Football Primer

Bible Touchdown� is a pretty easy game to play even with a limited knowledge of football. But, just in case someone needs a little direction on the game of football, here is a short primer.

Scoring: The object of the game of football is to score more points than your opponent. You score points in this game in one of 4 ways.

First, there are touchdowns. A touchdown is scored when a team advances the ball into the endzone it�s heading towards by means of a running play or a pass. (In real football, touchdowns can also be scored on kick returns, fumble recoveries, and interception returns. These options will appear in future versions of Bible Touchdown�). When a touchdown is scored, the team is awarded 6 points. That team will then try for an extra point and then kick-off to the other team.

After a team scores a touchdown, they will have the opportunity to kick an extra point (or sometimes called �Point After Touchdown�). If they answer the question correctly for the extra point, they will be awarded an extra point. That is, 1 additional point. (In real football, instead of an extra point, you can try to run or pass the ball into the endzone again, i.e. after the touchdown, for a �2 point conversion� or 2 additional points. This is also slated for a future version of Bible Touchdown�).

Another way to score points is with a field goal. A field goal is when the team with the ball�s kicker kicks the ball through the goalposts. On a successful field goal, a team is awarded 3 points. If the team misses the field goal, the ball is turned over to the other team. Since a touchdown is worth more points, a team would only resort to trying a field goal if they were about to give up the ball anyway. Field goals are fairly easy to kick from close to the endzone but become much more difficult as a team gets farther away. Most kickers would never even attempt a field goal of longer than 50 yards. In Bible Touchdown�, the field goal questions are ranked depending on how long the kick will be. The easiest questions are for field goal attempts that are short, and the questions get progressively harder as a team moves farther away from the endzone. If the field goal is successful, that team will then kick-off the ball to the other team.

This last way to score points is with a safety. A safety is scored when the team with the ball is tackled in the endzone that they are moving away from. The defensive team is awarded 2 points for a safety and then receives a kick-off from the other team.

Downs: When a team has the ball, they have 4 plays or downs (as they are called in football) to move the ball forward 10 yards. If they move the ball forward 10 yards, they will then get a new 1st down and then have 4 plays to get another 10 yards. Normally, if they get to 4th down and haven�t yet moved forward 10 yards, they will either try for a field goal or punt (see below) the ball to the other team. Although, they don�t have to do either--they can try another play on 4th down to try to get the required 10 yards. But, this is a risky move, because if they don�t get the 10 yards, then their opponent gets the ball right where they currently have the ball.

Punting: Punting the ball to the other team is something a team does on 4th down when they don�t think they can get the required 10 yards. The team�s punter (a different kind of kicker) kicks the ball down field to the other team. They then have a kick-returner down there who gets the ball and tries to run it back. On 4th down, if a team is within 40 or 50 yards of the endzone that they are heading towards, they will normally try a field goal. If they are more than 40 or 50 yards away, they should probably punt.

Clock: Football is a timed game. The teams have a certain amount of time to score. The game is broken into 4 equal segments or quarters. The clock will continue to count down unless it is stopped for some valid reason. Valid reasons for the clock to stop include an incomplete pass, a time out, a penalty, a 2 minute warning (before the end of each half of the game), or a change of possession (when the ball is turned over to the other team). At the beginning of each play, the offensive team has 30 seconds in which to select a play. For the purposes of this game only, they then have just 15 seconds in which to answer the question.

Conclusion: That�s just a brief summary of the game of football. That�s probably enough information to be able to play Bible Touchdown�. The real game of football has quite a few other rules that have not been implemented in this game.