Encore: PLAAY Games at the Pro Football Hall of Fame, 2025
We're excited to be making a return visit to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton OH for the 2025 Edition of Gridiron Games at the Hall of Fame! Presented by the APBA Football Club's Geoff Giordano, the event will be held Saturday and Sunday, 08.23.25 and 08.24.25. All football board games, past and present are welcome for this weekend of pure cards-and-dice tabletop football FUN!
08.19.25 Update and ‘85 USFL Tournament Details
We're excited to head to Canton in a couple of days! Registration has closed for this event, it looks like there’ll be between 50 and 60 gamers in attendance!
• All fourteen teams have been claimed for our "Remember the USFL" 1985 Season Tournament! In the interest of not hogging everyone's time, we'll play the entire tournament with Second Season Express. A game of SSX can be played in about a half an hour, head-to-head. Our tournament will consist of three rounds of play. So, we'll be done by lunch and everyone can move on to playing something else.
We'll plan to start the tournament at 10am on Saturday (08.23.25), with the goal of having it wrapped up by noon. I've divided the teams into two groups, those that made the real-life 1985 USFL playoffs (8 teams) and those that did not (6 teams). The pairings are outlined below, I've attempted to match people up so that every pairing has someone who's pretty familiar with the game and can keep things on schedule. Each group will have its own champion. (If they want to play a championship game after lunch, that would be awesome--BUT it would also make for a great post-event PLAAY Space stream on our YouTube channel!)
No need to bring anything--I'll supply games, dice, scoresheets, teams. Just be in your seat a couple minutes before 10am!
‘85 USFL Playoff Group
• Game One: Mark Kroynovich (Oakland) vs. Steve Lenker (Baltimore).
• Game Two: James Hart (Tampa Bay) vs. Phil Raia (Memphis).
• Game Three: George Rousos (Denver) vs. George Kaldis (Houston).
• Game Four: Roy Paeth (New Jersey) vs. Mike Canestrari (Birmingham).
Second Round will be winner of Game One vs. winner of Game Three and winner of Game Two vs. winner of Game Four.
‘85 USFL Non-Playoff Group
• Game Five: Bruce Berkowicz (Los Angeles) vs. Bob Corsarie (Portland).
• Game Six: Brien Aronov (San Antonio) vs. Cory Highfield (Jacksonville).
• Game Seven: Cooper Gilbert (Arizona) vs. Manuel Martinez (Orlando).
NOTE: for the non-playoff group, the winning team with the worst record gets a second-round bye! The other two winners will play for a berth in the Group Title game.
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Registration is closed for this event, but we’re presenting the details for those who might be considering attending next year’s event…
Cost: It's $75 for each day, you can attend one day or both. The event charge includes admittance to the Hall of Fame, free parking, all-day football board game-playing (8:30am to 5pm) in the hall's spacious, comfortable meeting hall, AND a delicious catered lunch! Geoff is collecting the money, you'll want to reach out to him via e-mail: halloffametournaments@gmail.com.
Games: Any and all football board games are welcome at this event. Last year's lineup included APBA, Strat-O-Matic, Breakaway Football, Fast Drive Football, Matchup Football and others. Of course, we'll be hosting a couple of events featuring our games, but our feelings won't be hurt if you opt to play other games! (I played some of them myself last year, including an epic head-to-head APBA football game with Geoff using the neighborhood league APBA cards I played with as a kid many years ago!)
PLAAY Games Itinerary: We're going to be focusing our energy on the Saturday block, here's what we'll be doing at the PLAAY area this year...
• 1985 USFL Playoff Tournament: We'll remember the 40th anniversary of the original United States Football League's final (1985) season with a tournament that will start with "express" and move to full-play for the final round(s). The '85 USFL was a well-balanced league and there are quite a few teams with the potential to win it all! Let us know which team you'd like to coach, and we'll set it aside for you! We can accommodate up to twelve people.
• 2025 Second Season Football College All-Star Game: This is a throw back to the grand old exhibition football game that used to kick off the pro football season every summer in Chicago. We revived the tradition with Second Season in 2013 and have played the game every year since! The pros have won ten of the twelve games, with the college stars winning in 2012 and 2022. What a treat to play this year's game at the Hall of Fame! We'll play cooperatively--that is, we'll take turns calling plays for both squads. No RSVP required!
• We have a couple of other surprises in store: We'll be bringing along the new 2025 Pro Football Fury card set for FURY FOOTBALL and game materials for a spontaneous multi-player game-play sesssion. We’ll also have a copy of Draft Duel—we had a lot of fun with Draft Duel at last year’s event and I’m thinking this might become a tradition!
Accommodations: Geoff was able to open a small block of extra rooms at the event's new hotel, the Hampton Inn and Suites, Canton – here is the link. There are also numerous other hotels with a variety of amenities within a mile or two of the Belden Village Mall.
Touring the museum: Part of the reason Geoff holds this event during the Hall of Fame Induction month (this year’s inductees include Jared Allen, Eric Allen, Antonio Gates and Sterling Sharpe) is the hall's extended summer hours. The hall is open from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m., so you'll have ample time to tour the museum in addition to playing games.
Hall of Famer IN The House! You may recall, last year we were all delighted by the surprise appearance of former Oakland WR Fred Biletnikoff, who took time to sign autographs, take pictures and talk football. Turns out this wasn't a fluke! It was part of the PFHOF's recently-launched residency program. We're expecting another member of the hall to show up for this year's event--(but I'll let Geoff be the one to reveal who it is!)
Hope you can join us for "Gridiron Games at the Football Hall of Fame!" If you're planning on attending (or even just considering it), please reach out to Geoff and let him know. Also, let US know so we can plan accordingly! Look forward to seeing you in Canton!