About Football Mania

Football Mania is a game of strategy and skill that includes kickoffs, basic offense and defense, as well as punts, field goals, interceptions, fumbles, sacks and many of the other exciting things you've come to know and love about the game of football

Take to the gridiron and see if you can run, pass, and kick your way to a Football Mania championship...it just takes practice!

How to play

Football Mania is a voice-based, A.I. driven, football game for Amazon Alexa devices. You coach a team and compete against the A.I. system. The game should walk you through your available options at any given moment, but below is a quick run down of some of the finer points of the game.

Starting the game

Games start with a coin flip to determine initial position. You can say heads or tails.

A correct guess will give you the option to kick or recieve.

An incorrect guess will give the option to the system, who will randomly choose to either kick or receive. When they choose to kick, you'll be asked about how you want to return. When they choose to receive, you'll be asked about how you want to kick.

Kicking & Kick Returns

When you are kicking, you can attempt an onside, squib, or deep kick.

When it's time to receive a kick, you will be asked if you want to attempt a left, right, or middle kick return

Currently any kick into the end zone will result in a touchback, and the ensuing drive will start on the 25 yard line. All other kicks will attempt some form of a return, but be warned, there is always the potential for turnovers on kick returns too!

Offense

When on offense, the system should always tell you the down and distance (to a first down) as well as your current line of scrimmage. Then you'll have the option to run, pass, punt, or attempt a field goal.

Success of your offensive plays is based on a combination of the game situation, your past tendancies & success, and of course a touch of random luck.

Again, be warned that there's always a chance of giving up a sack or making a crucial mistake that results in a turnover!

Punting pro tip: Like kickoffs, a punt that goes into the end zone will result in an automatic touchback. Anything else, and it's returnable!

Field Goal pro tipThe chances of a successful field goal depend a lot on your field position. The record for the longest right now is 40 yards (and we wouldn't recommend trying to break it)!

Deffense

When on defense, you will be able to choose between running man, zone, or attempting a blitz.

The A.I. will choose an offensive play to attempt based on the game situation (and some machine learning help).

If you've called the right defense, you'll have a better chance at a sack or forcing a turnover! However, if you've called the wrong defense, you just might end up giving up a huge gain or even a touchdown!

Other options & details

In addition the basic game play mentioned above, there are a few other options and details throughout Football Mania that are worth knowing about.

Game length & end of game

Games are designed to give each side at least two possessions. There are a few events, such as turnovers, that can cause one side or the other to have more than two possessions in a game, but a complete game will always ensure both sides have had at least two possessions.

After halftime, the system will ensure that both sides have had at least one possession before ending the game. At the completion of the game, your official record will be updated and the play log from the game will be archived.

Pro tip: kick returns for a touchdown do not count as a possesion.

Halftime

Halftime is determined by the system and called when both sides of the ball have completed at least one possession each.

Just like regular football, if you started the game by kicking the ball off, you'll start the second half by receiving. And if you started by receiving, you'll start the second half by kicking.

Checking Your Score, line of scrimmage, or & record

At any point in the game, you should be able to check a number of things that may be of interest to you including:

The current game score by saying tell me the score.

The current down, distance, and line of scrimmage by saying tell me my situation.

Your official Football Mania team record by saying tell me my team record.

As with all mania games, you can also ask for help at any point in the game.