This is a card solitaire game in which matching cards allows your offense or defense to do their job in the game. Match enough and you'll have the forward motion you need for a first down on offense. On defense, you'll stop the opposing player's advance.

Having to draw a card carries the possibility of a "Big Play", a short text event that can end the play or change it significantly. And it might not end in your favor! Your draws are unlimited on offense, with a high possibility of a Big Play, but on defense you have a limited number, with a lower possibility of the play ending suddenly. This makes for an interesting dynamic, with poor play leading to even good defenses collapsing. The mechanic forces you to allow your opponent some gains, and hopefully you can hold them to less than they need for a first down without drawing.

Another mechanic has you attempting to guess your opponent's play call (run or pass, it's not complicated) before each play. Each team has stats for running, passing, special teams and the like, so you can predict somewhat how they will play. If you guess correctly, you get an extra card slot for the play, which is a big advantage.

Teams are tracked through a season and rated relative to each other. Don't pick a weak team hoping to play it up, at least not to start with. That's a sure path to disappointment.

There are three difficulty levels, which affect the basic yard totals for plays based on your play guessing, and this is a solitaire game, so no multiplayer.

The football mechanics are notional - you need forty yards to complete a first down. Why? Because this helps shorten the game so that a hand of solitaire is not an hour long. :-) There are still halves and quarters, and punts and field goal attempts.

This is a fun game of football and cards, enjoyable whether you understand football or not. Buy it! You'll like it.

I thought I'd share a summary of my full review here. [www.oneguytoomanygames.com]

I didn't really have any expectations going into Gridiron Solitaire. I knew a little about it, but none of the details. For such an abstract representation of football, it does a great job at capturing the flavor. This is one of the more enjoyable games I've played for a game with such simple mechanics. While I thought the matching mechanics were too simplistic, managing the Big Plays was great fun. I was getting excited both when things did and didn't work out for me. Bill Harris included so many little touches that just tickled my shoulder pads - not the hideous 1980s women's shoulder pads, but the cool football ones.

Mr. Harris does have plans to continue to improve the game, but I don't have any details about what may be included in the updates.

If you sometimes like to relax with a more casual game and don't mind games with a good chunk of luck, consider purchasing Gridiron Football.

I have only played 8 games or so thus far, but I am really really enjoying it. Who knew that solitaire could be so engaging. I love the football theme. While I loved Fairway Solitaire, I think this is even better. Without even noticing, I burned through two hours of fun. It definitely benefits from the "one more game" syndrome.

What a wonderful game!

I was very conflicted buying this game since I love American football but hate solitaire. Luckily, this game actually manages to capture the feel of football in a way I honestly didn't expect. This game is definitely well worth the money.

An incredibly fun solitaire game with a cool sports slant. The "Big Play" button is a huge gamble that draws me in every time and there's definite tension as the random text events are "revealed". I'm impressed by how the game captures the back-and-forth feel of football. I just had a terrific come-from-behind victory early in my league career that I felt like I really earned.

That's right. Earning it. Tension. Back-and-forth.... in a solitaire game. Not a bad accomplishment.

I cannot recommend this game enough. It somehow manages to capture the essence of a great football game in a solitaire card game package. Besides the great gameplay at a great price, the story of how Bill Harris developed this game from no knowledge to the finished product is well woth supporting.

Gridiron Solitaire does a great job of emulating the rhythms of the game -- the push and pull, the big plays that are alternately exhilarating and heartbreaking. It also plays very well on a touchscreen.

There aren't a lot of American Football games on Steam, probably because EA has a lock on the NFL with its Madden series. Whatever the case, when a football game like Gridiron Solitaire appears here, it's a rare sight to behold. What's even more unusual is that the gameplay in this title is via a card game.

If you've ever played Fairway Solitaire (or any of the million similar games out there), you know how this version of Solitaire works. Suit doesn't matter (in fact, I don't think it even exists in GS), but color does matter. You need to alternate between black and red cards, as well as choosing a number above or below the face-up card on the deck itself.

What happens if nothing works? Well, it depends if you're on defense or offense.

When you're defense, you can hit the "Big Play" button to bring up a new card (or in rare cases, an event), but you have limited use of this. A finite number of uses, denoted by green dots, are supplied each half, not quarter. So use them sparingly.

On offense, the "Big Play" button appears again, but this time it's infinite in its uses. While that sounds good, in practice you'll get an event that somehow harms you roughly 99.9% of the time. In most cases, this involves your runner being blocked or knocked down, or your quarterback being sacked. Sometimes, however, you can also fumble or be intercepted, both of which are terrible, especially if near your own end zone.

You don't get to choose actual running or passing plays. Instead, you pick which you'll attempt (run vs pass), and if the AI guesses your action, you'll lose a card, plus it'll reduce and limit any gains in yardage you might acquire in that round. That doesn't mean it's impossible to get anywhere — I have made a running a play that eventually turned into a touchdown, even though the AI figured out my play ahead of time — just that it's generally more difficult.

When you're on defense, you do the same to the AI. In this case, you'll simply limit and reduce their gains, since the AI doesn't use cards.

All the teams are fictional, but you can edit their cities, names, and colors. This means if you want real teams, the only thing stopping you is a little effort on your part to rename and recolor them. That said, I don't believe you can rename players, but it doesn't really seem to matter anyway.

Every team has stats (ex: run offense, pass offense, run defense, pass defense, and special teams) that dictate your chances in a game. These stats can and do change, and will be affected by draft choices.

In my own experience, whatever stats your team or the opposing team has produces a minimal effect. What mostly matters is chance and whatever strategy you employ.

You can have five seasons saved before you need to delete one to open a slot. Saving the game only occurs before and after a game, as well as during half-time. Given that GS is turn-based, this shouldn't be too much of a problem for most people, but if you find yourself needing to shut down your computer or close Steam, you might lose your progress up to that point. To tell you the truth, I don't know for sure because that's never happened to me yet.

Would I recommend Gridiron Solitaire? I'd say "cautiously yes."

It's very irritating how much chance (especially when using the "Big Play" button on offense) affects the outcome of any play or game, but in real life, sports have always had a "luck" factor to them that's difficult to emulate in a computer game.

Regardless, I wish that using the "Big Play" button would actually result in a positive outcome every once in a while. Whenever I use it now, I cringe and turn away, not surprised in the least when there's a negative result.

Having said all of that, it's a very entertaining Solitaire title and introduces several game mechanics not seen in other similar games. I don't know if this will truly satisfy anyone who's been longing for an American Football game on the PC or who's a die-hard Pro/College fan, but for most gamers who either have a passing interest in American Football, Solitaire (or both), I feel that Gridiron Solitaire works nicely.

Not sure what tweaks have been done to the game since the other reviewers played it, but this is a definite thumbs down.

Supposedly, you make good yards when the computer guesses wrong, and very little, if any, if it guesses right on offense. On defense it is supposed to be the same. But it doesn't work that way. When on defense, and you guess wrong, the computer opponent STARTS OUT with a 25 yard gain, and it takes solitaire matches to reduce it. But there are very few matches. Even when you guess right against the computer opponent, it STILL starts off with a 12 yard gain that you have to whittle down, again with very few matches available.

Now when YOU are on offense and the computer guesses wrong against you, for a pass, you start at zero yards, and MUST get THREE matches in a row before you gain a paltry 8 yards. Subsequent matches add yardage, but again they are few and far between. When you run the football, and the computer guesses wrong, once again you start at zero yards, and add 4 yards for subsequent matches. Now if the computer guesses right, it is that much harder to gain any yards.

And the computer sneaks a peak at what you choose as well, I purposely ran nothing but pass plays for three possessions, gaining some yards, and figured now I'd start off witha run. Of course the computer 'guessed' right on run, when there is absokutely no possible way it could have, based on previous play calls.

If this game sounds interesting to you, wait until it is at least 75% off, and be prepared for a mountain of frustration. Even at 75% off you may very well regret your purchase.

NOTE: A new update to the game was applied on July 4. It added kickoff and punt returns, plus penalties. Penalties reduced your chances even more of getting matches, and running plays now only gain 3 yards per match, instead of 4. Also, when you guess right on defense, the computer opponent starts off with a 15 yard gain now, rather than the original 12.

I also noticed special teams plays result in TDs (for the computer opponent, of course) more often, plus more turnovers (again, for the computer opponent) when the player uses a Big Play, regardless of weather.

Bottom line: Made an already extremely frustrating game even more so. I now wouldn't even recommend buying it even at 75% off. Save your money and the frustration.

It's OK for a solitaire game, but I expected something a little more, I guess.

Given that it's solitaire, it would be much easier to quickly spot the matches if the cards were a bit more traditional -- something more along the lines of a football-themed Bicycle deck, if that makes any sense (especially given how spread out the cards are in the "formations").

If you go through the in-game help, you'll see stuff mentioning relative team strengths, etc, with the note "THIS IS IMPORTANT!" Yet, the only time that information is available is in the pre-game "broadcast" -- once it's underway, you'd better remember what it was, 'cause there isn't any way to see that stuff (at least that I can see). If it's that important, why isn't it in the main game UI anywhere?

Overall, it's not a bad game, there just isn't enough game there for the ten bucks IMHO, especially given the low-budget look and feel. If it comes up on a Steam sale for $5 or less, it's worth a shot if "football solitaire" sounds appealing to you. As it is, I gotta lean towards thumbs-down, given that my options are "yes" or "no".