PLAAY CONNECT 07.25.24

The summer of ‘24 is flying by quickly, so fast that we missed last month’s CONNECT entirely! June was a busy month, with the convention, full-play hoops and the debut of “express” soccer. We’re back on track this month, though! Here’s the latest scoop on everything happening in the World of PLAAY…

Tonight: The Return of Football!

Pro football is back on the PLAAY Space game table with our annual SECOND SEASON Football College All-Star Game! The reigning pro champs Kansas City will take on this year's class of pro rookie draft picks with Second Season "Express," we'll switch to full-play late if the game is close. That was the case with last year's game as the college kids hang on to defeat KC 29-23, successfully defending an un-timed play after a pass interference call in the end zone after the clock had run out! That snapped an eight-game winning streak for the pro champs, and was just the second win in the series for the college squad. Tune in tonight 6pm MDT (8pm EDT) on the PLAAY Games YouTube Channel and watch the fun unfold in this classic pro football throwback event!

More Football: PLAAY Games at the Pro Football Hall of Fame!

We're just a few of weeks away from Geoff Giordano's pro football board game event at the pro football Hall of Fame in Canton, OH. We'll be there with Second Season, Cold Snap, Fury Football AND Draft Duel, joining influencers from other football board game communities like APBA and Strat-O-Matic. Check out our tentative schedule here, RSVP with Geoff before 08.08.24!

Coming Soon: 1974 World Football League 50th Anniversary

Long-time (i.e., "old") sports gamers will remember the late, great World Football League, which began play amidst much hub-bub exactly 50 summers ago. In 2001 we offered a "team sheet" version of the league's only full season, discontinued it several years ago. But now, in honor of the 50th anniversary of the league, we're bringing the set back in a new, full-color, bells-and-whistles version that will allow you to re-live this interesting chapter of pro football history. We'll christen the new '74 WFL set at the Hall of Fame, and then make it available to everyone once we get back!

We'll also create a special "World Football League Revisited" set for Fury Football (which we will also christen at the Hall of Fame!), a 2024 rendition of the World Football League presented in Furious fashion! Twelve teams, classic WFL cities and colors, new players. Stay tuned!

Coming Soon: Surprise Vintage Pro Season for HMB!

Our 08.08.24 stream will reveal the next vintage pro baseball season for History Maker Baseball, presented in the classic, expanded style (30-ish players per team)! Perfect for extended pro season baseball game play projects. We’ll make the set available that night!

2024 In-Season PLAAY with HMB

There WILL be in-season play with HMB, we're still deciding how to present it. Last couple of years we've created "express" card sets (which BTW have correctly predicted the World Series winner ahead of time both last year AND the year before!). Because of time constraints, this summer we're thinking of using the trading card quick-rate package instead for in-season play. Normally we put this set together mid-August, so we have a couple of weeks to decide. We’ll let you know in our 08.08.24 YouTube stream!

FLOTA transfers for Soccer Blast

We’ve fielded several e-mails about the Mbappe card in the FLOTA transfers subset--he was, indeed, short-changed on his SHOT and ASSIST stars. We've created a corrected card, and made the transfer players a free download for everyone, FLOTA-follower or not!

On the topic of FLOTA, we got a neat e-mail from Michael Koch, he will be introducing the transfer players at his season's halfway point. "Having a draft at halfway point. Last team picks first. Great set. Had my first 0-0 tie. About 3.3 goals a game through 40 games. Was doing a couple things wrong with at the death?, extra goals. Enjoying the yellow cards chart, didn't know I would, jot players name down, yellow card add up, some guys almost getting thrown out on second card, hold breath checking chart.” Michael specifically mentioned Sami Kanady from La Paz as a "hold your breath" kind of player, "He's on the verge of getting thrown out all the time! One of best players in FLOTA. Drama. He can also get thrown out on ref stops game. He' s kind of a one man wrecking crew in a good and bad way!"

• Also, a quick note to PLAAY-Dot-CON convention-goers: the convention version of the express soccer game did not have correct readings on the "triples" results 1-1-1 and 6-6-6. (This happened because we switched the green die "1" and "6" charts to make "1" the home team and "6" the visitor. We fixed it for the official release.) If you ordered the FLOTA or EPL cards, we included the corrected "1" and "6" chance charts with your cards. If not, drop us a line and we'll mail you a hard copy. Again, this applied only to the convention version of the game.

Fury Hardball is Back "In The Swing!"

The game and PLAAY mat returned last week along with the new Head-to-Head "Pitch Deck" we play-tested with great success at Dice Tower West and Wis-CON. Also back in stock, the "Managers and Mercenaries" expansion bundle that lets you build your own Fury Hardball dynasty under the restraint of a salary cap! Read more about the M&M expansion here...

FREE STUFF!

• FLOTA Transfer All-Stars (with corrected Mbappe card) for Soccer Blast: We included these with the FLOTA set to add some extra gravitas, a league big enough to lure the world's biggest stars. You can use these however you like, augmenting your existing soccer card sets with some serious star power. Or create an all-world team that will be exceedingly difficult to defeat.

• 2024 College All-Star Game for Second Season Football: Our annual matchup of the reigning pro champ against the new season's top rookie stars, heading to their first pro training camp. Reminiscent of the annual charity game that kicked off the pro football season every year from the 1940s to the '70s.

• Fury Hardball Big League All-Stars: We posted these on our stream last week, but wanted to give it a little extra love in case you missed it. You get 76 real-life players from the 2024 All-Star Game in Texas, carded for our furious bat-and-ball sport!

• 1947 Japanese Pro Season for History Maker Baseball: Another vintage Japanese baseball creation from Brien Aronov, who has provided many hours of fun for PLAAY gamers with his card sets. (You can find the entire collection on the HMB "free stuff" page, under the "International Pro Seasons" heading.

Upcoming Video Activity…

Here's what we have planned for the PLAAY Space in the coming weeks on the PLAAY Games YouTube Channel...

• 08.01.24 (no stream, Sam will be at GenCon in Indianapolis that week)

• 08.08.24 HMB Retro Season Announce: we’ll reveal the new season and play a game! We’ll also have the final word on the History Maker Baseball In-Season baseball plans for 2024.

• 08.15.24 (content TBA)

• 08.22.24 1974 WFL 50th Anniversary: On the eve of our trip to Canton, where, among other things, we’ll remember the WFL with a slate of Second Season full-play games! On this stream we’ll give you a look at the team cards, freshly-redesigned for the 50th anniversary, and play a game of “express” to test drive the set on your screen!

• 08.29.24 Labor Day Weekend In-Season Baseball: Nothing like playing tabletop baseball alongside the real thing!

(Please remember that we do our best to follow the planned itinerary, but sometimes have to change direction--thanks for understanding!)

Photo Finish

Here’s PLAAY Gamer Brian Bartow, wearing his Wayne Montana t-shirt at World Wide Technology Raceway in Madison, IL just ahead of this year’s “Enjoy Illinois 300” race! How cool is THAT!? (Only thing better would be to watch the race with Wayne Montana himself!)

That’s it for this month, we have a SUPER busy August ahead of us—hope you can be a part of it! We want to express our appreciation for this amazing community of board gamers—THANK YOU!