Gridiron Solitaire

This is a card solitaire game in which matching cards allows your offense or defense to do their job in the game. Match enough and you'll have the forward motion you need for a first down on offense. On defense, you'll stop the opposing player's advance. Having to draw a card carries the possibility of a "Big Play", a short text event that can end the play or change it significantly. And it might not end in your favor! Your draws are unlimited on offense, with a high possibility of a Big Play, but on defense you have a limited number, with a lower possibility of the play ending suddenly. This makes for an interesting dynamic, with poor play leading to even good defenses collapsing. The mechanic forces you to allow your opponent some gains, and hopefully you can hold them to less than they need for a first down without drawing. Another mechanic has you attempting to guess your opponent's play call (run or pass, it's not complicated) before each play. Each team has stats for running, passing, special teams and the like, so you can predict somewhat how they will play. If you guess correctly, you get an extra card slot for the play, which is a big advantage. Teams are tracked through a season and rated relative to each other. Don't pick a weak team hoping to play it up, at least not to start with. That's a sure path to disappointment. There are three difficulty levels, which affect the basic yard totals for plays based on your play guessing, and this is a solitaire game, so no multiplayer. The football mechanics are notional - you need forty yards to complete a first down. Why? Because this helps shorten the game so that a hand of solitaire is not an hour long. :-) There are still halves and quarters, and punts and field goal attempts. This is a fun game of football and cards, enjoyable whether you understand football or not. Buy it! You'll like it.

An incredibly fun solitaire game with a cool sports slant. The "Big Play" button is a huge gamble that draws me in every time and there's definite tension as the random text events are "revealed". I'm impressed by how the game captures the back-and-forth feel of football. I just had a terrific come-from-behind victory early in my league career that I felt like I really earned. That's right. Earning it. Tension. Back-and-forth.... in a solitaire game. Not a bad accomplishment.

I was very conflicted buying this game since I love American football but hate solitaire. Luckily, this game actually manages to capture the feel of football in a way I honestly didn't expect. This game is definitely well worth the money.

I have only played 8 games or so thus far, but I am really really enjoying it. Who knew that solitaire could be so engaging. I love the football theme. While I loved Fairway Solitaire, I think this is even better. Without even noticing, I burned through two hours of fun. It definitely benefits from the "one more game" syndrome. What a wonderful game!

Not sure what tweaks have been done to the game since the other reviewers played it, but this is a definite thumbs down. Supposedly, you make good yards when the computer guesses wrong, and very little, if any, if it guesses right on offense. On defense it is supposed to be the same. But it doesn't work that way. When on defense, and you guess wrong, the computer opponent STARTS OUT with a 25 yard gain, and it takes solitaire matches to reduce it. But there are very few matches. Even when you guess right against the computer opponent, it STILL starts off with a 12 yard gain that you have to whittle down, again with very few matches available. Now when YOU are on offense and the computer guesses wrong against you, for a pass, you start at zero yards, and MUST get THREE matches in a row before you gain a paltry 8 yards. Subsequent matches add yardage, but again they are few and far between. When you run the football, and the computer guesses wrong, once again you start at zero yards, and add 4 yards for subsequent matches. Now if the computer guesses right, it is that much harder to gain any yards. And the computer sneaks a peak at what you choose as well, I purposely ran nothing but pass plays for three possessions, gaining some yards, and figured now I'd start off witha run. Of course the computer 'guessed' right on run, when there is absokutely no possible way it could have, based on previous play calls. If this game sounds interesting to you, wait until it is at least 75% off, and be prepared for a mountain of frustration. Even at 75% off you may very well regret your purchase. NOTE: A new update to the game was applied on July 4. It added kickoff and punt returns, plus penalties. Penalties reduced your chances even more of getting matches, and running plays now only gain 3 yards per match, instead of 4. Also, when you guess right on defense, the computer opponent starts off with a 15 yard gain now, rather than the original 12. I also noticed special teams plays result in TDs (for the computer opponent, of course) more often, plus more turnovers (again, for the computer opponent) when the player uses a Big Play, regardless of weather. Bottom line: Made an already extremely frustrating game even more so. I now wouldn't even recommend buying it even at 75% off. Save your money and the frustration.

It's OK for a solitaire game, but I expected something a little more, I guess. Given that it's solitaire, it would be much easier to quickly spot the matches if the cards were a bit more traditional -- something more along the lines of a football-themed Bicycle deck, if that makes any sense (especially given how spread out the cards are in the "formations"). If you go through the in-game help, you'll see stuff mentioning relative team strengths, etc, with the note "THIS IS IMPORTANT!" Yet, the only time that information is available is in the pre-game "broadcast" -- once it's underway, you'd better remember what it was, 'cause there isn't any way to see that stuff (at least that I can see). If it's that important, why isn't it in the main game UI anywhere? Overall, it's not a bad game, there just isn't enough game there for the ten bucks IMHO, especially given the low-budget look and feel. If it comes up on a Steam sale for $5 or less, it's worth a shot if "football solitaire" sounds appealing to you. As it is, I gotta lean towards thumbs-down, given that my options are "yes" or "no".

Well another update that kills a game, now My team fumbles about 50% of the punt returns, also when my team fumbles on offence I never recover , its always a turnover, yet if the computer team fumbles, it recovers the ball. Not saying the game is total ruin now , but sure isnt as fair as it used to be.. oh well , time to find a better football game. dont waste your money.

I thought I'd share a summary of my [url=http://www.oneguytoomanygames.com/2014/01/gridiron-solitaire.html]full review here. [/url] I didn't really have any expectations going into Gridiron Solitaire. I knew a little about it, but none of the details. For such an abstract representation of football, it does a great job at capturing the flavor. This is one of the more enjoyable games I've played for a game with such simple mechanics. While I thought the matching mechanics were too simplistic, managing the Big Plays was great fun. I was getting excited both when things did and didn't work out for me. Bill Harris included so many little touches that just tickled my shoulder pads - not the hideous 1980s women's shoulder pads, but the cool football ones. Mr. Harris does have plans to continue to improve the game, but I don't have any details about what may be included in the updates. If you sometimes like to relax with a more casual game and don't mind games with a good chunk of luck, consider purchasing Gridiron Football.

I cannot recommend this game enough. It somehow manages to capture the essence of a great football game in a solitaire card game package. Besides the great gameplay at a great price, the story of how Bill Harris developed this game from no knowledge to the finished product is well woth supporting.

I've played this game for almost 40 hours now and it can best be summed up in two sentences: "It is what it is. No more, no less." It's literally a game where you match up cards, hope that the RNG (Random Number Generator) is good and try and out score your opponent. Most of the time it does seem that the RNG is definitely NOT on your side, especially when you're on defense or it's late in the game and you're trying to mount a comeback or stave off one. If you're looking for a good time waster and/or a game that you can play without thinking to hard, this is for you. However, anyone looking for a true tactical and/or a true American football like experience you'll be mightily disappointed.