The original fan game for the men's national team, review, test

The German men's national football coach faces one of the toughest tasks in the country. He assembles the national team, but he shares his job with millions of national coaches who always know best. Everyone, everything! In the original fan game, everyone can now prove their experience and skills the Forming a national team.

the German Football Association Released an official fan game for 2-4 players aged 14 and over with Danish publisher Dolupa Games, in which each player uses quiz questions to select eleven players, of whom as many as possible must eventually make it into the national team's starting lineup. Eleven.

How to play The Original Fan Game for Men?

At the start of the original Men's National Team Fan Game, each player receives eleven player cards from typical team positions (goalkeeper, defense, etc.) in their hand. In addition to the player's photo and name, the cards contain his position and personal statistical values ​​(such as number of matches/wins/goals and a decimal value as an overall score).

A time is set for play and then players move around a circle on a game board designed as a playing field by rolling dice with shapes. Depending on which stadium they arrive at, they will be asked a question about football-related topics: games, players, history or general topics. If a player can answer three questions correctly in a row, they get a new player card, which they can use to swap out another card with worse statistics. This is how you can improve your team in order to prepare it for the subsequent battle for places in the national team.

In addition to the question fields, there are fields where you can get a yellow or red card, which in the latter case leads to the loss of the player's card. VAR can also be found in stadiums, and in this game too, its decisions are not always transparent.

At the end of playing time, the game board is flipped over and the final national team is determined there. At this point, the previous test turns into a kind of foursome game, with players comparing the individual statistical values ​​of their player cards with each other; The national player with the best value from each comparison becomes part of the national team. The winner of the comparison gets one point for all the player's cards removed. Whoever scores the most points wins.

How good is the Men's National Team in The Original Fan Game?

Danish publisher Dolupa Games publishes officially licensed fan games. The license features that the cards also bear the original names and photos of the players. Aside from that, the card design as well as the game board design is rather emotionless and functional. The stadium certainly could have been photographed in a less stylized way. But all materials are good quality.

However, you have to make a lot of compromises when it comes to the rules of the game. The structure is unfortunate as the different types of cards are explained first. Only then do the rules of the game come into force, which raises unnecessary questions, at least when you read them for the first time, because the connections only become clear through the rules of the game.

The number of playable characters is incorrectly stated: there are no 3 x 4 playable characters, but there are 3, 4 and 5 playable characters in three colours. Which immediately leads to more questions: Why only three player colors (for up to four players)? What color does the fourth player choose? Why several pieces in one color? Can – and should! – Explaining the rules of the game. But it doesn't even mention that each player must choose a character. If so, how much? At some point, this simply means that the participant “moves forward” by the number of spaces rotated. This is as inaccurate as it is ridiculous.

When comparing the values ​​in the second stage, there is no evidence that the links have been resolved. Any examples that could clarify some ambiguity have been completely omitted.

54 – 74 – 90 – 2014

Things continue with a few hiccups, though, as the rules state: In order to get a new player card, you must answer three questions correctly one after the other. However, after answering one or two questions correctly, you can end up on the field (VAR, yellow/red card) where you cannot answer any more questions and the round ends. “Bad luck,” you might say. But since the questions are really difficult and difficult to answer, it is almost impossible to win a new card on a regular basis. If you have bad luck after that, it's not only unfortunate, it's also annoying.

VAR doesn't help here either

Maps are sometimes illogical or even wrong. VAR Card No. 30: Where did the national team finish last European Championship (in today's perspective: 2020/2021)? Since she was eliminated in the round of 16, this cannot be determined at all. Or: Name 6 current national players – when in doubt, online verification will be necessary, but this costs playing time (there is a timer running!) and disrupts the flow of the game. A question about qualification for the 2022 European Championship is asked on the card. But there will be no European Championship in 2022, but a World Cup. An embarrassing and confusing mistake as well: Is this the 2022 World Cup or the 2020 European Championship?

Invalid address (“Defina“Things”) are then defined with a smile as trivial.

Since we haven't played all the cards and questions yet, you'll have to extrapolate the error rate based on the games played, and then you'll arrive at a value that I hope is not correct.

Questions for creators

The age and duration statement on the sheet accompanying the game indicates that the game is suitable for families and football fans. However, the questions are so specific that you will have to have in-depth knowledge of the national team. Whether it's because of a deeper interest or simply because you've been a football fan for decades, it can't have anything to do with the age at which you start playing the game. It is not suitable for “normal” families.

National team quartet

Ultimately, deciding which eleven players will be selected is all about getting the card with the best value in a given category. But this will only be of any use if the category in which the attacker (for example) has very good value is compared. If the faction player chooses a different class, you may not be so lucky and your teammate will get the vacant spot in the starting lineup as well as victory points. It also becomes clear here that the knowledge gained from the test round has no direct relation to the awarding of points. On the one hand, it is good luck to draw a card that is as good or better than what you already have, and on the other hand, you should be able to use good player values.

Two weaknesses in the rules of the game can also be noted at this stage. The values ​​of some cards indicate a player's entire career, while others indicate only one year. An illogical comparison between apples and oranges, because a striker scores more goals in 10 years than he does in one year. Since cards for the same player can be available twice (once for the game year, and once as a total card), the question arises of what you should do with the cards if the same player makes it to the starting lineup twice. Will he then play in two positions? There is no rule for this!

Hardship versus misery

I can't describe myself as a football expert. But I know that Rahn had to shoot from the backfield, that it was Schnellinger of all people who put in another shot for the Italians shortly before the end, and that Oliver Bierhoff scored the first golden goal at the European Championship in 1996. As someone who has played football since childhood, certainly… I follow football more intensively than many others, I still feel very distorted in the test. Rarely do you really know the answer to a question. I only won a card once during forty minutes of play because I was able to answer three questions correctly in a row. I was able to get another one because there are fields where you only have to answer one question correctly to get a new card. When you pass the kickoff field, there is a “free” (similar to “Go!”). Monopoly). But in the 45 minutes of playing time, you can only get through it once. And you don't want to play anymore. Result: Improvement of the starting eleven stops, which feels slow and frustrating. Other national coaches have failed at this. My teammates felt the same way.

The original men's national team fan game: It's just a summer fairy tale

Games on current topics are relevant only for the shot. The original men's national team fan game, which launched in 2022, has also been overtaken several times by events that have rocked the real national team since then. National players and coaches from that time no longer exist today, and others have joined. Within a few years, photos of players will have nostalgic value like those in a Panini scrapbook. I doubt whether the appeal of playing the game will last. Added to this are weaknesses in the rules of the game and the structure of the game idea.

One of my fellow players recommended leaving out the testing portion and using the cards as a family-friendly four-way game. It expresses that there are too many reservations about a game I would recommend.