Barnstorming Exhibition Basketball For Highlight Maker Hoops!
The night before I left for ST Patrick's IndiCON (04.03.25) I took my friend De'Marco (11 years old, above) to see the Harlem Globetrotters at Ball Arena. We had an awesome time! I'd seen the Globetrotters myself twice before, both times many years ago. It's not QUITE the same experience in 2025, but then, what HASN'T changed over the last 25-50 years? It was very cool seeing a new generation of fans enjoying this nostalgic (to me; new to De'Marco) basketball exhibition. There were LOTS of kids and it was a very family-friendly show. As we were leaving the arena, De'Marco said enthusiastically, "THAT was FUN!" And it WAS!
Later, on the ride home, he said, "it seemed kind of staged." I explained to De'Marco--who loves basketball, BTW, it's by far his favorite sport--that a Globetrotters game is simply a different way to entertain people with a basketball. Bottom line was, we both had a great time.
The whole experience got me thinking, wouldn't it be cool to re-create a Globetrotters game on the tabletop? Obviously, we can't use the Globetrotters nickname on our cards, that wouldn't be right (and they wouldn't like it very much!). But...as long as we're writing a new chapter of barnstorming basketball history, why not go "all in?"...
Here's the scenario I've come up with for what I'm calling "Barnstorming Exhibition Basketball"...
• The Harlem Road Trippers are NBA-caliber. That's not to say that they are all-pro or better than everyone else, only that they DO have serious, world-class basketball skills.
• Instead of having their own road team to pummel every week (i.e., the Washington Generals), they barnstorm across the USA (and the world) playing exhibition games (for charity) against real professional clubs, who are "in on it" (wink wink).
• The games feature stretches of real basketball being played between the two teams, but the action is punctuated by the classic "antics" the Globetrotters have been known for over the past 100 years (and some new ones, made possible by the games being played on card stock instead of hardwood!).
• The pro teams aren't "faking it," they're trying to win, within the constraints of "show-biz." That is to say, the Road Trippers get a free pass to display crazy antics that energize the crowd and in those situations the pro players and coaches go along with it, but the game isn't "thrown" or "worked" so that the visitors are assured of winning. We're operating from the premise that it's every NBA team's hope that they can be the team that overcome the challenges and defeats the Road Trippers! Can they do it on YOUR tabletop? I think you will have a GREAT time finding out!
These cards are designed for use with the original Highlight Maker Hoops, the "sports center highlights" version of the game. (You could try using the full-play Prime Time rules, the Road Tripper cards are fully rated for that, but you'll have to improvise on how to legislate fouls and incorporate the "antics" cards--I haven't come up with a smooth way to do that. Yet.)
• Download the 2025 Harlem Road Trippers World Tour Package HERE…
• Watch our 04.10.25 PLAAY Space YouTube Stream Featuring This Download…
There are a couple of game rules changes you'll need to apply when playing this team...
• NO fouls are called on either team. (This is how it is in a current real-life Globetrotters game.) Thus, there are no free throws and no need to use the free throw tracker. You MAY get a "technical foul" shot on an UNSUAL result. You can ignore that and just have the referee issue the active player a "warning."
• When REF LOOK cards are flipped, ignore that reading and flip a NEW card from the "antics" deck I've created.
• When COACH cards are flipped, the coach pawn moves to the other team (normal rules), a new player enters the game (normal rules), but there's no roll on the coach's card. It's automatically an "antics" result, featuring the new active player(s). Flip a new "antics" card and apply the result. NOTE that often the Road Trippers will have the ball on the "antics" card, even after the home coach calls the time-out. In the highlights context, you can consider that perhaps the home team scored a routine basket here, maybe they missed the next shot, but in any case DON'T move their scoring token. Just flip an "antics" card and use the result.
• Many game results will be "normal" results, quality checks for shooting, play-making, rebounding, just like if you were playing two standard pro teams. Conduct these quality checks normally, normal rules, normal tie-breakers. To enjoy this "barnstorming exhibition" experience, all you have to do is move the scoring track tokens as directed, whether from the regular FAC deck or the new "antics" deck. The fun will unfold in front of you.
• If the game ends in a tie (both teams on the same scoring space), flip an "antics" card for the final result. If no one scores, flip another one until somebody does.
A few words about the "antics" deck. There are 36 cards in the deck, but you'll only use about a dozen of them in a game. Thus you can play a series of exhibitions and have a different experience every time! I won't go into each card, but please be aware that some of the results are "implausible"--that's part of the fun. Just roll with it! Remember, this is simply a different way to enjoy professional basketball!
I've included both front and back print files for the "antics" cards. The files for the card fronts have cut lines, the file for the card backs (optional) does not. You can print JUST the fronts and use blank backs, but since the standard HMH fast-action cards have printed backs I thought it would be a nice touch to have the same thing for the "antics" cards. I suggest printing the backs first.
Note that the coach cards don't do anything in these exhibition games, they're just for show. I've included a coach card for the Road-Trippers for use with full-play "Prime Time" rules that I may come up with later.
Let me know how this works for you! I've already played a handful of test games and am really pleased with the results. I suppose it helps that I just saw the Globetrotters in action, to help me visualize what's going on. To that end, maybe you want to watch some YouTube videoIf you have any questions, reach out!