Two of my holy grails when it comes to designing games are football management simulations, and games using ordinary packs of cards. The latter because cards are fairly ubiquitous and can usually be produced at a moment’s notice, and the former because, well, I just like the idea of managing a football team! So let’s try combining the two ideas.

It seems obvious that each card will represent an individual member of a team (to avoid confusion, let’s call the team members, that is characters in the game, ‘players’ and the real, live people playing the game, pretending to be football managers, ‘managers’.) Managers will assemble a hand, or squad of players from which they will select teams to play against the teams of other mangers in league and or knock out competitions.

Each card has two attributes, a suit and a rank. One can be used to represent a player’s best position within a team (attacker, defender, left or right side) and the other his general quality from no-hoper to superstar. One problem is that there are only fifty two cards available; not even enough for five teams of eleven, and for a meaningful league surely six to eight teams would be a must. So how about a five-a-side competition, where each team fields only four outfield players?Divide the playing field into a three by three grid, with an extra space representing the goal. 

Number the spaces like this:

The top row of squares represent attack, the middle row midfield, and the bottom row defence. The three columns represent the left side, centre and right side. To select a team, a manager plays five cards (players) from his hand into four of the outfield spaces on the pitch, plus one goalkeeper (square one). A player may only be placed in the space which has his number, or in an adjacent space, orthogonally or diagonally, the exception being the goalkeeper: a goalkeeper (ace card) can ONLY be played in goal, and no other player may be placed in space one. .

That leaves the four suits, which can represent the skill of each player. Make hearts the highest level, that is, the most skilful players, then clubs, third diamonds and finally spades. For season one, anyway; after each season, rotate the suit levels to represent players ageing and new blood coming in, and generally mix things up a bit over time.

Now then, the twelve picture cards, jacks, queens and kings, represent the potential formations available to a team. As well as the five player cards, a manager should play one picture or tactic card which indicates which formation the team will employ and hence where the four outfield players will play. Note a manager can hold several picture cards and thus have the flexibility to select the appropriate tactics for any opponent, but if he has only one then of course he will be stuck with playing the same formation every match. To play a match, then, the two opposing teams’ players and tactics are compared, the goals scored by each side calculated and the winner determined. Play a number of matches to complete a season and there you are.

So for some detail.

1. From an ordinary pack of cards, separate the twelve picture cards. Deal one at random to each manager. Shuffle the remaining picture card back into the pack, and deal each manager a further seven cards. Draw up a list of fixtures in whatever format is decided upon (league, knockout, combination) and give each manager twenty pounds.

2. Each manager now examines his squad of players and tactic cards, removing from his hand any he chooses not to keep. These are placed face down under any cards remaining from the deal. Note each manager MUST keep at least one tactic card. Turn over and offer at auction, one at a time, a number of cards equal to the number of managers. The highest bidder takes the card, and pays the amount bid into the bank. When the appropriate number of cards have been auctioned, or when there are no more card left, each manager reveals the cards he chose to retain from the original deal, and pays for them at the rate of four pounds per heart, three pounds per club, two pounds per diamond and one pound per spade. Tactic cards are free. A manager who is unable to pay for his squad must sell players back to the bank for half the rate given above, until he is able to pay for those he has left.

3. Generate a fixture list. For a league competition, each team should play every other team, once at home, once away. No team should play more that two matches in a row either at home or away, and teams should never play each other twice in consecutive matches. To play a knockout tournament, teams to play each other should be drawn at random, the first team of each pair to be drawn being deemed the home team. These matches should be interspersed between the fixtures of the league tournament. If there are not enough teams for either a league of a cup tournament, dummy teams can be generated to ‘pad out’ the number (see below).

4. To play a match, one of the participating mangers will be the home side, the other away. The home team starts the match on zero goals, the away team starts on minus two to simulate home advantage. Each manager then lays face down in a pile six cards; on top, the tactic card he has chosen to use for this match, then the goalkeeper card, then the four outfield players in order of the position they will play as detailed below. Teams are revealed simultaneously.

5. Tactic card played                 Position of outfield players

The number of the player placed in each position must be either be the same as the number in that space, or of one of the spaces adjacent to it orthogonally or diagonally. Should a manager be unable to place a player in the position required by the tactic card, a reserve player of level zero will be assumed to occupy that space. Any of a teams five players who’s number exactly matches the number of the space into which he has been placed receives a level increase, for this match, of one. A player who has two or more team mates in adjacent spaces, receives a level increase for this match of one. These level increases are cumulative, thus a level four number nine player placed in space nine, with a tactic card K § so having team mates in spaces 6, 8 and T, will be elevated for this match to level six. Reserve players receive no level increases, nor do they contribute to the ‘two or more’ requirement for level increases to team mates. Goalkeepers, who must always be played in space number one, does not receive the level increase from being in that space, although they do receive a level increase if they are adjacent to two or more team mates.

6. Once the positions and adjusted levels of the players on each team have been determined, decide for each one whether or not there is an opposing player in his space - that is, for a player who has been placed for example in space five, is there an opposing player in that teams space seven. If there is an opposing player, the adjusted levels of the two players are compared, the higher level player wins. If there is no opposing player, the player is classed as ‘unmarked’ and has an automatic win. Level zero reserve players can only win if laying in an unopposed position.

Opposed win - player is in defence Deduct one goal from opponent

Opposed win - player is in midfield Score half goal, deduct half goal from opponent

Opposed win - player is in attack Score one goal

Automatic win - player is in defence Deduct two goals from opponent

Automatic win - player is in midfield Score one goal, deduct one goal from opponent Automatic win - player is in attack Score two goals

If a team’s goalkeeper is of adjusted level four or above, deduct two goals from the opposition. If the goalkeeper is of one to three, deduct one goal from the opposition. Level zero (i.e. Reserve) goalkeepers have no effect.

7. After all players on both teams have been adjudged as above, each manager takes a card from the pack. This is to simulate the overall luck factor that has a part in every match: if the card is the current top ranked suit, that team takes one extra goal. If it is the current bottom ranked suit, that team loses one goal. Levels three and two suits have no effect at this point. If the number of the card taken matches a space on the pitch into which that manager placed a player, that player is injured and must miss the next match. Picture cards have no effect at this point. Any half goals are now rounded down, and any negative scores rounded up to zero to give the final result. Return the two cards drawn to the bottom of the pack.

8. After each round of matches (no transfer window nonsense in this game), draw the top card from the pack, reveal it, return it to the bottom of the pack, then offer for auction one by one a number of players / tactic cards equal to the level of that card. The highest bidder for each player pays the amount bid into the bank and takes that player into his squad. The bank will accept player cards as part or whole payment; the value to the bank of a player is equal to his level, in pounds. During and after the bank auctions players and tactic cards may be freely traded between managers (so long as each manager always retains at least one tactic card). Finally, give each manager one pound (gate money) and give each manager who spent nothing on transfers this time a further pound (for wise investment - idea stolen from Fireside Football). Teams who do not play in cup fixtures due to having been knocked out in an earlier round receive no gate money, but may participate in that turn’s transfer market as usual.

9. If a dummy team is required, draw one card from the pack. If the card drawn is a picture, the dummy team plays using that formation as given above, all players being assumed to be level two. If the card drawn is a number, convert it to a picture by assuming an ace, two, three or four to be a jack, five six or seven a queen, and eight nine or ten a king. The dummy team then play in this formation with each player at level one.

9. When a season is complete, award the winning manager twenty pounds, the runner up ten. If a knockout cup competition has been running alongside the league tournament, give the winner of the cup fifteen pounds, the runner up five. Rotate the suit levels, to represent players ageing and new blood coming in. Actually, to make these level changes smoother, after an odd-numbered season, swap the level four suit with the level three suit, and the level two with the level one. After even - numbered seasons, swap the level three with the level two suit. This should make each suit gradually climb to the top rank then slowly sink to the bottom rather than plummeting suddenly from top to bottom.

10. After a predetermined number of seasons, the manager who has won the most trophies - say, two points for winning the league, one for winning the cup - can be declared the winner.