Football Strategy (1959)

Football-themed game in which the player on defense secretly chooses a play, then the player on offense chooses a play, then players look at a chart to find out the result.

Football Strategy (1962) Revised 1965, 1972, 1980
Prior existing published design redesigned by Avalon Hill
Designed by Tom Shaw

The matrix game system has been imitated many times in dozens of games since, but none ever quite matched the brilliance of this simple design. The revisions have been mere fine tuning of a game which undergoes constant evolution in the AH R&D offices--the site of the AHFSL: a 28 member league which plays out the actual NFL schedule with yearly franchise fees of $31.