There aren't a lot of American Football games on Steam, probably because EA has a lock on the NFL with its Madden series. Whatever the case, when a football game like Gridiron Solitaire appears here, it's a rare sight to behold. What's even more unusual is that the gameplay in this title is via a card game.
If you've ever played Fairway Solitaire (or any of the million similar games out there), you know how this version of Solitaire works. Suit doesn't matter (in fact, I don't think it even exists in GS), but color does matter. You need to alternate between black and red cards, as well as choosing a number above or below the face-up card on the deck itself.
What happens if nothing works? Well, it depends if you're on defense or offense.
When you're defense, you can hit the "Big Play" button to bring up a new card (or in rare cases, an event), but you have limited use of this. A finite number of uses, denoted by green dots, are supplied each half, not quarter. So use them sparingly.
On offense, the "Big Play" button appears again, but this time it's infinite in its uses. While that sounds good, in practice you'll get an event that somehow harms you roughly 99.9% of the time. In most cases, this involves your runner being blocked or knocked down, or your quarterback being sacked. Sometimes, however, you can also fumble or be intercepted, both of which are terrible, especially if near your own end zone.
You don't get to choose actual running or passing plays. Instead, you pick which you'll attempt (run vs pass), and if the AI guesses your action, you'll lose a card, plus it'll reduce and limit any gains in yardage you might acquire in that round. That doesn't mean it's impossible to get anywhere — I have made a running a play that eventually turned into a touchdown, even though the AI figured out my play ahead of time — just that it's generally more difficult.
When you're on defense, you do the same to the AI. In this case, you'll simply limit and reduce their gains, since the AI doesn't use cards.
All the teams are fictional, but you can edit their cities, names, and colors. This means if you want real teams, the only thing stopping you is a little effort on your part to rename and recolor them. That said, I don't believe you can rename players, but it doesn't really seem to matter anyway.
Every team has stats (ex: run offense, pass offense, run defense, pass defense, and special teams) that dictate your chances in a game. These stats can and do change, and will be affected by draft choices.
In my own experience, whatever stats your team or the opposing team has produces a minimal effect. What mostly matters is chance and whatever strategy you employ.
You can have five seasons saved before you need to delete one to open a slot. Saving the game only occurs before and after a game, as well as during half-time. Given that GS is turn-based, this shouldn't be too much of a problem for most people, but if you find yourself needing to shut down your computer or close Steam, you might lose your progress up to that point. To tell you the truth, I don't know for sure because that's never happened to me yet.
Would I recommend Gridiron Solitaire? I'd say "cautiously yes."
It's very irritating how much chance (especially when using the "Big Play" button on offense) affects the outcome of any play or game, but in real life, sports have always had a "luck" factor to them that's difficult to emulate in a computer game.
Regardless, I wish that using the "Big Play" button would actually result in a positive outcome every once in a while. Whenever I use it now, I cringe and turn away, not surprised in the least when there's a negative result.
Having said all of that, it's a very entertaining Solitaire title and introduces several game mechanics not seen in other similar games. I don't know if this will truly satisfy anyone who's been longing for an American Football game on the PC or who's a die-hard Pro/College fan, but for most gamers who either have a passing interest in American Football, Solitaire (or both), I feel that Gridiron Solitaire works nicely.
