APBA Pro Football

APBA Football, launched in 1958 by APBA Games founder Richard Seitz, is one of the oldest, if not the oldest, statistics-based play-by-play football board games. The game features individual season sets for the NFL from 1957 to the present, as well as a special 1949 AAFC set and an out-of-print 1955 NFL set. APBA also produces numerous NCAA football sets.

How it works:

The game features individual player cards you assemble into starting offensive and defensive rosters like their real-life counterparts. In its out-of-the-box form, offense of Team A is compared to the defense of Team B to determine the offense's index for results: A (best), B (standard), C (worst). Players are rated from 5 (most) to 1 (least) points, and their statistical performance is then reflected by dice results in multifunction R, P and K columns that refer gamers to separate charts for play outcomes.

APBA Football has endured into the 21st century with the same mechanics as the original but evolving with numerous offensive and defensive updates to emulate the various eras of American professional football.

The game has been the focus of annual football tournaments by the APBA company since 2016 at its headquarters in Alpharetta, Georgia, and by the APBA Football Club (2013, 2023-present) at the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

[Watch a quick demo of a vintage 1974 game: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I0Y4LUyKnS4]