here as if I were a sports publication and/or TV network. What this means is basically, I’ll pick out the best game or 2 from every “week” on the schedule and do sort of a highlight show every few days or so. No, it won’t be a play-by-play of any game. That would require more work than even I’m willing to do, as long-winded as I am. Still, I figure, with it being the off-season for the real NFL, after the draft and before the release of the next Madden, maybe some of you can get your football fix this way. If I’m a halfway decent writer, it should be fun.
I actually started this over on TGL. One VSNer told me "I outkicked my coverage". He may have been right. There seemed to be no interest and mass confusion over what I was actually doing so I pretty much gave up. I will continue here, as long as there appears to be some sort of following. If not, it'll go bye-bye.
Cuz I feel like it.
However, before getting on to season 2, I’ll provide you with some background and let you in on what happened in season 1. The easiest way is for me to do a team by team recap/preview.
SIDENOTE: If there happen to be any NFL or ESPN employees lurking, this is purely for entertainment purposes. There is no money to be made from this. Trademarked NFL teams and logos are used merely to pay homage to the sport I love. Don’t sue me.
Really, there’s nothing to gain from suing me.
SIDENOTE: A quick note about the league. Due to the fact, it takes well over 3 hours to play a game and calculate the stats from that game the league contains only 12 teams. There are 6 in each conference, 3 in each division. Season 1 started before real life NFL realignment so the Seahawks are an AFC team and I have the Houston Oilers, not the Tennessee Titans.
No, I don’t remember how I picked the 12 teams other than purposely not picking the Giants, my real life favorite team, to remove the temptation to cheat for them.
And with that…
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