TM The Football Card Game first edition rules Third and Long The Football Card Game Game Design Brent Evanger Additional Game Development Photographer Mark Sommers, Travis Bullinger Kimberly Sommers Artwork Playtesters Boleslav Ben Borgerding, Nate Christen, Nick Christen, Allen Drees Jr., Rulebook Editing Larry Welborn, Melissa Welborn, Sharon Page Bob Van Blargan, Bruce Balliet, Stephen Rieker, David Moss, Gary Design Consultant Sonnenberg, Matt Sonnenberg, Kristi Evanger J.J. Johnson, Paul Sorenson Second Printing, Fall 2010 ©2010 Interaction Point Games, LLC www.interactionpoint.com Introduction Third and Long is a football card game in which two coaches from opposing teams acquire their players, grab their playbooks and face off for gridiron glory. Game Pieces Third and Long includes the following game pieces: 15 Player cards 60 Action cards 9 Offensive Play Call cards 6 Defensive Play Call cards Object of the Game You win if you score more points than your opponent before time runs out. Scoring is handled like in a real game of football: teams can score a touchdown, field goal, extra point, two-point conversion, or safety. Important Game Concepts Third and Long simulates a game of football. Opposing coaches take turns on offense and defense: one attempts to drive the length of the field and score-- the other tries to stop the drive. Each coach calls plays to take advantage of their team’s strengths or the opposing team’s weaknesses. 2 Third and Long does not do the following: -Track field position or down and distance -Determine the exact amount of time left on the clock -Model every player on the field The Players The game focuses on the star players. All 11 players are assumed to be present on the field for every play, but coaches only have Player cards representing the team’s very best on offense and/or defense. Key Moments The game is broken down into a series of drives. Each drive is made up of a series of key moments. Rather than recreating every play in a football game, Third and Long focuses on the key moments in a given drive that determine success or failure. The number of key moments in a particular drive is determined randomly. If the offense can win this predetermined number of plays in a row, they will score. If the defense stops them at any time, the offense stalls and will likely punt. The Action Deck During the game, both coaches will make use of a shared deck of cards call the Action Deck. The Action Deck has many roles: it provides each coach with Action Cards to use to influence the game, it acts as a random number generator to add an element of unpredictability and it acts as the game clock. When the Action Deck runs out of cards, the current quarter comes to an end. 3 The Plays For each key moment, a play occurs. Every play is an opportunity for the offense to continue the drive and for the defense to stop them. To execute a play, both coaches select a Play Call card in secret, and reveal them at the same time. A play is a specific personnel matchup, determined by the interaction between the Offensive and Defensive Play Call cards. Third and Long has separate decks of Offensive and Defensive Play Call cards which both coaches share. Coaches will alternate playing offense and defense as the game progresses; when the time comes to switch sides, the play decks are swapped as well. Third and Long does not include a special teams play deck, nor any star special teams players. The activities of the special teams are modeled in other ways, including through the use of special cards in the Action deck. During a play, both coaches work together to generate a sum called the play total. At the end of the play, the play total is compared to a target number. If the play total is greater than the target number, the offense wins. If the play total is equal to the target number, the result is a tie. Finally, if the play total is less than the target number, the defense wins. 4 Game Setup Acquiring Players The first step in preparing to play a game of Third and Long is for both coaches to form a team of star players. There are two ways to accomplish this task: choosing an pre-built team or drafting a fantasy team. Player Attributes Each player has three specific attributes. How these values are used in the game is explained later. For now, just know that the offensive players have positive attributes (between +1 and +3; with +3 being the best) and the defensive players have negative attributes (between -1 and -3; with -3 being the best). Mandan Rodeo Player’s Team LB John “Big Time” Wa $5M Player’s Position Player’s Salary and Name Speed Player’s -2 -1 Attributes Instincts Tackling ©2010 Interaction Point-2 Games, LLC B79 5 Player Positions The player positions available in this set are: quarterback (QB), running back (RB), wide receiver (WR), linebacker (LB), cornerback (CB), and safety (S). Teams can have only one star at each of these player positions. Option 1: Choose a Team Third and Long includes three complete pre-built teams. Each is a member of the fictitious PFL, or “Professional Football League”. In the Western Division we have the Mandan Rodeo (Mandan, ND) and their rivals the Billings Buffalo (Billings, MT). In the Eastern Division we have the Augusta Mariners (Augusta, ME). Each team has slightly different strengths and weaknesses. Stay tuned for future expansions to the Third and Long game which will introduce the other teams and players from the PFL. Option 2: Draft Your Team Spread Player cards out on the playing surface. Flip a coin to see who chooses the first player. Coaches alternately pick players until their teams are complete or they have met the salary cap. Salary Caps The salary cap is $15 million. The cost for a given player can be found on the player’s card. The maximum number of players a team can field is six; three stars on 6 offense and three stars on defense (up to one player at each position). Once both teams have finished selecting players, set the remaining Player cards off to the side, out of play. Building Your Team Teams can vary greatly in composition: one coach might choose five moderately priced players; another coach might go for three expensive superstars. As in real life, the greater the skill of the player, the more expensive their contract. Remember, coaches are not trying to fill an entire roster. The cards represent only the star players. Get Paper & Pencil Use a piece of paper to keep track of the quarter, the score and remaining Time-Outs and Challenges. Each coach gets three Time-Outs and two Challenges to start the game. The in-game effects of each are explained later. Shuffle the Action Deck The 60 card Action Deck will be used by both coaches throughout the game. The Action Cards will: -Influence the outcome of a play -Generate random numbers -Act as place holders -Serve as the game clock (when the Action Decks runs out, the current quarter ends) 7 Draw Action Cards Both coaches draw seven cards from the Action deck to form a hand, starting with the offense. Both coaches will draw one card after each play and one additional card after each drive. Bonus card draws may be earned after big plays and special events (see Momentum, p29). The Coin Toss Determine which team is the visiting team. Flip a coin. The visiting team calls it in the air. The winner of the coin flip decides whether to start on offense or defense. Give the deck of Offensive Play cards to the coach on offense and the deck of Defensive Play cards to the coach on defense. The team that kicks off to start the first half receives the ball to start the second half. Players take the Field The coach on offense places their offensive players (if any) in front of them on the field. The defensive players are set off to the side (on the bench). The coach on defense does the opposite. Kick Off! Proceed to the Game Play (p10) section for more details. 8 9 -1 +2 Arm Instincts QB O ensive Players onField Players O ensive Accuracy Defensive Players onField Players Defensive ©2010 Interaction Point Games, LLC B76 Games, LLC Point ©2010 Interaction Ted “Ice” Wronski “Ice” Ted O ensive Coach’s Hand Coach’s O ensive Defensive Coach’s Hand Coach’s Defensive $3M Billings Bualo -1 TM 0 Mandan Rodeo $3M Robert “Reindeer” Hix “Reindeer” Robert ©2010 Interaction Point Games, LLC B82 Games, LLC Point ©2010 Interaction Tackling LB Timing +1 Speed -1 +3 0 Power Instincts RB Speed ©2010 Interaction Point Games, LLC B77 Games, LLC Point ©2010 Interaction Rudy “Night Train” Lee Train” “Night Rudy $3M Billings Bualo 0 0 Mandan Rodeo $5M Roger “Nitro” Mann “Nitro” Roger ©2010 Interaction Point Games, LLC B83 Games, LLC Point ©2010 Interaction om c . nt tionpoi c a r e t n .i w w w Tackling CB Vision Speed ame G d r a C ootball F he +2 T -3 TM TM -1 +1 Instincts Speed WR Quickness ©2010 Interaction Point Games, LLC B78 Games, LLC Point ©2010 Interaction Roscoe “Dunk” Duncan “Dunk” Roscoe $3M Billings Bualo -2 0 Mandan Rodeo $2M ©2010 Interaction Point Games, LLC B84 Games, LLC Point ©2010 Interaction Noah “Nugget” Nelson “Nugget” Noah Tackling S Agility +1 Speed 0 Play Area Play x x Offensive Play Call x x x x o x x xoxo o o o x o o o o TM Defensive Playo Call TM Oensive Play Calls Play Oensive Defensive Play Calls Play Defensive O ensive Players onBench Players O ensive Defensive Player onBench Player Defensive +2 Vision Action Deck $2M Billings Bualo 0 Charles “Cutback” Culver “Cutback” Charles ©2010 Interaction Point Games, LLC B81 LLC Games, ©2010 Interaction Point -2 Speed Speed LB RB Tackling Power 0 ©2010 Interaction Point Games, LLC B79 LLC Games, ©2010 Interaction Point John “Big Time” Wa Time” “Big John Oense Defense TM -2 The F Mandan Rodeo T TM he F ootball C ame $5M T +2 TM heootball F C d G Timing ame ar om w w .c w w T w TM w ootballhe F C d G .in ar om w .in t ame .c w ar t er d G er w ac T tionpoint .in ac tionpoint om w he ar ootball C d G .c tionpoint TM ac t ame Instincts w er ame er d G int t w ootball C ac tionpoint ar om .in w -1 F c TM .