Football Bros — Play Free Online

What is Football Bros?

Football Bros is a pixel-art American football game from Blue Wizard Digital, the studio behind Basket Bros. It shrinks the sport to six players a side and fast drives, but keeps the parts that make football a thinking game: you choose a play before every snap, read where the defense is going and decide yourself whether to throw, scramble or dive for the marker. If you like the quick drives of Retro Bowl but want to control the quarterback's feet as well as his arm, this is the closest match on retrobowl.me.

Key features

• Six-on-six football: on offense a quarterback, two wide receivers and three linemen; on defense a linebacker, two cornerbacks and three linemen.
• Play cards: four plays are dealt before each snap from a book of 60 offensive, defensive and special-teams calls.
• Team specials: each city has a signature play, such as KC BBQ Chicken, Philly Special, Who Dey, Steel City Go, Mile High Mayhem and Lone Star Strike.
• Four ways to play: Quick Play against the computer, 2 Players Same PC, Online vs Friends with a private room, and a full Franchise season.
• Upgrades: after a game the "Choose an upgrade!" screen hands out perks, such as the Dive attack and new teams to unlock.

How to play Football Bros

1. Press Play above and choose Quick Play for a single game against the computer.
2. Pick a team. Each city has its own signature play, so the team you choose changes your playbook.
3. Before the snap, choose one of the four play cards. The dotted lines show where each receiver will run.
4. Press Space to hike. Move your player with the arrow keys and press Space again to throw.
5. When you are the ball carrier, or on defense, Space dives at the ball carrier. Score a touchdown for 6 points, then kick the extra point or go for two.

Controls

Action	Keyboard	Phone / tablet
Move	Arrow keys (WASD for the second player in 2 Players Same PC)	Swipe, or Tilt (switch in Settings)
Hike / throw	Space	Tap
Dive / tackle dive	Space while running or on defense	Tap
Stop the kick bar	Space	Tap
Pause	Esc	-
Chat (online rooms)	Enter	-

Downs, kicks and the clock

Each possession uses the normal four downs and 10 yards. On fourth down the last card in your hand turns into PUNT or FIELD GOAL, and in the final 20 seconds of a half the field goal card shows up on any down, so you can run a two-minute drill and still kick to win. Kickoffs use a power bar: stop it low and your kicker tries an onside kick, which is the only way back from two scores down late in a game. If the score is tied at the end, the game goes to overtime.

Situation	Card you get
1st-3rd down	Four run or pass plays, including your team's special
4th down	Three plays + PUNT or FIELD GOAL
Under 20 seconds left	FIELD GOAL on any down
On defense	Coverage and blitz calls such as Man Coverage, Press Coverage, Zone Blitz or Prevent

Tips and strategy

• Use the blitz against itself: when the defense shows Top Blitz or Double Blitz, a quick Slant or Screen Bottom gets the ball out before the rush arrives.
• Save the deep shots: Wide Fly and Double Fly need the line to hold. Call them on first down when the defense is guessing, not on third and long when it expects a pass.
• Run when the pocket breaks: your quarterback can carry the ball, and QB Draw and Big Scramble are built for it. A dive at the end of a run keeps the extra yards.
• Kick only when it is short enough: on fourth and short near midfield, going for it often beats a punt in a game this short.
• Pick perks that change the game: the Dive attack and new teams matter more than looks.

Game modes

Quick Play

One game against the computer, good for learning the play cards.

2 Players Same PC

Two people share one keyboard: one on the arrow keys, the other on WASD. It works on a single Chromebook, which makes it an easy pick for two friends at lunch.

Online vs Friends

Open a private room and share the code so friends can join from their own computers. Enter opens the chat.

Franchise

A full season with a regular season of 17 weeks before the playoffs begin in week 18. Win the playoffs to lift the Super Bro Bowl. Lose and the season ends with "maybe next year". Progress is kept in your browser, and the settings menu can reset it.

Versions and similar games

Football Bros has the same arcade style as Retro Bowl, but Retro Bowl puts you in charge of the whole team as coach and general manager, while Football Bros puts you on the field as the quarterback. For a college season try Retro Bowl College. If you want only the last two minutes of a game, play 2 Minute Football. For a runner where you just carry the ball, play Touchdown Rush. Every other title is in Football Games Unblocked.

Developer and history

Football Bros was made by Blue Wizard Digital, which built its name with Basket Bros and other "Bros" sports games for the browser. The game is a free HTML5 title, so it loads in Chrome on a school Chromebook or on a phone without a download. Team rosters and online rooms belong to the original game; retrobowl.me only embeds it.