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How to play

AlliBowl is Avalon Hill's classic Bowl Bound (1978) — a dice-and-chart college football simulation — played head to head in your browser with the 1996 season's 24 team charts. Every play is two secret decisions, two rolls of weighted dice, and a lookup on the charts.

A turn, start to finish

1. Both players choose secretly. The offense calls a play (1–9, or a special); the defense calls a formation (A–F). Neither sees the other's choice until both are in.
2. The dice roll. The offense rolls the black die and two white dice (totals 10–39, deliberately weighted); the defense rolls the red and green dice (totals 1–5).
3. Charts are consulted. Each side's dice total is looked up on its own team chart — you can see your chart at the bottom of the play screen, switching between offense and defense with possession.
4. The Priority Chart decides. The two results combine into one outcome — one side overrules, or the yardages add. See the Priority Chart reference.
5. The clock runs. Runs and completions take 30 seconds, first downs 20, incompletions / penalties / possession changes 10.

The plays

Runs (1–5): 1 Line Plunge, 2 Counter, 3 End Reverse, 4 Draw, 5 Option. Passes (6–9): 6 Screen, 7 Sprint Out, 8 Boot Leg, 9 Drop Back. Hover any numbered button for its name.

• QB Sneak — a one-yard plunge. Only the box color of Play 1 matters: green gains a yard, white/yellow gains nothing, red is a fumbled snap. The defense never rolls.
• Razzle Dazzle — a trick play. Both sides roll the offensive dice; the lower total wins the right to choose the offensive result from the chart (offense from its row, defense from either row).
• Punt / Field Goal — fourth-down tools. A field goal is good when your chart's kick distance covers the yards to the goal line; a miss hands over the ball at the 20 or the spot of the hold.

The formations

A Standard · B Short Yardage (Gaps) · C Short Yardage (Wide) · D Pass Prevent (Short) · E Pass Prevent (Long) · F Blitz. Guess run and call B/C; guess deep pass and call E; feel lucky and blitz. A wrong guess is how big plays happen — to both of you.

Reading chart results

The box color matters as much as the symbol:

• Plain numbers — yards gained; in a red box the same number is yards lost.
• (#) parentheses — a forcing result that beats plain numbers on the Priority Chart.
• TD / INT # / F # — touchdown; interception or fumble the shown yards downfield.
• QT / QR / B — quarterback trapped, quarterback run, breakaway: the offense re-rolls on that column of its chart. You'll see the whole chain in the play-by-play.
• OFF# / DEF# / PI # — penalties. The wronged side chooses: take the penalty (down replayed) or the play (down counts).
• INC / * — incomplete pass; the asterisk means the play ended out of bounds (stops the clock late in each half).

Kicks and special situations

• Kickoffs — deep (chart distance), squib (exactly 40 yards, returned off a fixed table), or onside (kicker recovers on 13–20, ball travels 12 yards).
• Kicks into the end zone — take the touchback at the 20 or roll a return, your choice.
• After a touchdown — kick the extra point (your kicker's own chart decides) or go for two from the 2-yard line.
• Timeouts — three per half. Called after a play, a timeout shrinks that play to just 10 seconds of clock. When a play would end the quarter, both sides get one last chance to call one.
• Two-minute warning — a play starting above 2:00 in a half leaves at least 2:00 on the clock.
• Overtime — alternating possessions from the opponent's 25 until someone leads; from the third overtime, touchdowns must go for two.

Reference shelf

• The Priority Chart — how offense and defense results combine, straight from the game engine.
• The 2007 rulebook (PDF) — the complete original rules.
• The original Priority Chart sheet (PDF) — including the timing chart and selection grids.
• The 24 team charts — browse every team before you draft.