Real Deal Football™ - Rules:

Real Deal FootballT (RDF™) uses specialized Big Play™ and Wild cards to directly involve the players with the excitement on the football field.

Watch players root against their favorite team to win the hand!

How to Play

  •  Ante up to get a hand of RDF™ cards.
    • Number of cards per hand varies based on number of players
  •  Watch the action on the field for a Big Play™ event (TD, fumble, etc.)
  •  Win the hand by holding the matching Big Play™ card
  •  Receive all the tokens for that hand.
  •  Return the cards, and ante up for another hand.
  •  Match a Wild card to instantly win tokens while the hand continues.
  •  Hold the most tokens at the end of the game to be the big winner.

Required to Play:

  •  4 - 20 Players
  •  1 or 2 Real Deal Football™ card decks. (2 decks are recommended: See Dealing Procedure)
  •  2 - 60 RDF™ card decks:
    •  1 Red deck
    •  1 Blue deck
  • Each deck contains:
    •  48 - Big Play™ cards - 24 events per team
    •  12 - Wild cards
  •  RDF™ dealing guide. View PDF flie
  •  Box for the RDF™ token pot.
  •  Box for Wild Card pot.
  •  20 tokens per person (any item of your choice, e.g. matchsticks, chips, coins, etc.).

Before the game:

Designate 2 players as:

  •  Manager (M)
  •  Dealer (D)

The Manager and Dealer are critical to the success of the game. They should be familiar with the rules and procedures of the game. It is also a good idea to discuss the logistics of how tokens and cards will be handled during the party. The FAQ has some useful strategies.

Before each half starts: (M), (D) Follow the Dealing procedure.

Dealing Procedure (M), (D)

Manager (M)

  1. Receives one token from each player to be placed into Big Play™ pot.
  2. Receives one token from each player to be placed into the wild card pot. Repeat at half time.
  3. Counts tokens and informs Dealer of number of tokens in play.
  4. Helps Dealer distribute hands.
Dealer (D) - Keeping the cards face down.
  1. Shuffles the Big Play™ and Wild cards separately
  2. Determines the number of cards per person to be dealt based on number of tokens in the RDF™ pot. (Refer to the "Dealer's Guide")
  3. Adds the appropriate number of Wild cards to the deck so players have an equal number of cards.
    • Some combinations of players will produce hands without Wild cards.
  4. Deals and distributes the hands.

After the cards have been dealt, they do not have to be kept hidden from view.

2nd Deck: (D)

Use the second deck to stay ahead of the game. (Highly recommended)

  •  While a hands is in play follow Dealing procedure steps (D)1-3.
  •  Prepare deck for the next hand based on an estimate of players for the hand.
  •  Make any corrections based on Managers token count and follow Dealing procedure steps (D)3-4.

Game On (M)

A hand is not viable until all players have received their hands and the Manager declares Game On.

Big Play™ winner

When an event depicted on a Big Play™ card occurs:

Wild card winner:

When an event depicted on a Wild card occurs:

  •  (M) The Manager declares the winning card and play continues.
  •  (M) 2 tokens from the pot are awarded to the player holding the winning Wild card.
    • 1 token is awarded for a "Free Play" card.
  •  (M) Winning Wild card is returned to the dealer.
  •  (D) Do not re-deal.

Double Pot (DP)

2 events create a double pot.

  •  Quarterback Sacks and Safeties.
  •  (M) Manager declares the Double Pot event and play continues.
  •  (M) Collects 1 token from each player for the RDF™ pot.
  •  (D) Do not re-deal.

Precedence: (M)

If 2 or more Big Play™ events occur on one play:

  •  The card depicting the 1st event of the play wins.
    •  Scenerio: Team 1 Intercepts but then Fumbles and team 2 recovers the ball.
       The Intercepts card for team 1 wins over Recovers Fumble card for team 2.
  •  The Red Flag card trumps all other Big Play™ cards for that event.
    •  Scenerio: Team 1 fumbles and team 2 recovers. A coach throws a red flag onto the field to challenge the call. That coach’s team’s Red Flag Trumps All card wins over the Fumble Recovered card, whether the play is overturned or not.
A printer-friendly version of the rules is available here: RDF™ Rules. View PDF flie