Gridstats Retro was started in Covid, as a way of considering “how do you run a fantasy game when there’s no real football”. The answer, which slightly surprisingly worked was to use historical seasons, so although you know who scored that season, you don’t know which week I’ll be selecting from.
We now run it in the offseason for the NFL, so if you want to play Gridstats all year round you can do so, and Gridstats Retro hibernates during the NFL Season.
The game operates the same as regular Gridstats, but with the following rules changes:-
Leagues are comprised of eight teams (two divisions of four) – it makes them easier to fill, and means we can concentrate on starters.
Seasons are ten games long (two against each team in your division, one against each team outside) with two weeks of playoffs.
Four teams qualify for the playoffs, two divisional winners plus two wildcards (who may be from the same division).
The game starts with the 1983 season (the first non-strike season of UK coverage of the NFL) – as of March 2025, we have reached 1996
Three bidding rounds will start the game, with eight bids per team (not ten), followed by one preseason round.
Each week we take the real stats from an NFL week that season as follows:- GS Week 1&5 = NFL Weeks 1-4; GS Week 2&6 = NFL Weeks 5-8; GS Week 3&7 = NFL Weeks 9-12; GS Week 4&8 = NFL Weeks 13-17. GS Week 9 is taken from one of the remaining four weeks of the first half of the season, and GS Week 10 is taken from one of the remaining five weeks of the second half of the season. The two playoff weeks will be taken randomly from the remaining seven weeks of the season!
No bonus scores, we only count the actual scores (touchdowns and field goals).
Each season flows into the next (so after 1983, we move to 1984).
As usual, you are not restricted to players on the player list (particularly useful towards the end of next season, as you know who the next season star rookies will be).
Deadlines will be weekly.
Email play only (no posting results).
No Tipping Competition (obviously).
No Conversions until 1994
No Bonds (so you can’t kick financial problems down the road).
No Playoff Bonuses (as we’ll be using a real life NFL week with all teams playing)
Strategies will be used (thanks for the feedback).
Pretty much everything else works the same. You’ll have more certainty about who the key players are (John Riggins led the league in rushing TD’s, Lynn Dickey in passing) but you won’t know for sure they’ll be scoring in any given week, and only 12 of the 16 real life weeks will “count”. Backups will be more important (so you’ll need squad depth) and the concentration of players means more poaching. And you’ll have an idea of which players are heading towards retirement, because you know when they retire, but also which players are worth picking up, because in future seasons they’ll be valuable (but please be sensible, don’t add Patrick Mahomes in the middle of the 1983 season).
All Gridstats games run with weekly deadlines (so you’ve seven days between turns). We have positions available in most of these games that will allow you to start play immediately (as in real-life, you take over a team and try to turn their fortunes around). You can join during the season – teams are always available whose coaches have stopped playing and are currently being run by the computer.
Turnfees in Gridiron Stats are £18.00 for ten and £32.00 for twenty.
Your instructions are normally sent through our active website, but can also be sent by post if required.
To join Gridstats Retro please email Danny McConnell with your team name (keep it clean) then we’ll be able to get you started in a game even more quickly. Just quote the FREESTART option and your setup and first two turns are free.