Scrimmage

Scrimmage was invented by Chuck Eskridge, and David Williams. It is a football game in which one side controls the offense and the other controls the defense. Movement is accomplished by dice rolls, with slower players have lower maximum movement capability. Each side has pieces (players) of varying strength and speed. Any player can tackle any other player, but only players of equal or greater strength can block opposing players. The offense sets up, and then the defense, with a twist: the defense does not know whether the offense is running a passing play or a running play. (The choice is disclosed after the play starts.) If it is a passing play, the pass can be thrown to a designated grid but only after the play has had time to develop. If a play breaks down, the offensive player draws a card to determine whether he can recover.

The passing mechanism works wonderfully: the offense places two men downfield in one of several grids, and secretly chooses a card identifying the grid to which the pass will be made. Each team then moves players (including the potential receivers) with the roll of the dice. When the pass is made, the offense chooses which square in the grid the pass will go to. The choice of squares determines how easy it is for the receiver and the defensive back(s) to get to the square to which the pass is made: if the receiver gets to the square and the back does not, the pass is complete. If the back gets to the square and the receiver does not, the pass is intercepted. If both get to the square, the pass is incomplete.

The running game and the pass rush depend on the the success of the blockers and the defensive line. There is luck in the dice rolls, of course, but the luck evens out over the course of the game and a good play can survive a little bad luck. Card drawing can also be important. Sometimes tacklers reach the ball carrier but fail to make the tackle, or make the tackle and force a fumble, which can be recovered by either the offense of defense.

This is one of the few games non-simulation football games (i.e., not strat-o-matic football or its cousins) that really feels like you are playing football. You choose your play in advance, and, like real football, sometimes it works as planned, sometimes it fails, and sometimes you have to improvise during the course of the play.