Mac Pro Football

An American football coaching simulation, Mac Pro Football's object is to put you down on the grass, pacing the side-line, banging your clipboard and shouting. It's a playoff game, maybe the championship; you get to choose the teams. Want to play the Packers against the Bears in 1980? Or the 1972 Dolphins against the 1985 Dolphins? Or maybe just the last quarter of Super Bowl X? The teams are all here, each team and key player rated with a single number, though you can build more detailed stats from your own games. Choose from nine or ten strategies at each play, out-thinking either a hot-seat opponent or three levels of computerized coaches. You can even draw out the pass pattern using the Mac's new point-and-click interface.

The display is split four ways: (1) a play diagram exactly like your clipboard shows the line-up you've selected, and the motion as it plays out; (2) a gauge of the ball's position on the field; (3) a scoreboard with the details of the last play; and (4) a summary of play statistics to put numbers behind your gut instincts. A real-time play clock adds pressure to the simulation: you can change your mind, but it takes time to lay out the play again. Penalties are rare, and cannot be declined.

Created over the course of four years by a former college player, the simulation evinces a love of the history of the professional game. You can replay the first twenty Super Bowls, guided by a technical reference typical of Avalon Hill's war simulations from the same era. Weather is detailed, for you to select, or the computer to generate, unless the home team has a dome. Uniquely, you can change the parameters mid-game, not just the weather, but even the score, time, down, and ball position. The focus is to challenge you as a coach to make the right decision, even if it's a guess.