Most of us never had a chance of playing in the NFL, but that didn’t stop us from dreaming on a smaller scale by playing football games in our basements. Here are four fun ways generations of fans have played football using little more than their imaginations.
1. Electric Football
How electric football became popular is a bit of a mystery; there’s really no skill involved, and most of the time, plays ended with all the players stuck in a corner. Still, the game has been a huge success for decades.
Gameplay is simple—set up your team in an offensive or defensive pattern and hit the switch. The metal “field” vibrates, the players move, and if the quarterback gets hit by a defensive player, he’s “tackled.” Really, that’s all there was to the game when it was introduced by Tudor Metal Products in 1947. But other companies soon made knock-offs, and the need to differentiate products made the addition of new game features a constant show of one-upmanship. Some updates were superficial but fun, like a cardboard stadium full of fans that surrounded the field. Others added a level of skill to the otherwise random game, like a spring-loaded player kids could use to kick field goals and throw passes with a small plastic football.
However, Tudor was always the big innovator. They were the first to switch from flat, metal silhouettes of the players to 3-D, plastic sculpts. With the new game pieces, they soon got the endorsement of the NFL to paint the players with team colors and were able to use team logos on the stadium backdrop. These features made Tudor’s games incredibly popular in the NFL-crazy 1970s. Tudor also introduced a groundbreaking feature called “TTC,” or “Total Team Control,” which gave “coaches” the ability to influence the direction their players moved. The TTC system comprised of small prongs on the base of the figures which could be “tweaked” by bending, shaving, or even chemically treating them to create incredibly fast players that moved with some sense of purpose.
Once video games hit, electric football fell out of vogue with many young players. But fans who grew up in the game’s heyday were able to keep it going through the ’80s and ’90s. Today, Miggle Toys is the primary producer of electric football, and the company has helped nurture regional leagues across the country. For more information, check out the website of the Miniature Football Coaches Association.
2. Mattel Football I
It seems like kids these days always have their noses buried in a Nintendo DS or PlayStation Portable. I wish I could say my generation was better, but we had our heads down and thumbs twitching for hours playing Mattel Football, the first mega-successful handheld video game.
Released in June 1977, Mattel Football had a simple concept: get the bright dash—representing the ball carrier—past the five slightly dimmer dashes that represented the defense. Believe it or not, but this was a revolution in video gaming. Not bad for a hacked pocket calculator.
Because it was a based on a calculator, those dashes were really the top, middle, and bottom segments of a digital number eight. According to Mark Lesser, the designer of the game, this also answers one question that has nagged players for years: Why was the field only 90 yards? It was not, as the urban legend says, the fault of a Japanese designer who had never seen a football game. In fact, the reprogrammed calculator chip couldn’t process more than nine “numbers” across, meaning Lesser had to make due with fewer yards.
Because early sales were lackluster, the primary distributor, Sears & Roebuck, ran a computer model to determine how well the game would sell over time. Based upon the model’s estimates, Sears canceled their initial order of 500,000 units and purchased a conservative 100,000 games instead. Then Christmas came, and Mattel Football sold like gangbusters. By mid-January, Sears wanted 200,000 units every week. By the end of February, that number more than doubled, to 500,000 every week. Of course, with strong sales came a sequel, Football II, with the upgraded ability to run forward and backwards, as well as pass to a phantom teammate downfield. Designers also used a different calculator chip that could display 10 numbers across, giving players the full 100-yard field.
Mattel re-released the game in 2000, complete with the 90-yard field and authentic beeping sounds. However, if you grab your iPhone or iPod Touch, search for “LED Football” in the Apps Store. For 99 cents, you’ll find a pretty loyal version that’s even more portable than the groundbreaking original.
3. Foto-Electric Football
A great football coach isn’t born—he’s made. And a lot of play-callers started their gridiron education with Cadaco’s Foto-Electric Football. Introduced in 1941, the game consisted of green overlay sheets printed with plays for both sides of the ball. The offensive sheets had O’s for players and a white line indicating the path of the runner or pass. The defense was a series of X’s laid out across the field. Each player secretly chose which play he wanted to run, and placed the sheets on top of each other on the playing field box. Adversaries couldn’t see if their strategies were successful until a small light inside the box was turned on and they slid a piece of cardboard back to reveal the sheets. Based upon where the X’s, O’s, and the white line intersected, dice were rolled, charts were consulted, and yardage was determined.
The game was a staple until the 1970s when early handheld video games like Mattel Football began taking over the sports toy world. In an effort to make their game as portable as the video games, Cadaco replaced the cumbersome light box that required an electrical outlet to play, with a simple sleeve dubbed the “Play Revelator.” But it was too little too late, and sales continued to slide until it was eventually discontinued. Cadaco brought the game back in 1990 with NFL Pro-Foto Football. It, too, was discontinued and has since become a pretty rare find. But if you’d still like to check out Foto-Electric Football, the vintage games are readily available on eBay.
4. Tecmo Super Bowl
If you’re playing the latest Madden video game on your Xbox, Wii or PS3, complete with real NFL players, interactive gameplay, and the ability to run through a full season, you can thank 1991′s Tecmo Super Bowl for making all of that possible.
Tecmo Super Bowl for the Nintendo Entertainment System was the much-improved sequel to Tecmo Bowl, a popular game from 1988. While the original was one of the first video games to feature real players’ names, TSB upped the ante by getting the full endorsement of the NFL—and the ability to use player names, stats and NFL team logos. Tecmo Super Bowl also featured in-game player statistics tracking, a full season with both Super Bowl and Pro Bowl games, and offered eight offensive plays that you could edit to your liking (the original game only had four that you couldn’t tweak). While play calling was important, the fast-paced arcade action made the skill of the virtual player and the human controlling him the most vital part of the final score.
Over the years, many Tecmo football games have been released, but Super Bowl has stood the test of time. It has consistently been ranked by game critics as one of the best games for the Nintendo, most recently by IGN.com, who ranked it #53. And thanks to video game console emulators like Nestopia, dedicated gamers are still playing it today after rewriting the original software to include current players, current teams and current stats. With these modified versions of the game, armchair quarterbacks hold Tecmo league tournaments, and run simulations to see who might win real-world contests, like the upcoming Super Bowl XLIV. If you want to see who’s going to win, head over to the “Tecmo Repository” and find out, complete with video highlights of the game.
* * * * *
This is just a handful of the dozens of football games and toys kids have enjoyed over the years. What were some of your favorites? Or if you have fond memories of playing one from the list, tell us all about it! Special thanks to loyal _flosser chachmo for suggesting this topic. If there’s something you’d love to see covered, feel free to tweet in my general direction—@SpaceMonkeyX.
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Ahhhh….Tecmo Super Bowl. If only the Falcons were as good in real life as they were when I was at the controls……sigh.
posted by Jonathan on 2-1-2010 at 11:24 am
I still have my Football II (probably from about 1980). A few yrs back my buddy and I both dug ours out and played a few games. It was fantastic.
Also, my dad had a game called NFL Strategy, also by Tudor Games, that most closely resembled Foto-Electric.
Offense and Defense (even Special Teams) all had cards, which you’d put in a slot. The cards had dozens of possible outcomes. The defensive card laid over the offensive card and narrowed the possible outcomes. Then you pulled a spring-loaded football pointer (kinda like a pinball machine). The pointer would point to a box w/ that would give the result of the play. I loved that game.
I also had a football game for the old Apple IIe, don’t remember what it was called. Only about 10 plays on offense and probably fewer on D, no graphic gameplay, just the play O and D had called and the result. I did my own stat tracking, back in the day.
posted by Big Jonny on 2-1-2010 at 11:59 am
I had 1 & 2… Electric table got wet/warped and you had to lean on it in certain areas to get the guys to run the right direction. Also remember them interlocking arms and doing the circle dance!
posted by David K. Israel on 2-1-2010 at 12:00 pm
And no mention of the table top version of football?
You fold up a piece of paper into a triangle (kinda like they way they fold the flag at a military funeral) and push the triangle across the table. You have 4 downs to get it over the edge of the table, but if you push it off the table, it goes over to the other player. You can also kick a field goal.
We played in my HS Calculus class almost every day.
Football’s been a big part of my life.
posted by Big Jonny on 2-1-2010 at 12:05 pm
Big Jonny:
We played that with quarters in science class. Now, 20+ years later, I’ve taught my 6-year-old son how to play it on our kitchen table.
Did you play the version where you had to flip the “ball” up in the air with one finger once it was hanging over the edge of the table, then catch it, in order to score a touchdown? And did you do the point after/field goal?
reCaptcha: veldts know
Seems to me the veldts might know some rugby, but not much (American) football.
posted by Jon. on 2-1-2010 at 12:26 pm
I can’t believe you didn’t mention the Monday Night Football home game. This was a plastic, stadium-shaped gizmo with sliding arms. The defense called one play by moving their slider to certain spot that corresponded with a type of play (blitz for example). The offense did the same thing. When both sides had picked their plays, a button was pressed which lit up a small light underneath the field. The light was visible through the thin field, revealing the result of the play calling.
It was quite popular in the mid 70′s, as I recall.
T
posted by TBone on 2-1-2010 at 12:51 pm
Tecmo Super Bowl is and always will be the greated football video game ever!!!
posted by andy on 2-1-2010 at 12:56 pm
What about the ABC Monday Night Football game by Aurora? I still have mine from the 1970s.
http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/13031/abc-monday-night-football
posted by John on 2-1-2010 at 1:02 pm
What about my boy, SuperJock??
posted by JayFloyd on 2-1-2010 at 1:12 pm
Two words: Computer Football.
http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/7425/computer-football
posted by sjb on 2-1-2010 at 1:31 pm
JayFloyd: I kid you not, SuperJock was #5 on the list. However, no matter how much I dug around, there just wasn’t a lot of information on him other than that he existed. I loved that thing, though.
For you Monday Night Football fans: It was a pretty awesome game, no doubt. But it was basically Foto-Electric Football with some new features and a new paint job. I opted for the original (1941) thinking more people might have played that one over the years.
posted by SpaceMonkeyX on 2-1-2010 at 1:31 pm
My favorite football game from the past is Paydirt. Still get updated charts from time to time for that one.
posted by Jeff - Canton, OH on 2-1-2010 at 1:32 pm
@Jon.
No, we played “hockey” w/ 3 coins, and a basketball game w/ 1 coin, but I only recall playing “football” w/ the paper facsimile.
posted by Big Jonny on 2-1-2010 at 1:37 pm
Not sure if this is what John is refering to because it’s blocked here at work, but I had a football game that used a big vinyl mat for the field. It had to be like 4 x 6 feet or something. It used plastic players that were maybe 4 inches tall. You lined up your offensive and defensive lines, then if you were going to run the ball you had a player on a little motorized base that you would set in position. You couldn’t adjust him, then the defense had two guys on little rolling bases. When the runner started moving the defensive player could push his defenders to try to ‘tackle’ the runner. You could pass by using a guy with a spring loaded arm. You’d set a receiver out in the field and if the little foam ball hit him it counted as a reception. He also could kick for field goals and extra points. Hours of good clean fun! I painted one set of guys like the Steelers (cuz I’m a lifelong fan) and the other team like the Cowboys (cuz I hated them and that was the big rivalry back then). Like my GI Joes, I wish I still had them.
posted by crocostimpy on 2-1-2010 at 1:44 pm
Strat-o-Matic football was a favorite in my house. You had a stat card for each player, you picked plays by putting pennies over the chosen play and players and then revealed to the opposition. Then you rolled for the outcome. It was all based on real football strategy and was very realistic. I learned a lot from that game.
posted by Susan on 2-1-2010 at 2:56 pm
I am glad someone else remembered Computer Football. I could not remember the name of it for the life of me.
posted by Sean on 2-1-2010 at 3:07 pm
I can’t seem to find it anywhere on the Web, but my favorite as a kid in the late ’70s/early ’80s was a game called NFL Quarterback. I’d call it a simpler version of NFL Strategy. You had cards for offensive plays with possible yardage results on color bars. Then there were several defense cards with holes that you would put over the offense cards, revealing one possible result for each color. It had a spinner that would eventually end up at a certain color determining the result. I used to have a make-believe football league I would conduct using that game.
posted by mpcincal on 2-1-2010 at 3:27 pm
A-ha. I actually did find something for NFL Quarterback.
http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/5738/nfl-quarterback
posted by mpcincal on 2-1-2010 at 3:30 pm
Awww..that was nostalgic. I could still remember playing Tecmo Bowl when I was a kid. This game sure does bring out the football player in you! :)
posted by aion database on 2-1-2010 at 3:31 pm
What about that old arcade game from I believe the late 70′s or early 80′s?
It was 2 player, you had opposing teams of X’s and O’s and you both had a trackball that you spun madly to either run or tackle your opponent.
posted by TheBear on 2-1-2010 at 3:39 pm
Ahh…Atari Football – 1978
http://girasoli.org/arcade/?cat=54
posted by TheBear on 2-1-2010 at 3:44 pm
There was also a variation on Mattel Football by a different company that gave you two blockers and the option to pass the “ball” also. And you could play against another player by taking turns with the handset thingee. I don’t remember what that was called, though.
posted by Walter on 2-1-2010 at 4:15 pm
My favorite was John Elway’s Quarterback, which came out for DOS in 1987. The quirky thing about it was that there were only 9 players per side.
posted by Gordon Daily on 2-1-2010 at 4:35 pm
Still the proud owner of two working 1977 Mattel Football 1 games. It is entertaining when the battery gets low and the tick of the play clock gets slower. Thanks for the article.
posted by elizabutt on 2-1-2010 at 5:31 pm
not sure rob…but i think i(or you) had a magnetic football game that the players moved when the playing surface vibrated…if this was me..it had to be in the 50′s…of course if it was you…much, much later on:)
posted by ferrell on 2-1-2010 at 5:57 pm
One more, from the late 50s/early 60s: It was a box with a lightbulb inside and a clear top with a tiny replica of a football field next to it. There were different offensive and defensive lineups and plays on papers that the players would put on the clear top, then turn on the light. A solid line was a running play, a dotted one a pass. When the line touched a defender, the play ended. You kept track of your progress on the tiny “field”.
posted by oldguy45 on 2-1-2010 at 6:19 pm
Ah yes, Tecmobowl was a great game… many days of my youth were wasted away with that gem.
However the greatest football game for me was Mutant League Football… Now why hasn’t that been updated to the new gen of systems… or at least rereleased on the VC
posted by Chris on 2-1-2010 at 6:50 pm
The name escapes me, but I remember playing a game as a kid that had a bunch of small plastic records to it. The offensive player would pick a play and put it in the little player. The defensive player couldn’t tell what play was called, but would rotate the record to select one of four or so defenses that could be run against the play. Then the record would play and the results plotted on a field. I’d play that all the time as a kid. Some of the phrases that would come out of the speaker still play in my head when I watch a game… “He gains five, he gains nine, knocked out of bounds!”
Anyone remember what that game was called?
posted by eKim on 2-1-2010 at 7:10 pm
Tecmo Bowl was awesome – even though just about everyone I knew back then played as the Oakland Raiders.
Thanks for the tip about the LED Football app!
posted by Steve from San Diego on 2-1-2010 at 7:17 pm
lets not forget this one, I used to love playing it when I was little
http://cgi.ebay.com/BAMBINO-FOOTBALL-Vintage-Handheld-Video-Game-CLEAN-RARE_W0QQitemZ310197353550QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item483933fc4e
posted by jodie on 2-1-2010 at 9:44 pm
I loved my Tudor Electric Football game. My friends and cousins and I played with it for hours. I especially loved the little scoreboard that came with it. You changed the score by twisting the little dials. Mine came with a white team and a yellow team, but later I ordered the Oilers and Cowboys. The little footballs were foam and came in a little strip of six. I was often loosing the little football after trying a long field goal. The goal posts were pretty short so we put straws over the ends of them to be able to tell if the ball went through. Lots of fun. I kept it under my bed.
posted by Tex on 2-1-2010 at 9:48 pm
Thanks for helping to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the American Football League with the Tudor game you pictured; Bills – Raiders, in “throwback” uniforms, right?
posted by Mike Riley on 2-2-2010 at 12:21 am
I still have my Mattel football game and let my son play it every so often. As I remember, before the passing version there were two Sears versions, one of which was rechargeable. I could be wrong.
I credit that handheld game, not with teaching future running backs how to score, but millions of drivers how to weave through traffic. I’m constantly reminded of that game while driving.
Oh, and the Coleco (?) version sucked.
posted by JCW on 2-2-2010 at 12:54 am
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posted by Christian Louboutin Replica on 2-2-2010 at 9:00 am
Here is the talking version of the 1971 Monday Night Football game featuring Howard Cosell on tape. I had this as a child.
http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/15945/talking-football
posted by Will on 2-2-2010 at 11:21 am
eKim, I had that game you are describing. But I can’t remember the name either. I do remember the sayings. “Quarteback throws………… incomplete!
posted by john on 2-3-2010 at 11:01 pm
Sports Illustrated sold a great NFL football game around 1971 and 1972. The game had every NFL team in which each team had an outcome sheet. Offense grid on one side defense on the back. Offense rolled a set of three dice for 29 possible results of 9 plays (4 run + 5 pass) vs 6 defenses who rolled a pair of dice that had 5 possible outcomes vs the play called by the offense. A separate sheet for special teams as well. All based upon the statistics for the previous season. Loved it.
posted by Edgar on 2-4-2010 at 7:25 pm
eKim, the game was Mattel Talking Football – my favorite line (using the Gadget Play “record” against inside run): hand off to the halfback… laterals to the quarterback… flea-flicker pass… Touchdown!
Thanks for the trip down memory lane.
posted by Vince on 2-7-2010 at 2:00 am
RE:… “I had 1 & 2… Electric table got wet/warped and you had to lean on it in certain areas to get the guys to run the right direction. Also remember them interlocking arms and doing the circle dance!
posted by David K. Israel on 2-1-2010 at 12:00 pm”
… i forgot the circle dance…. my older brother had the vibrating/magnetic football game in the 70′s. all the neighbor kids wanted to play it, and my brother thought he was too cool.
in my school days, all the boys played “football” with the folded up paper triangle…
a quarter on a kitchen table was aimed at a shot glass full of tequila…. “playing quarters”. totally unrelated to football of course.
:)
posted by michelle on 2-28-2010 at 6:22 pm