Solitaire Idea for across the country league play
 

I woke up with this thought today and I haven't really thought it through but wanted to toss it out there.

Would it be possible to create a league of solitaire coaches from across the US who would:
Create a team
Mail that team to a coach in the solitaire league
That coach would then play a solitaire game against that team with his own team and then mail it to the next guy on the schedule who would do the same.

Each coach could create a playbook using a set of parameters. Essentially scripting his plays with some leeway to base the play on a on field scenario. Say he is 3rd and inches and the script calls for a 20 yard pass play when a run might be more in order. OR simply provide a dice chart with plays associated with a number on the dice chart and whatever roll comes up that is the play the solitaire coach would run. The dice chart would be different for each coach based on the type of plays he likes to call that work best with the skills of his team.

Like I said, I haven't really thought it through, but it would be cool, for example, if Reggie wanted to send me a team and I could use it for 1 game, record the results and then send it on to Matt Culp. We would all have to have 1 mailing team and 1 home team but this might give solitaire coaches a way to interact.

Thoughts???!

So, I am starting the Postal Ironman Solitaire Society and League. (P.I.S.S.L.)
I am looking for 3 or 5 other coaches to join.
Each team will be made up of 14 Home players and 14 Postal players under 3.3 grams. They can be fantasy, NFL, college, whatever.
The League will begin January 1 and run for 2 to 3 months depending on the number of coaches involved.
Each solitaire coach will play his games by their own home rules.
The Postal team must include a 12 offense and 6 defense play dice chart complete with player positioning.
Play calling for the postal team will be based on the roll of a 6 sided dice for defensive plays and a 12 sided dice for offensive plays.
Each coach may keep the team for 2 weeks before mailing it to the next coach on the schedule.
Honesty and a willingness to play fairly are a must to be part of this league.

Yah, I'm not kidding. I want to test this theory out. Coaches who join ********L can help develop this concept.

Team RARE is preparing to play their first ********L game. Who else?

The point is that anyone can start up this idea and get a group of guys with like minded ideas and start up a solitaire postal league. So if you wanted to get one going with some guys at a 4.0 weight..go for it. I think this could be a fun way for solitaire coaches to interact. Heck there could be 100's of postal leagues before it is all said and done.

Plus, it would be like Christmas, every time you receive someone else's team.

HONESTY is a MUST!!!!!!!!

This is some idea, and i dont know how it will work. I can think of a few things that could really wrong if HONESTY is not paramount in the ideals of the participants. But with the "negative" stuff outta the way,:nhnh: :nhnh:

thmbsp$ I WOULD ABSOLUTELY LOVE TO PARTICIPATE IN THIS. THIS SOUNDS VERY INTERESTING, QUITE AN IDEA. thmbsp$ It would be so cool to get a team in the mail, play with it, then send it off to the next guy, while having my own team crossing the country to "play" against other teams.

WOW!!! i am excited now. Lets DO IT!!!!!!!!!!!!
:chr: :chr: :chr: :chr: :chr: :chr: :chr: :chr: :chr:

Scott HOOPer

WOLF, I WAS
 

WOLF,

I was also thinking along those line also. About a year or two back wellington innovations (brad smith approached me with this idea). Instead of the whole team you just send the bases. people are funny about sending there teams . I was thinking of sending the bases with an unpainted white team to play against your team. All the visitng team would have to do is put the number of the player on the base and or jersey written. UJNLESS YOU REALLY WANT TO DECAL. The way technology is going, a coach can play the game over the internet so the visiting coach can see and call his own plays.
As the visiting coach is watching, he can say no no i want # 35 or so lined up here. THEY KEY HERE IS, IS DOES NOT MATTER WHO SETS UP YOUR TEAM WHERN YOU KNOW YOUR OWN BASES AND HOW THEY RUN. So there is no cheating, i think every coach should sign or mark his base only in a way were he knows he signed or marked that bases. (underneath). Upon watching a play, if something is questionable as it is being watched over the internet. He can say, PLEASE PCK UP THAT BASE SO HE CAN SEE HIS SIGNATURE UNDERNEATH TO ENSURE A BASE WAS NOT SWITCHED.


This will take time to iron out but it can work. THE ULTIMATE TRAVEL LEAGUE. We can also run the game over ustream and ask some coaches to be a third and fourth eye as online ref's. This is no different than a person from california playing a person from new jersey in madden on the internet. The only difference is they will not have to mail there team like we would.

Passing, the host team can pass however they want. When the visiting teams wants to pass it should only be sticks or percentage passing only. The visiting coach can tell the home team exactly where he wants the sticks and can see how his receiver is angled. or with percentage passing he can be shown the dice immediately. Lets face it, it you had to pass for the visiting team via ttqb or tdq, HOW SERIOUS AND FOCUSED ARE YOU GOING TO BE THROWING THE PASS. Can you say, " i think i will angle the tdq a little off, he won't be able to tell ". These mini camera's larue found may help this along pretty nicely.

Wolf, this can work, It can be a new chapter for the MFCAL. THEY KEY IS ALL IN THE BASES. To also ensure fairness and trust or non trust. TAKE A PICTURE OF EACH AND EVERY BASE AS AN EXTREME CLOSE UP AND HAVE THOSE PICTURES PRINTED AND PLACED ON A CHART. If you see your bases not running the way you designed them, have the coach get an extreme close up of the prongs and match it with your picture.

so basically, it's your team against a non painted white teams. UNLESS THE VISITING COACH DOES NOT MIND PAINTING AN ENTIRE TRAVEL TEAM. I guess you can paint at leastthe helmet. Or paint the enitire team with out decals.

What about the rules., does the home teams submitt his own personal rules online for all in the league to study often or a week before game time. It will take a while to set this up right but it will work nicely.


thanks
mantaraydre

I would love to play
 

Absolutely would love it! Great Idea!

interesting ideas. dont think I would have time in the immediate future (I am in school until next august) but after that I would be interested in joining for sure!

I will probably get destroyed but it would be fun to get more involved.

Interesting idea
 

I do find this idea interesting. Don't think I would ever participate, just because I don't want to be responsible for someone else's team. Would have to see how it is working out for a while before I would even think about it.

That's Awesome!!
 

That would be so cool!!

One way to manage a game would be to assign a half to each coach. If a live online video link is set up, the coach at the "remote" end calls his plays in real-time and the coach handling the board for that half sets up and executes and both coaches see the results on their screens at once. If done by chat-board, the coach running his board types out the result of each play afterward and the game is handled rather like chess-by-mail.

Great idea
 

I think the only way to get around the "cheating" idea is to do what I do in my league. Roll the dice for both sides of the ball and use passing sticks. This would give no advantage to either team. At this point its about the bases.
Games can be played but then stopped if you have a question. Like, say its 4th and 2 from the 20, do you want to go for it or kick a field goal.
You can stop play and email someone on what they would like to do. This is one option.
To make it easy I would say, let it be an iron man league, only 11 guys. It would make play a lot easier.

I would be in, it would be easy to set up a 11 man team with a quickly painted team.

I would like to be a part of this.

Roo

It would be interesting, but difficult depending on the rule set they are played at. For example, my teams are basically all under 3.0 grams and totally untweaked bases. To send them to someone who is playing 4.0 and maxed out bases would be sheer suicide.

However; if I was to send 2 of my teams to someone and say play a game between them using your rules, then the 2 teams would not be at a weight or strength disadvantage to each other. They would simply be playing under different rules with someone else being the coach for both teams. I did sort of something like that for one of my games in my last season. I had a friend, Tim Young, coach the Mennonites while I coached the Battlin' Bozos. It turned out to be a great game that went down to the final play and was fun for both of us. I hope to do the same thing again for my next season and have 2 or 3 games with guest coaches. thmbsp$ frstplc

I think the idea is that each league would have a particular weight limit. So, there would be, say, a 4.0 division, and a 3.2 division - but the different weights wouldn't play each other.

Ed

Im in.thmbsp$

Geno H

like the idea
 

That would be sweetthmbsp$

Lynn, if you're going to do this, I would recommend that all teams are without facemasks or chinstraps, as those things can fall off in shipment. Also, you would want to have everyone mark their bases to prevent "accidental" swapping. Just a little something to consider.

A simple, standard base marking system all could use would be the initials of the team name, then the number.

So if I used the Steelers for example, my Willie Parker base would have "PS39" on the back.

Course, if it was Willie Parker, he'd be stuck to the bench anyway.

Ed

You would definitely need to mark your bases. Also I think that after each time someone gets to use the team, it should be sent back to the owner so that way if someone were dirty enough to burn the prongs of a base, or scrape the players paint, or even steal the players, it could be tracked who did it if you know what I'm sayin.
I like the idea though, and if possible I would like to be a part of this thmbsp$ .
Taylor

I missed that topic !
 

Very interesting idea. It sounds like "proxy racing" we do with slot cars. Here in France, we 're doing a 1/32 Nascar championship in that mail race system.

So we sent our cars (50 bucks SCX tuned nascars) to a general "marshall" who controled the slot cars, then that marshall started the championship.


Then, each month the cars are sended to the new track, then, the track owner race them, and make a race report (with pics, vids, etc...), then we count the points, then, the track owner send the cars to the next championship stage.


And finally after the championship, the cars are re-dispatched to each owner with the little fee we all paid at beginning for the shipping.


The key in that type of mail tournament is the fairplay, friendship, confidence and honesty. Nothing to gain : the pleasure we have doing that championship, sharing the race reports (and jokes on the results) ARE the rewards.

The better way to guarantee a good fairplay is to make first events smalls, with a majority of well known people or friends.

THe simpliest way is to design a general marshall. You send your teams (mark you figures and bases with you name and field position) to the marshall who will control them. After end of the season (or on specific moments of the season) same thing, all teams go to the general marshall for new control.


Last thing, even if I'm not into that league, if I'd play I 'd prefer to play my team "real" and the opponent team with random dice.

Using random dice on each side will remove the personal involvement in the league, IMHO. Because dices or not dices, if a a*****e want to cheat, he'll cheat. My 2 cents ;)


In my nascar slot car championship, I'm sure nobody cheats. Why ? because it's my car wich is first on championship :rtfl: (note : I didn't received the championship stage on my own track for now ;) )


But you're right, tweaking will be important in that proxy league. In a proxy slot car race, tuning on the car and preparing are the keys too. But a lot of factors interacts too (the track, the receiver way of driving, the rules used on each track, etc...). You can easily see the common points with MF. ANd if the rules are well made and everybody playing fair, even with random dices, you should see interesting and certainly quite regular results.



Dimitri

I haven't forgotten this...still moving forward and will get with you guys this week so that we can try a test league this winter!

1 PART INTERESTED, 2 PARTS PERPLEXED
 

Unfortunately, and despite living in one of the greatest sports cities in the world, MF Leagues dont seem to work here or maybe it's just me. So, I would be more interested in a mail-order solitaire league, than playing against my own teams, and I could totally admit to a loss if the dice gods favor the visiting team.

I don't think it necessary to require so many safeguards against cheating and thievery, though. Everyone that has shared interest should be an MFCA member and agree to participate based on ethical, moral, honest, clean fun. Who would put their membership and reputation at risk over 11 or so players? It's not like we're sending out our Tournament Championship teams. Prepare both sets of teams according to the rules and specs, and have fun. If you come across a team or individual player that you covet, call the owner and share techniques. Dont steal it. Spread the word via "scouting reports" that player so and so is a bad motha-shut-your-mouth! See how well he stacks up against the other teams. Then at the end of the season, we could vote for individual achievements and possible trades.

And honestly, if we really want to have fun with this. If you play against a team that has a base you covet ... call that GM and propose a good old-fashioned trade. It'd make for interesting updates across the league how one team's star running back was traded for another team's star cornerback. lffng$

Roo

ROGER THAT.
 

Every player has a number ($) that he'd gladly relocate for. ;')

Coaches,
I like where this is going. thmbsp$ thmbsp$ I am all ears.ppcrn ppcrn drl$$


Geno H

The commish idea would work.
 

What if everyone sent their teams to one commish that was voted in and he ran the games or tournament by his rules.He updated everyone and sent the teams back when the deal was done.Each coach paid a fee for trophy/shipping ect.He makes the rules and the coaches follow them when prepping their teams.This takes all the mailing,delays,and possible mishaps out of the equation.Just a thought!STT

Decent idea, but if I'm going to be involved in a league, I'd like to actually play some games.

Ed

Lynn, how much time do we have before you're thinking of getting this thing going? I'm working on a team right now that I could use for this, but it'll be around the middle of January before I'm finished with them. I like the idea though.

My thoughts are to get 5 others beside myself. (I want everyone to understand that this is NOT a MFCA sponsored league.) I think with 6 guys we can run through a season in good order and keep control on what we are doing and who has what. I would encourage others to start up little leagues as well with friends who have similar equipment and rules ideas and lets test this theory out.
For the league I want to start I want to go with 3.3 max and probably 14 players so that we can rotate in some skill players to different positions for a greater play variety. Rules don't really concern me! Because we are solitaire players, I think we should each use rules we are comfortable with for our home games. Once we send our postal team off, they may come back to us at the end of the season with many stories to tell of how they were used and abused under other rules.

All in all, I want to have fun with this and not get to hung up on the winning and losing aspect of the game.
K.I.S.S. theory...Keep it Simple.

So if you are down for this style of setup, want to have some fun with others postal teams, 3.3, and some variable rules then I want you for my league.

Others can run with this same idea and get set it up however they want to, i.e. rigid rules, 4.0, whatever..

Oh, I want to start in mid January or there abouts.

IT'S A GOOD IDEA
 

COACHES,

It's a good idea to break off into sectors and start small and let this build into one somewhere down the line. 6 to 10 players would be fine. The key is to have fun doing this. " SOLITAIRE ON THE ROAD MINIATURE FOOTBALL LEAGUE " . Each league should have a starting point coach like wolf (commish). Let him determine who he thinks would be a good fit for his league. These leagues can start in small groups across america. A good fit

A PERSONS (NOT COACH AT THIS POINT) CHARACTER, WILL BE FRONT A CENTER IN THIS TYPE OF OPERATION.

This is like a group of buddies starting a madden league to play online . Who all live in different parts of the country.

***level Shelton told me this in the lobby of the embassy suites at the miggle in baltimore. " Character is what a person does when NO ONE ELSE IS LOOKING "

**Probably better to start with a few friends then build from references/recommendations into your league.
1) Do you know the coach personally ?
2)Do you trust the person to play a fair game.
3)Do you trust each league member to take care of your team and bases while it is on the road.
4)Do you trust the person while report truthful and accurate stats when they are not in his favor.

***All in All, if a person has a shady record in other areas of their life, chance are the sun is not going shine here either.

I was thinking, say a league started playing the shootout series rule set. The league agrees to play only with stock figures. FF.NET STOCK FIGURES ONLY WITH NO CUSTOMS. Each person in the league votes on exactly which figures and where they should be placed on the field. For example.

1) Speed demon wr to play on the right side of the field

2)sprinter wr to play on the left side.

***reason being, all coaches can tweak and develop those players for that side of the field.

**** all home teams are required to have a set of white stock figures that were agreed upon as the continous travel team. THIS WAY, ALL THE ROAD TEAM HAS TO DO IS SEND HIS BASES TO PUT ON THAT STOCK FIGURE.
mark the base, #85 or whatever #, sprinter left side. The home team will know to put that base on the sprinter who will go on the left side of the field.
So basically, we all will be housing the same visiting team just awaiting their bases and schemes to run. The million dollar question is, HOW DO WE KNOW WHEN TO RUN THEIR SCHEMES AT CERTAIN POINTS DURING THE GAME. For example, what if its

1) 3rd and goal

2)2nd and 14

3) 2nd and 2

How do we figure out if they want to pass or run ? do we use dice to figure that out ?

HOW WOULD ALL THE PLAY CALLING WORK ??????????


This idea will open up a new world for many folks to test thier skills against others bases and play calling. RIGHT IN THE COMFORT OF THIR OWN HOME.

That's a true home team with the visiting team coming in.

Also, we may have to consider a postal budget

1)insurance

2)delivery receipts

***In case the mailman leave a package at the wrong address

I like 2 day priority but it's more money. Maybe $2 and change for just bases or so. Depending on how many games (mailings) a $15 to $20 postal budget should be ok for the coaches in a league

You will be like an owner who's team REALLY went on th road without him.

thanx
mantaraydre

WITH THIS SET UP
 

COACHES,

With this set up you can be in several leagues with out traveling yourself.

Also, this is a way to get the french GUY involved in some leagues here in the u s.
It would be cool to get a league going that is truly international.

1)france
2)germany
3)australia
4)troops stationed in the middle east


" THE WORLD MINIATURE FOOTBALL LEAGUE "


THANX
MANTARAYDRE

Sounds good to me. I'd hope the 6 maybe could all use pro or all use college (either, doesn't matter to me), but if they're mixed, it's not a dealbreaker. I'm cool for whatever.

Ed

A couple of suggestions: it seems that if players are going to be shipping bases for each game, that's going to run into a considerable postal budget through the year; also, with each mailing you run the risk of damage or loss to the package and that can bollix-up the schedule in such event.

You really want to keep this as simple as you can make it. Perhaps the league office could control the tweaking and shipment of bases for the season: that is, the league office will take care of all base tweaks during the off-season, will ship bases to each player in the league at the beginning of the season which will be used for the duration, and in turn the bases will be shipped back at the end of the season, so you have only two mailings in the year to arrange and each player is running his games on standardised equipment.

Divide the games by halves for each player: the visitor will play the first half, the home team the second half. The records of each half of play would be transmitted to the league office and combined, determining the outcomes. This way, neither player has complete control of any given game (which also encourages integrity) and both can play entirely at their convenience, as their own personal schedules permit. There should, of course, be a time limit as to the sending of results (right up to the date that game is supposed to come up in the season) and if a player fails to do so, that game is forfeited.

It is, of course, understood that the players shall all run their games according to whichever rule system the league office decides upon.

Bump this up for Al
 

Bump

My idea (very similar to slot racing proxy race).

Each coach engaged will play all the games of the week except his own game.

Example :

4 coaches engaged :

dimitri
reggie
ed
dre

First week :

home stadium : dimitri
games :
reggie vs dre
ed vs dre


2nd week :

home stadium : reggie
games :
dre vs dimitri
ed vs dimitri

3rd week :

home stadium : Dre
games :
Reggie vs dimitri
Reggie vs Ed


Now, we can stop the regular season since everyone played everyone else, OR go for a return row to make a 6 weeks season.

Then, the 2 best ranked teams make the championship final. That final game can be played on one of the "losing" teams of the league, or go to a not partial referee wich will play the game with internet tv broadcast.


The key thing is to never play your own team. If the league is composed of gentlemen, you'll not have to be afraid of cheating, robbery or whatever.

In france we made a Proxy race nascar championship this way. NO ONE untweaked or broke intentionnaly the cars of the other engaged racers. We made this for fun, it does not prove you've got the biggest ****. Just fun with friends. Even if, of course, you can make it seriously, it's really interesting to read the games reports on forums after, to see how your team worked on field.

In that system, concerning mailing budget, each engaged coach will pay only one time the shipping (or two times if you make home+away games row). For the final and re-dispatch of the figures after the league is over, simply make an entry fee matching the final mail cost.



EDIT : concerning standards

A good league needs some standards. A good proxy league needs also cheap and easy to follow standards : no expensive or rare material, no special skills needed to have fun.

In proxy slot racing, the entry fee combines the mail return cost + tires and sometimes a motor too. Everyone use the same brand and model of car. So everyone is on the same starting line.

Let's imagine that each engaged coach receive (including in their entry fee) a bag of ff.net figures (and maybe, why not, a sprue of facemasks). 22 figures. Every coach 's got the same.

With these figs, he'll have to build 2 legal (nfl rules for example) squads, O and D. Including the base, keep it to 4.0grams. Nothing more, nothing less. Customizing is possible, but if you want to use the bare figs, it's your choice.


Concerning rules, each receiving field will be allowed to have his own rules, and own surface (fiber, pvc, metal). Like in real life, a team has to adapt itself on they tourney games. Jetlag, cold, or whatever. It will be represented by the diferent types of rules and gameboard surfaces.

Concerning tweaking, it will be totally free. Use the bases you want, just stick with the weight. And remember that your tweaking will have to adapt to diferent fields and rules. For example, a fast tweaked but not reliable (course) athlete will be very useable in ttqb system, not in pass simulation.

No re-tweaking allowed during season. It will simulate the health of your athletes. Make a too fine tweak on a figure, it will work perhaps, but perhaps the athlete will be injured or sick (=lose his tweaking balance due to mail shipping, or whatever). REMEMBER YOU HAVE ONLY 2 STARTING SQUADS.


Concerning playbooks, we can imagine a standard PDF file you can print and include with your team package. So with a little work on that part (how to call the plays), your team will play your strategy, even if you're not really in command.

That sounds plausable......
 

I think French Guy's format is plausable. I have some very similar ideas. The details would have to be ironed out but it is doable. I'd be willing to give it a go anyway.

What A Great Idea !
 

It will work. It worked great with slot car proxy racing championship. Don't be afraid of loosing your teams in post services, if your package is well made and the adress is good, it will be delivered. It's easy to blame postal services...Very easy. But it works great most of the time. thmbsp$

Concerning the teams choice, I thought about it and finally think that we should not restrain to one brand or type. Just stick to a weight limit, and that is. Solitaire play is freedom after all.