''RealSports Football'' is a 1982

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

video game Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This fee ...

made by

Atari, Inc. Atari, Inc. was an American video game developer and home computer company founded in 1972 by Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney. Atari was a key player in the formation of the video arcade and video game industry. Based primarily around the Sunny ...

for the Atari 2600. Versions for the Atari 5200 and

Atari 8-bit family The Atari 8-bit family is a series of 8-bit home computers introduced by Atari, Inc. in 1979 as the Atari 400 and Atari 800. The series was successively upgraded to Atari 1200XL , Atari 600XL, Atari 800XL, Atari 65XE, Atari 130XE, Atari 800XE, ...

followed in 1983. It is part of the ''

RealSports ''RealSports'' is a series of sports video games originally developed and published Atari, Inc. The first games were released in 1982 for the Atari 2600, then the series expanded to the Atari 5200, Atari 7800, and Atari 8-bit family. By the earl ...

'' series of games. ''RealSports Football'' presents a simplified version of football for play. Players in the game cannot go out of bounds or fumble the football, and there are no penalties in the game. A

touchdown A touchdown (abbreviated as TD) is a scoring play in gridiron football. Whether running, passing, returning a kickoff or punt, or recovering a turnover, a team scores a touchdown by advancing the ball into the opponent's end zone. In Ameri ...

automatically scores 7 points; there is no kicking for extra points.

Gameplay

Each game is 15 minutes long and is played on a standard 100-yard football field. There are no kickoffs, and each side is given five players. The team on the offensive side of the ball has a

quarterback The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Ame ...

, a flanker, and three offensive linemen (a center and two guards); the user controls the one with the ball. The team on defense has two

defensive line In gridiron football, a lineman is a player who specializes in play at the line of scrimmage. The linemen of the team currently in possession of the ball are the offensive line, while linemen on the opposing team are the defensive line. A numbe ...

men, two

cornerback A cornerback (CB) is a member of the defensive backfield or secondary in gridiron football. Cornerbacks cover receivers most of the time, but also blitz and defend against such offensive running plays as sweeps and reverses. They create tur ...

s, and one

linebacker Linebacker (LB) is a playing position in gridiron football. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and line up three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage and the defensive linemen. They are the "middle ground" of defenders, p ...

, which the user controls. On offense, the user is given these choices for plays: pass left, pass right, run or kick. The game does not recognize a handoff (the usual method of a running play) and has no

running back A running back (RB) is a member of the offensive backfield in gridiron football. The primary roles of a running back are to receive American football plays#Offensive terminology, handoffs from the quarterback to Rush (American football)#Offen ...

, although the quarterback is allowed to scramble. After the play is selected, the user presses the joystick button to snap the ball and start play. Once the quarterback lets go of the ball on a passing play, user control immediately moves to the receiver. To pass or kick the ball, the user presses the joystick button, and to navigate the field, the user moves the joystick. In kicking, the game does not differentiate a punt from a

field goal A field goal (FG) is a means of scoring in gridiron football. To score a field goal, the team in possession of the ball must place kick, or drop kick, the ball through the goal, i.e., between the uprights and over the crossbar. The entire ba ...

kick. Also, there are no kick returns — where the ball lands on a punt are where the opponent starts to play, unless it enters the end zone or counts as a field goal, in which case play starts on the 20-yard line. On defense, there are more choices: full-out blitz, left cornerback cover, right cornerback cover, and

prevent Prevention may refer to: Health and medicine * Preventive healthcare, measures to prevent diseases or injuries rather than curing them or treating their symptoms General safety * Crime prevention, the attempt to reduce deter crime and crimin ...

(both cornerbacks deep).

Interception In ball-playing competitive team sports, an interception or pick is a move by a player involving a pass of the ball—whether by foot or hand, depending on the rules of the sport—in which the ball is intended for a player of the same team b ...

s are incorporated into the game, but play is called dead when one occurs, and possession is turned over to the interceptor. Seven points are scored for a

, three for a successful field goal, and two for a

safety Safety is the state of being "safe", the condition of being protected from harm or other danger. Safety can also refer to risk management, the control of recognized hazards in order to achieve an acceptable level of risk. Meanings There are ...

. After each score, the opposing team gains possession at their own 20-yard line. The scoreboard shows a maximum score of 99 per team, but hitting that limit does not stop the game. The Novice and Expert switches affect the speed of the players on each side of the ball, as well as receivers' ability to catch a pass if the player is human.

Development

The 2600 version's programming was assigned to Rob Zdybel. Atari asked him that the game should display 22 players at once, but according to Zdybel that was impossible if the players were to move. The 5200 and Atari 8-bit versions were handled by Jim Huether, who wanted to work on a football game since he joined Atari. Development of these versions took about one year, Huether did the design, the programming, the sounds, and even the first draft of the manual himself. He had to demonstrate the game to

Steven Spielberg Steven Allan Spielberg (; born December 18, 1946) is an American director, writer, and producer. A major figure of the New Hollywood era and pioneer of the modern blockbuster, he is the most commercially successful director of all time. Spie ...

and the senior management of Atari when Spielberg visited Atari.

Reception

''RealSports Football'' received a Certificate of Merit for "1984 Best Sports Videogame" at the 5th annual

Arkie Awards An electronic game is a game A game is a structured form of play (activity), play, usually undertaken for enjoyment, entertainment or fun, and sometimes used as an educational tool. Many games are also considered to be work (such as pro ...

Legacy

The

intellectual property Intellectual property (IP) is a category of property that includes intangible creations of the human intellect. There are many types of intellectual property, and some countries recognize more than others. The best-known types are patents, cop ...

rights for the game passed to Hasbro Interactive and were subsequently bought by Infogrames in 2001, which was subsequently re-named Atari SA. In 2018 the game was re-released by AtGames on their ''Flashback portable'' platform.

References

External links

''RealSports Football''
for the Atari 8-bit family at Atari Mania

for the Atari 2600 at Atari Mania {{RealSports series 1982 video games American football video games Atari 2600 games Atari 5200 games Atari 8-bit family games North America-exclusive video games Multiplayer and single-player video games Video games developed in the United States