Masters of the Gridiron is a fast-paced head-to-head pro football card game, using real teams and players from the 2013 season.
Overview
Masters of the Gridiron combines the simplicity and strategy of a 15-minute head-to-head card game with the depth and detail of a pro football simulation.
All decks come ready to play. No dice, no boards, no gimmicks. You can be challenging your friends to exciting and realistic football action within minutes of opening the box.
“A Skill-Based Game That Feels Like Football”
Years of development have yielded a realistic football simulation that combines simple and elegant rules with unlimited depth and strategy. By focusing on one key play in each scoring drive, you play an entire football game in under 20 minutes. Despite this abstraction, we have worked tirelessly to make the game feel like real football. Every player, from your star quarterback to your under-appreciated right tackle, has their own player card; and each player has the ability to impact the result of every game.
Testimonials
“If you are a gamer that is also a rabid football fan as I am, I strongly recommend Masters of the Gridiron.” – Chris Hamm, LifeInGames.com
“If you enjoy building your own deck and you love football … you will absolutely adore this game.” – Forrest Bower, Bower’s Game Corner
“Masters of the Gridiron is certainly worth its weight in gold” – Vince Paone, Dad’s Gaming Addiction
“A fast-paced, fun experience that let me unleash my inner Belichick.” – Richard Dansky, blogger at Sportsthodoxy
Setup
You choose your starting offensive and defensive players, and combine them with a playbook of 24 (or more) cards. You can pair an MVP quarterback with superstar receivers or grab the league’s best defensive tackle to anchor your “3-4” defense.
Game Play
Each player starts the game with 3 offensive player cards, 3 defensive player cards, and 4 playbook cards. To mount a scoring drive, you match a playbook card to an offensive player with the appropriate skills (such as “passing” or “run blocking”) and lay them down on the table, announcing the player rating that your opponent needs to beat in order to stop your attempt to score.
Players take turns on offense until “time runs out” (when you have run out of offensive player cards). Along the way, you enjoy all the aspects of a real football game, from goal-line stands and two-point conversions to game-changing interceptions and last-minute field goals.
“On the surface this may sound a bit like War, but there’s a deck-building mechanic at work as you match your team’s players to their optimal plays. Smart defense takes into account the players and plays that have yet to make it on the field, or exploit the natural weaknesses of an opposing team. A smart offense tries to hold out for the very best players to run each play, while forcing the other side to commit players and burn through valuable cards on defense.” – Dice.Card.Go
“A Sports Game for the 21st Century”
Sports Mogul Inc. is well known for their award-winning “Baseball Mogul” and “Football Mogul” computer games, capable of simulating entire seasons in just a few minutes. We used this technology as the basis for Masters of the Gridiron — to generate realistic and balanced player ratings for over 680 current players, and to create realistic playbooks for all 32 teams.
The playbook cards themselves are used to track your score. So the only thing you need to play are two decks (one per team) and about 15 minutes of time. However, we have found the game so addicting that a “quick break” can easily turn into a multi-game grudge match.
Game Play Videos
Vince Paone at Dad’s Gaming Addiction has a well-done 7-minute preview laying out the rules in more detail: Click Here
And Forrest Bower at Bower’s Game Corner has an enthusiastic 9-minute review: Click Here
Contents
Each deck contains 54 high-quality full-color playing cards:
13 Offensive Player cards
13 Defensive Player cards
24 Offensive Playbook cards
4 Special Playbook cards (Defensive Plays and/or Team Cards)
Each team includes their own printed card box for safekeeping. Our cards are also compatible with other card-storage boxes and sleeves, such as those used for collectible card games like Magic: The Gathering and Pokemon.
Customization
Masters of the Gridiron encourages you to create your own customized deck, combining your favorite players and plays from multiple decks. Three simple rules govern the creation of your own customized team roster and playbook. This gives your freedom to build your offense around a power running game or a vertical passing game, and tailor your defense to pressure opposing quarterbacks or focus on forcing turnovers (to name just a few examples). Assemble an offensive juggernaut and try it out against your friend’s shutdown defense — the possibilities are limitless!
Licensing
Please note that Masters of the Gridiron is not licensed by the National Football League. Our games use real player names and stats, but do not include registered trademarks (such as team logos). This usage is protected by the First Amendment and by a series of legal precedents (see, for example, C.B.C. Distribution v. Major League Baseball).
Future Expansion
As Masters of the Gridiron grows, we will include legendary greats from the 1970s through today (and into the future). Each player card is calculated using that year’s statistics (so, for example, Tom Brady’s 2007 card is more effective than his 2013 card).
Stretch Goals
LOCKED: $25,000: All-Star Teams. The “2013 AFC All-Stars” and “2013 NFC All-Stars” will be created and added to the list of available teams for supporters. These decks will only be available through this Kickstarter campaign.
LOCKED: $30,000: New England (2007) and Indianapolis (2006).
LOCKED: $35,000: Blank Deck. A 54-card deck with empty spaces for creating your own players and plays.
LOCKED: $40,000: San Francisco (1994) and Dallas (1993).
LOCKED: $45,000: Denver (1998) and Green Bay (1996).
LOCKED: $50,000: Chicago (1985) and San Francisco (1984).
More Information
LOCKED: $55,000: Miami (1972) and Pittsburgh (1975).
More Information
Follow Masters of the Gridiron on Twitter
Discuss this project at CrowdFundingForum.com
Like MotG on Facebook
Masters of the Gridiron official web site
Risks and challenges
As an established company with 15 years experience shipping both downloadable software and physical products, we have confidence in our ability to get this game into your hands in the specified time frame.
1. We have been developing and testing this game for the last four years, so we know that the game play is both addictive and realistic.
2. We have already written the custom software that analyzes our proprietary player stats and outputs the artwork and content to print-ready files.
3. Finally, we have been working with our manufacturer for the last few months, successfully creating and testing high-quality prototypes.
