Prime Time Heated Play: Post-Con Follow-Up!

• First, a few more corrected ATFG Hoops cards. A formatting glitch substituted hyphens for commas as the last symbol of these player's CLANK ratings. So, instead of "8-9, 12" it was exported as "8-9-12." (The download also includes the "coach approach" cards we used for our head-to-head All-Time Franchise Greats tournament at PLAAY-Dot-CON 2024.)

Just before the convention, Travis Jansen and exchanged a flurry of e-mails and texts regarding confusion about the "Heated Play" mechanic in Prime Time Hoops. Remember, I had mentioned in my "Design Notes" blog post before the game was released that this could be a point of unclarity.

Well, as it turns out, I was right. And--the confusion is MY OWN fault!! Agh!!

OK, so, FIRST...thanks to Travis for spelling it out, like this...

• Instructions as written for "Fouled While Shooting -- MADE?"

> Has quality, underlined - 3 pointer, no foul.

> Has quality, not underlined, 2-point basket with one free throw.

> Does not have the quality, missed shot, two free throws.

• Instructions as written for "HEATED PLAY" where there are no burst players

The is a shooting foul, resolve as "Fouled While Shooting -- MADE?"

• The "HEATED" section of the "Design Notes" blog post reads like this...

> Has quality, underlined - 3 pointer, no foul.

> Otherwise, he will miss the shot, even if he HAS the quality (but not underlined), EXCEPT for TIP, which is always made on a HEATED, resulting in a made basket and an "and one" free throw. (EDITOR'S NOTE: I should mention that this is how it reads on the FACs as well...)

Indeed, it IS clear where the confusion stems from: the rules booklet spells out the earlier version of the Heated Play process, while the fast-action cards reflect the late, final version. This is TOTALLY on me, and I offer my sincere apologies! Explanation shortly, but first...

Let's amend the rules booklet and get it in-synch with the FACs and blog post. Actually, it's pretty simple, a one-word fix. On page 10, first and second paragraphs, change the word "​MADE?" to "missed," and you have the right procedure. For good measure, you can add "except if the TIP quality is specified; in that case it's a made two-pointer and a free throw." Here's a link to the print PDF of the updated rules booklet, if your printer has a double-sided print option just print and fold. Or, you can just pencil in "missed" where it says "MADE?" In your current rules booklet.

Bottom line: the FACs are correct, blog post is correct, instructions have it wrong. This is on me, and I apologize.

Now, I'm probably being overly-explanatory here, but it WAS touch-and-go whether to use the earlier or later version of the Heated Play procedure for the final version of the game. I talked it over with Tom Kerwin back in April, and had decided to go with the earlier version (as laid out in the rules), which I felt was less complicated and less confusing ("What? He has the NET quality, but he still misses!?"), plus it would increase the number of times that the burst guy would take away a three-point play. The real value of the burst player is when he commits a foul that doesn't generate free throws. Without the "MADE?" Mechanic on Heated Play, if a team is already in the bonus, then the burst guy's not taking away any points. The other team is going to shoot free throws anyway. Those were (and still are, I think) strong arguments to go with the "MADE" interpretation.

Ultimately, though--despite the above rationale--I made an "executive decision" to go with the Heated Play auto-miss rule that's expressed on the FACs. I felt like the five and six quality circle-star guys would routinely make too many and-ones. I also felt like it nudged the shooting percentages up a but, since a MADE shot is counted as an attempt and a basket, while a "missed" result doesn't count as a miss. So, I went with my gut on this one, the play-testers weren't involved. Nor was my rules-proofer Andy Lewis. This decision WAS made pretty late in the process, and I just forgot to amend the rules booklet. Again, totally on me, and I'm sorry for the confusion.

It appears that most people followed the FACs and blog post instead of the rules. Good! Hopefully it will assuage some hurt feelings that if you've played according to the instructions (rather than what's on the FACs), you are playing it the way WE played it for most of play-testing.

In fact, if you don't want to abandon the concept entirely, you can play that if the number one referee has either the STRICT or QUESTIONABLE quality, instead of a "missed," it's a MADE? result. It's difficult to make a shot when actually fouled, and it's reasonable to assume that STRICT referees are going to call more "phantom" fouls, which are then more likely to be made.

Again, apologies for the confusion. As I've mentioned before, the design process for this game was ANYTHING but linear. That is to say, we did a lot of "two steps forward, one step back" and "sharp left turn" kinds of development. Still, I'm very sorry that the rules were unclear on this point.

And now? PLAAY on!...