Football

This four-on-four football game focuses on high scoring touchdowns and defensive safeties. Field goals are not included, so go for the big score in this two-player game!

About the Game

The game’s packaging featured football players in helmets and pads, but the appeal of Atari’s Football is that it resembles the sort of pick up football game played in sandlots and backyards: four-on-four games played on a field nowhere near 100 yards long. What qualifies someone as an eligible receiver on offense? Does it matter? Everyone go deep!

The games may not have been pretty (the resemblance to football at times was superficial at best), but nothing matched the excitement from those plays where everything went exactly as planned. What greater joy was there than watching the shocked expression on an opponent’s face after you scored the go-ahead touchdown or picked off their last-ditch pass and sealed your victory? That feeling wasn’t diminished because it happened in in front of the television set.

Object of the Game

Score more points than your opponent.

How to Play

The game clock at the top-center of the playfield begins counting down from 5:00. The clock counts down while the ball is live and stops between plays. The number at top-left is the orange player’s score, while the number at top-right is the white player’s score.

The small arrow under the game clock points to the team with possession of the ball. The number to the left of the white player’s score is the down indicator. The question mark (?) beneath each score is a reminder to program your play; it disappears after doing so. The play automatically begins seconds after both players have entered a play formation.

The left player’s orange team begins on offense and drives toward the goal line at the bottom of the screen. The right player’s white team begins on defense. On offense, the white team drives toward the goal line at the top of the screen.

The offensive player has four downs to get the ball past the first down marker, which appears as a dark blue line on-screen. When the offense moves the ball past the first down marker, they receive another four downs. After scoring or punting, your opponent receives the ball and becomes the offensive team.

To tackle an opposing player, move one of your players into the opponent’s ball carrier. If your opponent attempts a pass, you can intercept it by moving one of your players into the ball’s path.

The offensive team scores a touchdown (seven points) by moving the ball past the opponent’s goal line. The defensive team can score a touchdown by intercepting an offensive team’s pass and moving the ball past the offensive team’s goal line. If a player gets tackled behind his own goal line, the result is a safety (two points). After a safety, the team that scored the safety is awarded possession of the ball near midfield.

Calling Plays

There are five offensive plays and five defensive plays.

The offensive plays are:

• Split Left
• Tight Right
• Split Right
• Tight Left
• Punt

The defensive plays are:

• Wide Left
• Tight Right
• Wide Right
• Tight Left
• Deep

Left and right refer to the side of the television screen as you face it, so the orange team will move to its right despite the play stating it goes left.

The first word in each play (Tight and Split/Wide) indicates how your linemen set up. Tight means your players are essentially shoulder to shoulder. Split and Wide mean there’s a gap between the center and the linemen on both sides.

The second word in each play (Left and Right) provides two pieces of information. First, it indicates which side of the formation your quarterback or defensive back lines up before the snap. Second, your blockers will push in that direction.

Push up on the joystick to call Split Left (offense) or Wide Left (defense). Push right on the joystick to call Tight Right. Push down on the joystick to call Split Right (offense) or Wide Right (defense). Push left on the joystick to call Tight Left. Press the red button to call Punt (offense) or Deep (defense).

Difficulty Options

When placed in the A position, your players cannot move from side to side as quickly as in the B position. This handicaps a more experienced player.

Game Options

All three games in Football are designed for two players.

For Game 1, on offense you control the player possessing the ball and the flight of the ball during a pass or punt. After a completed pass, control automatically switches to the player who catches the pass. On defense, you control the defensive line as a unit unless you press the red button, which switches control to the defensive back.

In Game 2, players not under your control follow the play you selected exactly as programmed.

After you choose a play in Game 3, you have no control over the players. On offense, you only control when the ball is passed, but otherwise can’t move players or influence the flight of the ball in the air.