The game of Statis Pro evolved quite a bit even over its fairly short history of about 12 years. By the time the 1992 set was released (or was it?) the rules had moved on to the 6th edition, and ABC even extended this to the 7th edition with their TableTop football which was basically just Statis Pro with some options and changes bolted on top. I'm sure that anyone who played the game for any amount of time came up with lots of ideas for new rules and strategies that they used in their games and hopefully we can collate these together on this site, categorise them and discuss and refine them so that anyone can find this resource, pick out the things they like the look of and add it to their Statis Pro games.

It's always a fine line between micro simulation of every single factor that makes up a typical NFL play and macro simulation of play by play results as typified by Statis Pro. While custom rules and additions certainly can increase the enjoyment of the game, it's easy to become too obsessed with the fine detail that ends up making the game last far too long and become much less fun.

Statis Pro can already take a fair amount of time whether you play it face to face or with the solitaire option, so you have to give some thought when using custom rules to how much it will impact the game speed and flow of play, as well as being very careful not to unbalance the system. In general any new rules that increase the likelihood of something good happening for a team should be balanced so that an unfavourable result occurs more or less with the same frequency. Some rules might even make the play simpler and faster, and that is usually a good thing

Jim Gordon published an article that most Statis Pro enthusiasts are familiar with, this brought in a range of new options including stuff on pass patterns and QB checkdown options that seemed to be very popular. He also devised a much better solitaire system than appeared on the FAC cards and included a solitaire offense chart too, very useful since solitaire games don't really feel great when you are calling the offense for both teams. You can understand the problems when I play Washington v Dallas, the game is close and Dallas has the ball and is driving. I'm not really going to want to pull out all the stops to win it for the Cowpokes am I?

There are many areas of the game I feel could be improved, and I'm sure you all have your own opinions too. What is true is that Statis Pro provides a great footballing experience 'out of the box' and you can certainly have a great game without making any rule adjustments at all. The main point is of course that it's entirely up to you what you do or don't include as options or changes. As long as everyone involved in the game agrees before you start, there's not a problem, and by playing with these additions you will quickly find out what works and what doesn't. I am very keen to hear all about your custom rules and modifications, I will try to keep things categorised so you can find what you want easily.

 

A comprehensive resource listing all the official Statis Pro rulebooks from the original 1980 set to the latest set of rules which were the 6th edition published along with the infamous 1992 set. 7th edition rules were created by ABC as part of their Tabletop Football game which was basically Statis Pro with Jim Gordon's options plus some new rules and extensions. Full rulebooks will be posted and discussed along with a commentary on the additions and updates as each ruleset came into play. I will also be posting these rulesets in schematic form so that you can follow the flow of action for the main play types. The Fast Action card deck will also be posted and summarised.

This will include Jim Gordon's famous article on options in Statis Pro football as well as a huge resource of alternative rules, options and strategies designed by myself as well as other Statis Pro enthusiasts. Each addition will be discussed in detail with commentary on how the feature is expected to affect gameplay and the motivation for the changes. This will include whole new rules and systems as well as modifications and tweaks to the original system

A large section on solitaire play which will include very detailed play selection charts as per the Jim Gordon article as well as custom variations designed to simulate particular offenses such as the West Coast, or Joe Gibbs offense, as well as defenses like the famous Chicago 46 defense. I hope to include an online version of the solitaire play caller as well as a standalone program you can run. Of course, with SPFBWin available thanks to Alex Mittermeyer most likely any solitaire play you run will be using this fantastic computer version.

This will detail the basic lineups on both sides of the ball as well as introduce a whole new set of formations and lineups that can be used in the game. This will also include custom plays that can be run from these formations as well as full rules on how each lineup affects play resolution on both offense and defense. There will also be an analysis of the various formations and strategies in Statis Pro and how they stack up against each other including the average yards you can expect per play and percentage probabilities for success for various combinations of offense and defense

Last update: 7th March, 2003 © Lee Harris