Fightball

Fightball is a real-time card game published by Cheapass Games in 2002 in which two players try to win a futuristic basketball game. Each player is the coach of one of six teams in the fictional sport of Fightball and has a deck of 56 cards made up of players, balls, shots and special effects, plus a BUZZ card. A shared field of 24 cards in three colors is laid out in a five by five grid with the center missing. Over four quarters both players play cards at the same time to build stacks that form Complete Plays, which need a Shooter, a Ball and a Shot played in that order and totaling at least ten points, while the opponent can play blockers to push a stack below ten. Playing the BUZZ card ends a quarter, and the most Complete Plays after four quarters wins. It was designed by James Ernest and Mike Selinker with art by Eduardo Miller, and was the third of the company real-time card games. Reviewers found it challenging, with a real learning curve and a heavy scoring round.