The Beautiful Game (2006)

Overview

The Beautiful Game is a soccer replay game that simulates the highlights of a soccer match.

Each game played simulates goal chances of the teams during a match by using statistical team ratings and dice rolls. The player can play a single match, or with multiple games, simulate an entire league season. Many expansion sets of additional leagues and championships are available separately.

The basic game is simple and short (usually under 5 minutes), only determining if goals have been scored during the match by using the two teams' attack and defense ratings, chance cards, and a die rolls to see if a goal was scored. Additional rules add the ability to identify scoring players and the time of the goal, and noting injuries and suspensions of players.

From the publisher's site: The Beautiful Game has been awarded the TABLETOP GAME OF THE DECADE by Jamie Marshall's 'Sports Digest'

The game includes the most current English Premier League teams available at time of printing

Watch a football match, live or on television, enjoy the action, the mid-field struggle,the joy of victory for your team, the despair of defeat, but a few hours after the final whistle what do you remember ? I suspect mainly the dramatic bits, the goals, the great saves, the near misses, the chances scorned. So that's exactly what you get in 'The Beautiful Game', those brief moments that decided the match, for better or worse, the bits that make up your memories, the talking points, the incidents that stay with you at least until next match day.

'The Beautiful Game' (henceforward 'BG') is an accurate replay game, accurate in results that is, and goal scorers, but unlike most soccer replay games it requires no user-decisions (which will appeal to some but not all) and is fast to play, just four to ten minutes per match, depending on how much you want to know in terms of stats.

For 'BG' is a layer game, three layers in this case, the basic quick-result is layer one, add on some personality with goal scorers, times of goals, that's layer two, and get involved in some simple book-keeping by recording (generic) bookings and injuries and rewarding winning form, plus adding some 'joining up' commentary, that's layer three. Even with all three layers most matches will take no more than 6-7 minutes, unless it's a real cracker !