The League - the Football Card Game (2005)

"Some people believe football is a matter of life and death. I'm very disappointed with that attitude. I can assure them, it is much, much more important than that." - Bill Shankly

In The League players take turns playing cards to attempt to build up an attack culminating in a shot on the opponent's goal or to foil that attack with a well placed tackle or save. The two-player game pits the players head to head where the 4-player game has two players per team working as a partnership. Each player starts with 7 cards, replacing cards played with cards from the deck and the game comes to an end after one run through the deck.

The cards are divided into attacking cards eg. Pass, Dribble, Shoot, defending cards eg. Tackle, Save, referee cards, eg. Offside, Penalty, and wonder cards, eg. Wonder Goal, Wonder Save. The side with possession aims to build up a series of attacking cards leading to a shot thundering past the opponent's keeper, the defending side tries to get possession with a tackle or to get the keeper on the end of the shot with a save card. Tackles have the risk of being countered by a referee dishing out a yellow or a red card or even a penalty which can only be saved by a Wonder Save.

The game plays in under half an hour and makes for a good filler especially with football fans.