PLAAY Projects with Pizazz!

Back in the early days of the PLAAY.com re-boot, Gary Brown, an old friend from Dallas and the man behind Stone Mountain Press, came to Denver for a visit. I was developing Hockey Blast at the time and he was helping out with some hockey insights. Somewhere in our conversation, the idea emerged about sending small plastic trophies to people who had completed a project with one of the PLAAY Games. That's the origin of the PLAAYCOM Cup, and over the years we sent out over 300 of them. Alas, in recent years we've been unable to continue this tradition. Not that we no longer think it's important to recognize completed projects--quite the contrary, we DO! But, as I've told a number of folks who've e-mailed about the Cup, we have so many projects going on now it would be a full-time job just to chronicle and reward them. So, sadly, the PLAAYCOM Cup qualification has ended. Maybe one day, when I retire and have free time again (!), I'll be able to bring back the Cup.

We still do get submissions, though. Below are two project recaps, from Roger Colton and Walt Powell. They're NOT your run-of-the-mill season replays (although, there's nothing wrong with those)! Both are entirely fictional, and eminently meaningful to the gamer. Read on!

Roger Colton's Family Racing Program, RED WHITE & BLUE RACIN'

To paraphrase the lyrics of a song from my favorite musical, My Fair Lady, "I did it! I did it! I knew that I could do it, and, indeed, I did." My Colton Family Racing program has come to an end, after 13 long months and 37 heart-pounding, grueling races.

My field of drivers numbered 65, from my soon-to-be 90-year-old uncle to my cousin's 4-year-old granddaughter. I used Mike Sagliano's driver creation program to create driver cards for everyone. Also, to fill each 43-slot racing card, and give everyone an equal opportunity to participate, I utilized a random number generator (1 to 999) to determine who raced each time. One race I would use the 43 lowest numbers, and the next I would use the 43 highest numbers, and so forth. Of the 37 races in my project, there were 27 different family members who won them. One of my granddaughters won four times. I was one

Of six who won twice (thankfully my wife won once, and she had a lousy car, with only two gas pedals). There were thirteen non-trophy drivers in the field, but three of them won races.

And the big winner, after all was said and done? To my dismay, it was ME! I had really hoped other family members would win, as I had envisioned creating customized coffee mugs for the points leader, the points-per-race leader, and the tail-ender (last place). When doing the calculations for the points-per-race leader, I discovered that I had the best score there, too. And, boy, you should have seen the derisive text messages come rolling in once I e-mailed the final stats to everyone. They were all tongue-in-cheek, of course.

Had my program remained at the originally-planned 36 races, there would have been different winners in the points and points-per rankings. Sadly, one of my cousins passed away shortly before the season's conclusion, so, at the behest of one of his brothers, I created another race in his honor. And wouldn't you know, the points leader at the time (my cousin's husband) succumbed to a cooling problem and was forced out of the race. All I had to do was stay in the race to claim the title. And I did, with the aid of some fortuitous dice rolls which enabled me to finish in second place (the 42 points for that finish put me over the top in the points-per-race competition).

I truly enjoyed playing Red White & Blue Racin'. I don't know whether I played it truly correct, but I was consistent in doing it my way. I didn't really do the Duels, because I didn't want anyone forced out of the race prematurely. And toward the 30-race mark, I gave all the non-trophy drivers a bronze trophy, because many of them would tend to get disqualified during Race Week, especially if they were "slow qualifiers". Plus it gave them opportunities to obtain additional driver points.

After each race, I composed a brief synopsis of the goings-on that occurred during it. I offered praise to the winners and other good drivers, and compassion to the drivers who suffered misfortune along the way. I attempted to infuse drama, with a touch of levity whenever possible, to my narratives. I then e-mailed the RWBR Score Sheet and my story to my family members. Feedback from them was very gratifying, even from those who groused about having a lousy car, or bad luck. Some indicated they looked forward to receiving my mailings and would miss them once the season was concluded; my 90-year-old uncle thinks I should be a sportswriter in my next life. I've included an example of one of my stories as an attachment.

So, that's it. I had a lot of fun with RWBR. I'll probably wait a couple years before doing another racing program. My next project is the Colton Family Hockey League, in which I want to utilize the Hockey Blast Hockey North America card set that Santa gave me at Christmastime. More on that at a future date.

Walt Powell's 2010 National Football Federation, SECOND SEASON Pro Football

NOTE: This season was played with the 2010 Football America team cards. Article submitted by Wurlitzer Prize-winning sports writer, Joe Kilroy (who says he still hasn't figured out where to put the organ that comes with that title!).

"Glorious Bowl One" is now a part of Planet P history. Under a shower of confetti...to the sound of air horns....before a crowd of 126,847 packed into the Grandiose Arena....the Winterfell Jaegers were crowned the inaugural champions of the National Football Federation after knocking off the previously undefeated Metropolis Marauders, 34-28, in perhaps the greatest football game of this or any season yet to come.

Winterfell won the right to face the vaunted Marauders by winning the Coastal Conference crown with an 8-2 record. But after dropping tilts to the Iron City Blasters in Week #7 (36-20) and the Silver Bay Barbarians in Week #10 (17-12), there were considerable doubts amongst analysts as to whether they had finished strong enough to even stay on the field with Metropolis. Furthermore, it took a 37-30 overtime win in the Conference Championship game vs the Raccoon City Destroyers to vault the Jaegers into the "Big Game". In that game, QB Greg Carter completed 27 of 38 passes for 349 yards, 4 touchdowns and 1 interception; while leading his team to 442 Total Yards of offense.

But, early in the fourth quarter, Winterfell was far from taking the stage at "Glorious Bowl One". Trailing by sixteen with just 12:43 remaining to play, they rallied to score 23 unanswered points on the "star power" arm of Carter. The veteran QB highlighted the comeback with a 63-yard scoring strike to RB Jeff Lowe at 6:45 of the final period, then wrapped it up with another 63-yard bomb to his star receiver, Eric Yarber, on the very first play of the overtime. Did we mention that all this marked a remarkable comeback for Carter, who missed a total of 4 games during the regular season with various injuries (bruised shoulder, two cracked ribs, then a hyperextended right knee)?

The mighty Marauders had capped a 10-0 sweep of their foes in the Badlands Conference; edging out the Emerald City Celts by the score of 16-10 in Week #10, then taking them down in the Conference Championship, 17-6, three weeks later. They advanced to "GBO" with a +114 Point Difference; far outdistancing every team in both Conferences. Led by the "control and leadership" of quarterback Gary Zamberlin (16 TDs-5 Ints, 2,558 passing yards, 71% Completion Rate and 102.2 QBR) and "friendly targets" TE Roger Heller (73 catches, 797 yards) and WR Reggie Walker (49-631), Metropolis looked set to run the table and walk away with the Vince Cebula Trophy*; emblematic of the NFF Championship.

Then dawned January 11th and, as both teams and over 100,000 rabid fans gathered at Grandiose Arena, who could know that the stage was set for possibly the greatest game in history? Both teams flexed their long-distance threat capabilities early and often. Just 2:15 into the game, Carter found Lowe breaking free over the middle on a 55-yard toss-and-run to draw first blood for Winterfell. Six and a half minutes later, Marauder running back Lawrence Thomas found paydirt for the first of his three TDs on the day to tie things up. It should be noted that, had Metropolis prevailed in the contest, "L.T." was your likely GBO MVP (16 carries for 109 yards and 3 trips to the endzone). But, this was not to be. These two goliaths traded knockout blows for four quarters, with no less than EIGHT lead changes. "L.T." totted the pigskin in on a 41-yard jaunt to the promised land. Winterfell's Tony Scott cradled a 23-yard score from Carter. Metropolis unsung hero Ryan Dooley pulled down a 39-yard bullet from Zamberlin. On and on it went, until it was obvious that whoever scored last would walk away the victor.

And so it was when Winterfell lined up in a three-wide set to the right and just 3:15 remaining in the third quarter. Carter had seen Marauder safety Keith Greenberg sucking oxygen on the sideline. The first-year DB was filling in for Juwan Aaitui who had been lost for the season in Week#9 with severely fractured ribs and a punctured lung. At the snap, Tony Scott took CB Rocky Irvin over the middle in a crossing route which left Eric Yarber headed for the flag; one-on-one with Greenberg. Somewhere fans are singing, but not in Metropolis; 71 yards later Yarber was in the endzone and the Jaegers were back in front, 31-28.

Both defenses shined throughout the final quarter, with Winterfell adding the only score, a much-needed 40-yard FG from the foot of Massimo Manca; his second of the night. As the final ticks fell off the clock, Metropolis saw a critical holding penalty negate a 15-yard toss from Zamberlin-to-Reggie Walker that would have yielded a first down and possibly kept their comeback bid and perfect season alive. As Jaeger QB Greg Carter put his team in victory formation for the last few seconds, he capped a night that would see him win Glorious Bowl One MVP honors: 19-for-28 for 293 yards, 4 TDs, no interceptions, touchdown passes of 23, 34, 55 and 71 yards, while leading his team to 426 Total Yards. With those stats....and his performance in the Coastal Conference Championship game....could there be any question that it was deserved?

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