Second Season Express
A new way to play your favorite pro football board game: play a complete pro football game in less than 30 minutes, with SECOND SEASON Express! The realism, excitement and drama of the full-fledged Second Season board game, distilled into a half-hour card-and-dice experience!
NOTE: the express game is designed to complement the full version of the game NOT replace it! Please don’t purchase the express game unless you already own SECOND SEASON—thanks!
In development since autumn of 2017, with many hours of play-testing, SECOND SEASON Express made its official debut at PLAAY-Dot-CON 2019. It was a big hit among convention-goers, and our SECOND SEASON Express Tournament featured nearly the full complement of 32 All-Time Franchise Great Teams. You can read about the tournament here--Kansas City defeated Green Bay 35-27 in our championship game! And now, the express version is ready to find its place on YOUR game table, offering sizable pro football fun in minimal game time.
How did we do it? Well, where the full SS game re-creates every play, SECOND SEASON Express presents a game of football in "minute-sized" chunks of action, similar to our hockey and soccer games. The field is broken down into zones rather than specific yard lines. You choose a basic scheme for both the offense and defense, which represents a sequence of two to four downs. The offense chooses PASS/RUN, defense chooses from among the four base SS defenses, PASS-SAFE-RUN-BLITZ. Roll the dice, check the team cards, register the result. That's it!
It's important to note that SECOND SEASON Express is NOT a score generator or drive simulator. It's based on the original game, and uses the SECOND SEASON framework for play results. Play sequences succeed or fail largely on the abilities of the players, aided by smart coaching calls. You'll experience the same highs and lows of real football, with games decided by players making big plays--or NOT making them!
The best part is, the express game uses the standard full-play SECOND SEASON team cards. If you've been playing SECOND SEASON for decades, you can use the team cards or team sheets you already have to play the express game. You can also incorporate BOTH versions of play into the same tabletop match-up! Switch between versions at any time. Start the game in "express," play into to the final quarter, and then--when the time seems right--switch to full-play mode for the final couple possessions! This is what we've done with all of our YouTube games--with some very exciting results!
While SECOND SEASON "Express" is based on SECOND SEASON, it is a complete game in and of itself. You DO need to have a working knowledge of the SS game engine—the game comes with a condensed rules set that essentially outlines the differences between the full-play and "express" versions--but aside from that SECOND SEASON Express is a stand-alone game. If you already own the full-play game, you'll understand the express version in a snap.
If you're finding you have less time for tabletop sports, check out SECOND SEASON Express! It gives you a vivid football experience in a fraction of the time.