Your Chance To Participate In A New Football Phenomenon (Sandbox Simulations)

[Rain Man]

I apologize if the mods think this is soliciting, and I guess it is, but at the same time it's beta testing a new product developed by long-time planeteers, and it's free.

cdcox and I have been developing a new football game for the thoughtful fan, where players build franchises and compete against each other. A description is below.

If you're interested, we're offering the game for free in Year 1 to Chiefsplanet members, with the goal of both giving the system a dry run and also hooking you like Phillip Morris. You can go to www.sandboxsimulations.com to sign up, and use the access code 6Lanier3.

Here's the overview:

Build and manage a full 53-player roster over multiple seasons, as an offseason activity to give you year-round football

Select your personnel to match your offensive and defensive scheme. Every position matters – even your blocking tight end.

Realistic and accurate simulations of league games based on head-to-head matchups against other teams in your league.


This is essentially a new concept in fantasy football that attempts to simulate as closely as possible the management of a real NFL franchise over a multi-year period. Unlike regular fantasy football, every position on the offense and defense contributes to your success or failure. On special teams, the punter, kicker, and kick returners matter.

In Sandbox Football you will build a team – an entire 53-man football team – via an initial draft, and will maintain it year after year in annual rookie drafts, trading periods, and free agency. You compete against teams in your league. In the first year of the game, before the start of the NFL season, you will build your roster by drafting veterans and rookies through separate drafts, and through trades with other teams in the league. Your roster is frozen at the beginning of the NFL season. During the real regular NFL season, you can focus on your traditional fantasy games and perhaps keep on eye on your Sandbox roster as our statistical models build the data on player performances. At the end of the regular NFL season, the Sandbox season begins. There will be 16 games in the season. In real time, the season will run about 8 weeks (2 alternate reality games per week).

Game outcomes will be simulated based on the performance of individual players during the just-completed NFL regular season. The simulations, developed by a PhD statistical expert, estimate how individual players will perform in the context of your alternate reality team competing head-to-head against other teams in the league and with the specific team that you have built. The simulations will consider the offensive and defensive schemes that you select. So you can build your roster to support a power running game or a high-flying passing attack. You can run a 3-4 or 4-3 base defense. You can run nickel formations or four-wide receiver sets. You can rotate your DL to keep them fresh.

The game is more about building a team than playing video games. So this isn't Madden, but you will have the ability to tweak your game plan to take the best advantage of your roster and the weaknesses of your opponent. Injuries are a factor in the game. If a player is unavailable during weeks 3 through 6 in the NFL, he is also unavailable during the same weeks in the alternate reality season. So roster depth matters. The game simulations are based on the most advanced statistics and the latest research regarding what matters in winning an NFL game. But, the outcomes of the games have a random component, just like real NFL games.

The calendar for the alternate reality league year will look something like this:
• Jan to Mid March: Alternate Reality regular season and playoffs.
• Mid-March to the beginning of NFL season: Roster building through trades, veteran draft (first year), free agent drafts (2nd year and beyond), and rookie draft.
• Beginning of NFL season to end of regular NFL season: Alternate reality league is dormant, but the NFL players are generating their performance stats for the up-coming AR league.
• Rinse and repeat.

Copyright Sandbox Simulations, all rights reserved.

We're still finalizing the cost structure, but this won't be an expensive game to play at all. It might range from a few bucks a year to $50 per year, depending on a few factors.

Year 1 will require a couple of days of drafting with rather high intensity, but we've got it set up where you can put your draft list together and do customized and automated drafting if you like.

So...go! Now! Time to get ready for the draft!

[kstater]

Can you modify your board once the draft has started?

[Pestilence]

Is there some kind of e-mail notification when we're on the clock?

[cdcox]

Originally Posted by kstater

Can you modify your board once the draft has started?

Yes.

[cdcox]

Originally Posted by Pestilence

Is there some kind of e-mail notification when we're on the clock?

Not at present, but I can make that an opt in. I don't want to bomb people with unwanted email. On the list.

[Toadkiller]

Im in.

[Pestilence]

Originally Posted by cdcox

Not at present, but I can make that an opt in. I don't want to bomb people with unwanted email. On the list.

Yeah....it would probably be helpful because I'm not going to have the time to check in all day long to see if I'm up. And setting up your draft board looks to be a pain in the dick.

[trndobrd]

This has everything. Very well thought out. The option to raise parking prices really adds to the realism.

[Branden Albert's Huge Balls]

Zach gave me his team in the first league.

Could Cdcox or Rain Man delete my team from the 2nd league so I can transfer over my email address? Also if you could change my username that would be awesome.

[kstater]

Are there safeguards should a player lose interest and stop playing? IE trades must be approved by everyone.

[Branden Albert's Huge Balls]

Question: How will free agency be done? Will each team have the same money to spend? How will the money players want be decided?

[Rain Man]

Originally Posted by Red 5

Question: How will free agency be done? Will each team have the same money to spend? How will the money players want be decided?

cdcox can correct me if we've evolved, but my initial thinking is that any veteran not on a team will be in the free agent draft, and I'm hoping that maybe we can work it out so that anyone who changes teams gets booted off their current team and back into the free agent draft. That would be humorously annoying for people, but also realistic.

[Rain Man]

Originally Posted by kstater

Are there safeguards should a player lose interest and stop playing? IE trades must be approved by everyone.

In this test case, cdcox or I would likely take over. In the long run, people would get a big discount if they take over an existing team when they join. It would save them time and give them (in most cases) a fun rebuilding process.

Truthfully, that's the biggest potential pain in the neck - constantly repopulating leagues as people drop out, and it'll be more likely to happen to the weakest teams, too. So the discount will be big - maybe even a 100% discount on the joining fee.

[kstater]

One last question. What's my cut once this gets going?

[bevischief]

I am in.

[bevischief]

Only 11 people have signed up this?????