Review of Big Sunday Football
Big Sunday Football (Randolph Rose Group, 2006 - Randolph Rose) looks exactly like what I thought would make a great football board game ten years ago. It's in a big long box, and the board has a football field surrounded by tons of football plays. The designer assured me that it was the closest thing to football in a board game and was superior to all other football board games currently on the market.
The problem is it's not ten years ago, and I've since discovered hundreds of excellent games with refreshing mechanics. Big Sunday, while a game that once might have delighted me, now feels a bit dated. There are some interesting mechanics in the game, such as the defense attempting to guess the play of the other, and even the main player involved, but the entire package just came across as a little less than satisfying. It feels like football and makes a decent game but comes across as almost a bit of a guessing game and doesn't stack up well against the current crop of contemporary games.
The game is played on a large board that is taken up mostly by thirty play charts (similar to Avalon Hill charts of old) and includes a football field in the middle. The game is played with the rules of an American football game (I won't go into those here) with the following implementation.
The defensive player, each turn, secretly picks one of five defensive formation cards (flex, base, nickel, prevent, or goal/blitz). They also pick one of seven "key" cards - the player who they think will be the key figure involved. The offensive player then goes through a playbook and chooses one of the thirty plays within as their choice, rolling two six-sided dice. The defensive player reveals their cards, and both players consult the appropriate chart on the board, noting the line that corresponds to the defensive formation. The dice result is checked, and yardage is either gained or lost according to the number shown there. Some other results may occur also, such as fumbles, interceptions, and incomplete passes. If the number has a yellow background, then a penalty has occurred; and a penalty chart is checked for the appropriate response.
If the defensive player managed to identify the key player involved, then any yardage gained on the play is cut in half. Other key concepts, such as kickoffs, punts, and field goals are mentioned in the rules but are handled in a very simple manner with set yardage. Doubles often allow re-rolls, so there is the possibility of "He-could-go-all-the-way" excitement. Everything else is handled according to football rules, with each "drive", an offensive attempt, counting as one fourth of a quarter. After the fourth quarter, the player who has the most points is the winner!
Some comments on the game…
1.) Components: The box is extremely long and wide, making it a chore to put on the shelves and has a "vintage" look about it. The game claims to have the endorsements from NFL coaches and players, and letters from a coach named Mike White adorn almost the entire back of the box (although I can find NO other endorsements, either online or off). The components, other than the board, are fairly small and pretty much rattle around the box but are of decent quality. Generic photographs of football players are used (with the logos photo shopped out), and pictorial references are put on each of the defensive cards, to show the formation. Two dice are included, as well as a few charts, and a small whiteboard that can be used to keep score. I'm not entirely too impressed with most of the components, but I DID enjoy the playbook - easily the best component of the game.
2.) Playbook: If Big Sunday did one thing right, it was the playbook. A diagram of each play, a copy of the chart that matches the numbers rolled with the defensive grid, and some mathematical statistics (expected yardage, percentage of completion) are right up my alley. The book itself is a spiral bound book, sorted by each type of play, and is fun to go through and study. It can even cause a bit of "analysis paralysis", as players get caught up in looking through it rather than picking their play.
3.) Rules: The rulebook is a long thin one with nine pages of rules, including a little bit of football knowledge for those who don't understand the game. It's fairly easy to navigate, although some parts could have been better formatted. I was able to easily teach the game, and looking up the charts isn't difficult at all, because most of them are printed right on the board. Standard football common sense applies, and we didn't have any problems there.
4.) Randomness: The problem is, even with the charts and the nice mathematical statistics, it's still hard to grasp what play will do what. The charts just don't come across as that simplistic to read, and number crunching can be a bit odd ("You're saying that this play will get me "8-10" yards, but never anything else?") The two six-sided dice chart is good (although it reminds me of early war games), as one can see the probabilities a bit; but it takes a while to figure this out, and I'd rather just quickly play the game.
5.) Plays: I enjoy having so many offensive plays to pick through and don't mind that there are only five defensive plays. But this does create 150 combinations, and that might be a bit more complexity than the game really is. I'm not sure looking at thirty different charts over the course of the game makes it any better than looking at only a few, and much of the complexity is perceived and doesn't seem to make much of a difference in the end. Still, the options are there, and those who are disappointed in a run/short pass/long pass style game might enjoy the added plays. My biggest problem is that I picked random plays and still enjoyed a limited measure of success, which shouldn't happen.
6.) Guessing Game: Every defensive play, it's rather helpful to correctly nail down who the offensive player is going to use. But really, it's simply a guessing game. You might be able to guess the play they are going to use, but it's really just a wild shot in the dark. This sounds really interesting as a mechanic, but it doesn't work in the game; and we guessed right in our games only about 20% of the time - and it occurred in random instances. Nice idea, but it didn't really affect much; especially since many times when the defensive player DID guess correctly, there were no yards gained anyway!
7.) Comparisons: When I compare Big Sunday with two of its contemporaries, Pizza Box Football and Card Football, it falls a little flat. It may feel a little more like the actual game than those two, but both of them are better games. I'm not really playing a board game to get a simulation (and I'm not claiming that Big Sunday is a good simulation), I'm looking for a good game. Both of the other games are simpler in ideas, and they offer the same type of gameplay; so I would pick them over this one, although I will admit that Card Football has much less of a football feel to it.
8.) Fun Factor: I'm not saying that there is no fun to be found in Big Sunday - it's a good, fair representation of an American football game, and my sports minded friends did enjoy it. But it was not so much fun that we wanted to play it again, it came across more of a diversion (not to mention I kept comparing it to other games in my head). I love the playbook, but the game itself feels a bit mediocre.
If you are big football fan and don't mind a clunky box with okay mechanics, this might be interesting for you. For those of you who like quick, fun football mechanics Big Sunday might deliver, but there are other games that will do so in a better, "tighter" package. The game might impress kids - but probably not enough to hold their attention in this era of high profile video games, and adults will look for games with smoother components. Mike White might think it's a terrific game, but those I played it with feel less impressed. And I don't have time for a game that is less than impressive.
Tom Vasel
"Real men play board games"
www.tomvasel.com
The problem is it's not ten years ago, and I've since discovered hundreds of excellent games with refreshing mechanics. Big Sunday, while a game that once might have delighted me, now feels a bit dated. There are some interesting mechanics in the game, such as the defense attempting to guess the play of the other, and even the main player involved, but the entire package just came across as a little less than satisfying. It feels like football and makes a decent game but comes across as almost a bit of a guessing game and doesn't stack up well against the current crop of contemporary games.
The game is played on a large board that is taken up mostly by thirty play charts (similar to Avalon Hill charts of old) and includes a football field in the middle. The game is played with the rules of an American football game (I won't go into those here) with the following implementation.
The defensive player, each turn, secretly picks one of five defensive formation cards (flex, base, nickel, prevent, or goal/blitz). They also pick one of seven "key" cards - the player who they think will be the key figure involved. The offensive player then goes through a playbook and chooses one of the thirty plays within as their choice, rolling two six-sided dice. The defensive player reveals their cards, and both players consult the appropriate chart on the board, noting the line that corresponds to the defensive formation. The dice result is checked, and yardage is either gained or lost according to the number shown there. Some other results may occur also, such as fumbles, interceptions, and incomplete passes. If the number has a yellow background, then a penalty has occurred; and a penalty chart is checked for the appropriate response.
If the defensive player managed to identify the key player involved, then any yardage gained on the play is cut in half. Other key concepts, such as kickoffs, punts, and field goals are mentioned in the rules but are handled in a very simple manner with set yardage. Doubles often allow re-rolls, so there is the possibility of "He-could-go-all-the-way" excitement. Everything else is handled according to football rules, with each "drive", an offensive attempt, counting as one fourth of a quarter. After the fourth quarter, the player who has the most points is the winner!
Some comments on the game…
1.) Components: The box is extremely long and wide, making it a chore to put on the shelves and has a "vintage" look about it. The game claims to have the endorsements from NFL coaches and players, and letters from a coach named Mike White adorn almost the entire back of the box (although I can find NO other endorsements, either online or off). The components, other than the board, are fairly small and pretty much rattle around the box but are of decent quality. Generic photographs of football players are used (with the logos photo shopped out), and pictorial references are put on each of the defensive cards, to show the formation. Two dice are included, as well as a few charts, and a small whiteboard that can be used to keep score. I'm not entirely too impressed with most of the components, but I DID enjoy the playbook - easily the best component of the game.
2.) Playbook: If Big Sunday did one thing right, it was the playbook. A diagram of each play, a copy of the chart that matches the numbers rolled with the defensive grid, and some mathematical statistics (expected yardage, percentage of completion) are right up my alley. The book itself is a spiral bound book, sorted by each type of play, and is fun to go through and study. It can even cause a bit of "analysis paralysis", as players get caught up in looking through it rather than picking their play.
3.) Rules: The rulebook is a long thin one with nine pages of rules, including a little bit of football knowledge for those who don't understand the game. It's fairly easy to navigate, although some parts could have been better formatted. I was able to easily teach the game, and looking up the charts isn't difficult at all, because most of them are printed right on the board. Standard football common sense applies, and we didn't have any problems there.
4.) Randomness: The problem is, even with the charts and the nice mathematical statistics, it's still hard to grasp what play will do what. The charts just don't come across as that simplistic to read, and number crunching can be a bit odd ("You're saying that this play will get me "8-10" yards, but never anything else?") The two six-sided dice chart is good (although it reminds me of early war games), as one can see the probabilities a bit; but it takes a while to figure this out, and I'd rather just quickly play the game.
5.) Plays: I enjoy having so many offensive plays to pick through and don't mind that there are only five defensive plays. But this does create 150 combinations, and that might be a bit more complexity than the game really is. I'm not sure looking at thirty different charts over the course of the game makes it any better than looking at only a few, and much of the complexity is perceived and doesn't seem to make much of a difference in the end. Still, the options are there, and those who are disappointed in a run/short pass/long pass style game might enjoy the added plays. My biggest problem is that I picked random plays and still enjoyed a limited measure of success, which shouldn't happen.
6.) Guessing Game: Every defensive play, it's rather helpful to correctly nail down who the offensive player is going to use. But really, it's simply a guessing game. You might be able to guess the play they are going to use, but it's really just a wild shot in the dark. This sounds really interesting as a mechanic, but it doesn't work in the game; and we guessed right in our games only about 20% of the time - and it occurred in random instances. Nice idea, but it didn't really affect much; especially since many times when the defensive player DID guess correctly, there were no yards gained anyway!
7.) Comparisons: When I compare Big Sunday with two of its contemporaries, Pizza Box Football and Card Football, it falls a little flat. It may feel a little more like the actual game than those two, but both of them are better games. I'm not really playing a board game to get a simulation (and I'm not claiming that Big Sunday is a good simulation), I'm looking for a good game. Both of the other games are simpler in ideas, and they offer the same type of gameplay; so I would pick them over this one, although I will admit that Card Football has much less of a football feel to it.
8.) Fun Factor: I'm not saying that there is no fun to be found in Big Sunday - it's a good, fair representation of an American football game, and my sports minded friends did enjoy it. But it was not so much fun that we wanted to play it again, it came across more of a diversion (not to mention I kept comparing it to other games in my head). I love the playbook, but the game itself feels a bit mediocre.
If you are big football fan and don't mind a clunky box with okay mechanics, this might be interesting for you. For those of you who like quick, fun football mechanics Big Sunday might deliver, but there are other games that will do so in a better, "tighter" package. The game might impress kids - but probably not enough to hold their attention in this era of high profile video games, and adults will look for games with smoother components. Mike White might think it's a terrific game, but those I played it with feel less impressed. And I don't have time for a game that is less than impressive.
Tom Vasel
"Real men play board games"
www.tomvasel.com
