Electric Sevens Field Covers

[Paul Kian]

Good Morning EF fans!

After over a year of development, I have finally gotten some sharable progress to show for my Seven Man Arena-Style Solitaire League, tentatively named the Electric Sevens Indoor Football Association (ESIFA). I will go more into detail on rules and such in a different, more appropriate, thread, but for now I figured you all would like to see my prototype field covers. As of right now I still have to design appropriate End Zone Logos and add turf texture, but this is almost certainly the final forms the fields will look like for my two Leagues: The American League and the International League.

For starters, both Leagues will play on 42x18 inch custom fields, which is a 200' x 85' (Fifty Yard) Indoor Field scaled to a 5/8 inch = 1 Yard Ratio. I chose this scale because Regular Tudor Figures average around 1.30 inches and 67 Big Men around 1.35 inches, thus using this scale makes Regular Figures around 6'2" and Big Men around 6'6". The math gets a bit ugly when you start using 3rds of inches and such, so I have rounded all measures to 3 decimal places and may have fudged a few numbers here and there for simplification, but it's about 99.9% to scale.

The hash marks are 9 feet/3 yards apart, the same width as the field goal bar. This is only 1.875 real life inches at this scale, so kicks and formations can get a little tight....I debated on adding second set of "college" hash marks like in the AFL, but eventually settled on keeping it pinched like it is so that formations are more balanced and it keeps both teams honest instead of constantly overloading one side of the field. I also only put one horizontal hash mark in the middle of the arrayed 5 and 10 yard lines instead of the edges because of this crunch, to assist with finding the midpoint for ball placement.

The first thing you will probably notice is that I have the Yard Numbers facing Parallel instead of Perpendicular to the Yard Lines and End Zones. This is because Offensive play will always move in one direction, (except on kickoffs) so I figured it'd be easier to see the yardages facing this way (not to mention that I will probably stand behind the Defensive End Zone area most of the time). The sideboards will have the traditional number orientation, with an equivalent number below them for reference when returning kicks and turnovers. This is also why the End Zones are unequal in size - if I'm kicking and passing in only one direction, then why would the Defense need a huge End Zone only for returning turnovers?

Some Unique Field Quirks regarding each League:

American League

* Plays start on the Defensive End Zone Goal Line for Touchbacks, so there are hash marks on the Goal Line itself. Because of this, there are no Safeties until the Offense has a subsequent play that begins outside of the Goal Line or commits a penalty in the End Zone (except for a False Start or Delay of Game, which are Loss of Down penalties in this particular circumstance). Tackles and Sacks in the End Zone in this case only result in a Loss of Down and the Offense replays from the Goal Line. Once the Offense has had a follow up play outside of the Goal Line, they can never take another play from the Goal Line again for the remainder of the Drive, and any subsequent penalties that would put them inside the 49 Yard Line shall be Loss of Downs played from the 49 instead.

* The Defensive End Zone is 6 2/3 yards long and the Offensive End Zone is 10 yards long.

* The 2 Yard Line, Quarterfield (aka the 12.5 Yard Line), and Midfield (aka the 25 Yard Line) are specially demarcated with "Plus Signs" and extra hash marks, because those are where 1, 2, and 3 point PAT tries are taken, respectively (scrimmage plays only, no kicks). Quarterfield and Midfield are also used, along with the Goal Line, for tie breaker Field Goal Attempts in Overtime following 1 additional series of Offensive Drives.

* The area between the Offensive End Zone and Quarterfield is Red, signifying the Red Zone (how original!). There are a few Defensive formation rules specific to this area. I also put the numbers for yards 1-4 and 6-9 as a cool touch.

 

International League

* Plays start on the 48 Yard Line for Touchbacks, so there is a "Plus Sign" marker and black hash marks there. Unlike the American League, Safeties are allowed at any point including End Zone penalties. Like the American League, any subsequent penalties that would put the offense inside the 49 Yard Line shall be Loss of Downs played from the 49 instead.

* The Defensive End Zone is 4 2/3 yards long and the Offensive End Zone is 12 yards long. Field Goals therefore have a bit more length to them and passing touchdowns are a bit easier. Kickoffs also have more potential for Touchbacks.

* The 2 yard line, 10 yard line, and Midfield (aka the 25 yard line) are specially demarcated with "plus signs" and extra hash marks, because those are where 1, 2, and 3 point PAT tries are taken, respectively (kicks only, no scrimmage plays). Overtime is decided by 3 additional Drives instead of a single Series of Drives and 3 sets of Kicks like the American League.

* The area between the Offensive End Zone and 10 Yard Line is Red, otherwise identical rules and such to the American League Red Zone.

 

Let me know what you think, or if you have any suggestions.

 

Thanks!

 

-PK

Field_Cover_42_by_18_American (2).pdf Field_Cover_42_by_18_International (2).pdf

[Paul Kian]

Here's the Picture versions, the PDFs seem to not be opening for whatever reason. 🤔

[nefgm.org]

Very interesting. Look forward to more and following progress. 

[Paul Kian]

10 minutes ago, nefgm.org said:

Very interesting. Look forward to more and following progress. 

Thanks! Once I get the rule book finalized I'd be happy to send you a printed copy for your museum. Who knows, maybe it'll take off. 😁

[nefgm.org]

2 hours ago, Paul Kian said:

Thanks! Once I get the rule book finalized I'd be happy to send you a printed copy for your museum. Who knows, maybe it'll take off. 😁

Thanks!!! Would be very much appreciated. 

[Paul Kian]

Made some changes today, added the grass texture and modified some colors. What do y'all like better, the turquoise or navy lines?

[nefgm.org]

Turquoise.

[Paul Kian]

Made some more tweaks and changes here, mostly cosmetic stuff in the Red Zone like adding a middle hash mark to help with ball placement and making one league use black hashes and the other use white and a traditional yellow 5 Yard Line. Let me know if one style looks better than the other, or if I should keep the diversity between them. 😆

I also unified the Red Zone rules, as I decided that the two leagues should have more overlap than I previously was going to do. Now the major differences are as follows:

American League

* Plays start on the Defensive End Zone Goal Line for Touchbacks and Unreturned Kicks/Punts. Because of this, there are no Safeties until the Offense has a subsequent play that begins outside of the Goal Line or commits a penalty in the End Zone (except for a False Start or Delay of Game, which are Loss of Down penalties in this particular circumstance). Tackles and Sacks in the End Zone in this case only result in a Loss of Down and the Offense replaying from the Goal Line. Once the Offense has had a follow up play that starts outside of the Goal Line, they can never take another play from the Goal Line again for the remainder of the Drive, and any subsequent penalties that would put them inside the 49 Yard Line shall be Loss of Downs replayed from the 49 instead.

 

* The Defensive End Zone is 6 2/3 yards long and the Scoring End Zone is 10 yards long. This allows for shorter Field Goal attempts, but also tighter passing lanes in the End Zone, than the International League.

 

* The 2 Yard Line, Quarterfield (aka the 12.5 Yard Line), and Midfield (aka the 25 Yard Line) are specially demarcated with Turquoise lines and/or hash marks, because those are where 1, 2, and 3 point PAT tries are taken, respectively (1pt Field Goal Try from QF, 2pt Field Goal Try from MF, 1pt Scrimmage Try from the 2, 2pt Scrimmage Try from QF, and 3pt Scrimmage Try from MF). Quarterfield and Midfield are also used, along with the Defensive Goal Line, for tie breaker Field Goal Attempts (a la Penalty Kicks in Soccer) in Overtime following 1 additional series of Offensive Drives.

 

International League

* Plays start on the 48 Yard Line for Touchbacks, so there is a set of Turquoise hash marks there. Unlike the American League, Safeties are allowed at any point including End Zone penalties. Like the American League, any subsequent penalties that would put the offense inside the 49 Yard Line shall be Loss of Downs played from the 49 instead.

 

* The Defensive End Zone is 4 2/3 yards long and the Scoring End Zone is 12 yards long. Field Goals therefore have a bit more length to them and passing touchdowns are a bit easier. Kickoffs also have more potential for Touchbacks, hence them starting at the 48 instead of the Goal Line.

 

* The 2 yard line and Midfield (aka the 25 yard line) are specially demarcated with Turquoise Lines and/or hash marks, because those are where PAT tries are taken, exactly like the American League with the 10 Yard Line replacing Quarterfield. Overtime is decided by 3 additional series of Drives starting from Midfield instead of a single Series of Drives and 3 sets of Kicks like the American League.

 

I think these are what I'm going with moving forward. Let me know if anything just absolutely baffles y'all, but as long as it at least makes sense then I shall proceed to add End Zone logos later this week. 👍

[Paul Kian]

Finally got around to making a logo, it's pretty simple but I think it gets the point across. As soon as I can figure out how to curve text in Inkscape, I'll give it some perimeter text.

 

I also placed the logo in the scoring End Zones, changed the sideline color to black in the American league, and adjusted the goal line back by a half yard, because apparently I had it on the wrong side of original measurement. 😳

 

Next on the to-do list are Logos for each League to be placed in the Defensive End Zones, then I can get them off to be printed. I'm so excited to have somethings finally coming together!

[Paul Kian]

Hi all,

I had a snow day today, so since I had a bit of unexpected extra time this morning, I finished some updates.

After some attempts at curving the text of my logo, I decided to just keep it straight and a bit fancy, like the old 1960s AFL teams had at various points. The font is royalty free and ok for commercial use, so I should be able to reproduce it if I ever get around to filming and streaming games....😉

I placed the updated logo in the Scoring End Zones of each Field Cover. I am, however, still working on League Logos. One problem that I realized last week is that I actually messed up my previous nomenclatures compared to what my original plans were: I have American and International FIELDS, but the two Leagues are actually called the Northern and Southern Leagues, based on the team's geographical locations relative to North Carolina. I'm purposely excluding NC for now, so that I can't be accused of favoritism.... I'm not Gary Bettman after all. 😁

Each League has 3 International Field Teams and 3 American Field Teams, so I'm not entirely sure whether I want to make both League-specific and Field-specific rulesets or just do Field-specific. I want there to be some differences, even if they're just aesthetic. It's about the only thing I liked about MLB- their American and National Leagues had differences in Designated hitter, strike zones, and overall playing styles before they made the Umpires work in both leagues and forced interleague play. ☹️

The Teams are also attached, definitely subject to change but I feel pretty strong about all of these names- my criteria is selecting areas and mascots that don't have a real life major league sports team attached to them (at least none that I'm aware of anyway). I'm still deciding on colors for several of them, primarily depending upon what paints and/or prepainted figures I can get ordered next month. 😆

I will try to have my absolutely-positiviely-completely-final field covers finished by the end of the month, so that I can start focusing on finalizing the rulesets and finish painting and tweaking figures while I wait for the covers to be printed. I have the two 24 gauge sheets already so I'm at least ahead of the game on that part. 😁

 

Until next time,

 

-PK

[nefgm.org]

Cool that you have a Tennessee team, the Knoxville Pioneers. That will have to be the team, I follow!!! 

[Paul Kian]

44 minutes ago, nefgm.org said:

Cool that you have a Tennessee team, the Knoxville Pioneers. That will have to be the team, I follow!!! 

Yep, that's one of my original 4 teams, along with Lexington, St. Pierre, and the Canadian Shield.

I was originally going to base them closer to the border, like in Sevierville or Gatlinburg, to fit the whole Cumberland Gap "Pioneer" theme. I looked it up though and only Knoxville had a hockey-rink-sized arena in the area. I have to be just a little realistic of course. 😁

[Paul Kian]

Just posting an update, as I'm in a bit of a holding pattern right now and this is kind of an informal Progress Journal....

I will be cutting Lumber for the frame probably around the Second week of February, as unfortunately one of the bearings on my Miter Saw went out as I was attempting to cut some boards on Sunday for a different project, and I didn't realize this specific model was so hard to source for.

I currently have two 24 gauge Galvanized Steel sheets cut to 42" x 18". I still need to buy the motors and wiring/controls/ additional setup, which I will most likely order from Tudor and possibly do some minor tweaking to add a second Controller.

I'm going to make the Frame out of nominal 4" width (3.5" actual) poplar with four 1-by-1s nailgunned to the inside edges & placed 7/8" from the top to give the Field ~48" high Sideboards- in scale of course. I hope I have enough clamps for that, and I definitely need to snag a better Framing Square to go with my Bubble Leveler. 😆

I'm also going to cut 4 crossbeams made of at least 1" thick hardwood, likely maple or oak depending on what my local Home Improvement stores have in stock. I'm still deciding on my field leveler set up: since it's not as big as a Monster/Warrior Board a la Jerry McGee, I may be able to simply use a pair of levelers on each crossbeam and avoid needing a Long Beam down the middle. I'm also leaning towards the Motor-Diagonally-in-each-Endzone set up, as it seems to work well for those 48" x 24" Ultimate Boards and would further reduce my need for a Long Beam compared to Jerry's Double-50 set up.

Surprisingly, the most expensive thing so far (quoted at least) has been the vinyl field covers. Apparently I picked the worst possible size: 42" is generally too large for most print shops around here, but because it's smaller than typical car decal panels it's considered a custom-priced (read: extra expensive) type size for the local car wrapping places. I'm probably going to have to break down and get them online, despite my desire to try to help my local businesses here. Oh well, at least I tried. 😒

Lastly, I am going to purchase an 18" x 24" piece of Lexan from the HI store to make my Detachable Field Goal/Rebound Nets. I will cut it into four 6" pieces, with two of them having the field goal area cut out and the remaining two being solid. I will then drill some holes at the bottoms and mount them to the bottom "Side Board" with some mini L-Brackets and Machine Screws & Nuts that should work on and off pretty easily- Finger Tightened of Course. I will also cut a couple pieces of netting to attach to the cutout areas as Field Goal Catching Nets. The idea is to have the completely solid Pieces for Kickoffs and Passes, and the ones with the Field Goal areas cut out for....well, Field Goals and PATs of course. Since I'm only doing one scoring End Zone right now, the extra 2 will be for backups in case one cracks or I lose it, but I can still have the capability to make another field cover down the road that's more of the traditional two 8 yard End Zones variety. 😁

Thanks for reading this long winded Progress Report. I will try to have some pictures next time so it's less Shakespeare. 😆

Best,

-PK

[MK1603]

Amazing amount of work and effort put in Paul! Sounds like things are slowly coming together 😁 Sounds like it will be a brilliant project

[nefgm.org]

Thanks for the posting. I m a retired woodworker and cabinet builder, so I enjoyed reading this. Yes, we need pictures!!!

[Paul Kian]

Thanks guys, I know it'll be a pretty grand undertaking but I see it as making up for lost time, since I only got into Electric Football a few years ago. I would have loved it as a kid for sure. 😁

I'm definitely not a professional woodworker nor electrical engineer, but I figure if I can build bass traps for my music room and can wire up a guitar and some effects pedals, I can make a box with a sheet of metal in it and hook up a mostly pre-assembled set of motors lol. Just don't judge my miter joints and pocket holes too harshly. Paint & Putty is the ultimate equalizer after all. 😆

[nefgm.org]

LOL. I mostly built display cases for museum exhibits. usually painted MDF. We had a saying "Bondo is our friend". I'm sure it will look good.   

[Paul Kian]

Haha, yeah I'm sure I'll need a few tubes/bottles. Poplar is already a pretty imperfect wood so I have some margin of error. If I ever get a table saw or a circle saw I will definitely start using MDF. It's so much cheaper.

[Paul Kian]

Just a quick update, I finalized and ordered my remaining teams. I updated the spreadsheet with the final names and colors, split them into International and American Divisions within the two Leagues, and I added a column for the base figures I'll be using. Some teams will be bone-stock, others I will repaint a few parts here and there but will keep the rest of the figure the same color.

One dilemma I have is I'm not sure if I will paint the TTQBs from the top-up for each team, leave them plain except for number decals, or do a hybrid approach of painting only the Helmets and putting numbers on but leaving them blank otherwise. (I know to avoid painting the legs as that gums up the kicking action). I really don't like having separate QB figures that I have to take off the board and swap each time I need to pass, so my goal is to keep the TTQB on the board at all times. It doesn't fit my scale field super well (a 1.5" TTQB is like 7' tall lol), but I'll make due for now.

I tried to order some Plexi earlier but it's out of stock until after the big snow storm we're expecting this weekend. I'll try to get some next weekend if all goes well.

Until next time,

-PK

[Paul Kian]

My remaining to-do List:

- Order Blue TTC Bases (Forgot to order with the teams; since there's a delay with shipping anyway I'll just order next weekend)

- Order 6 more TTQBs (already have 12)

- Order Field Covers

- Order Tudor Motors, Ultimate Converter, and Controllers (already have my own wiring, power supply, and cabling)

- Buy & Cut Plexiglass, Angled Brackets, Small Machine Screws, and possibly netting for End Zones

- Buy & Cut Lumber for Frame

- Wire up LED Lights for Penalties, Time-Outs, Made/Missed FGs (Optional)

- Order Refs, Coaches, and etc. Sideline Figures (Optional)

[nefgm.org]

WOW!! That's really an ambitious project. Love it though!!

[Paul Kian]

Oh yeah, I'm going whole hog. Granted, a lot of the stuff at the end is more for if I decide to start filming/streaming games. It obviously won't affect game play so I can still play games in the meantime. Knowing me, I'll never be completely satisfied and this will be an ongoing and ever-expanding project.... I really should have been a marketing major in college. 😆

[Paul Kian]

Good evening everyone,

I have made some headway on my International League Logo design.  I tried to represent each team on a single shield, which I believe I have done a pretty good job at so far. The areas are placed approximately in geographic order, with two Maple Leaves for the two Canadian teams (with a Union Jack in the top left Leaf to represent the Royals), St. Pierre's flag for the top Right, Mexico's Eagle and Snake on the Bottom Left, and the bottom Right is inhabited jointly by the two "International" Teams, since Puerto Rico and The Conch Republic are both technically part of the US. The next step for the logo is to add some medieval "scrolls" to the top and bottom to put text saying "International League" on.

I also did some changes in the ESIFA logos and field covers, with more changes likely to come. Let me know what color text(s) you like; I put one of each on the updated Fields for reference.

Thanks for following along!

-PK

[nefgm.org]

All look cool!! No preference, 

[Paul Kian]

Good evening everyone,

Unfortunately, I left my flash drive at work today that had my field covers and logos on them, then the sky absolutely fell out; so I most likely won't be making any updates this weekend until the snow and ice melt down or the roads are cleared. ☹️

To tide everyone over, I did draw up a set of scoring sheets for each league. They're just simple spreadsheets, but I think they reveal more differences with the leagues than the field covers. My games will be played as "Series" of Drives similar to how Innings work in Baseball.

Each team can score up to 9 points per Drive, with "Drive-Enders" earning the Defense an additional point if they have room. Teams can also elect to take 1, 2, or 3 point PATs. The highest score possible is 100-99 in both Leagues.

The first half will have each Team's offense begin play from the respective League starting points (Goal Line for American, 48 for International). The second half shall have kickoffs, with onside kicks as an option: both for trailing teams to attempt to deny the leading team a drive so they can catch up, and for leading teams to attempt to game manage and "run out the clock" so to speak.

American League games shall consist of 10 Series of Drives, with both teams swapping orders after the end of the 5th series. If both teams are tied after the 10th series, an 11th series shall be played with the same order as the first 5 Series. If both teams are still tied following this, they will each get to take 3 free kicks from Quarterfield, Midfield, and the Goal line (aka from 12.5, 25, and 50 yards). If this does not lead to a clear victor, then the team with the most Offensive Yards is granted 1 point and the Victory.

International League games shall consist of 8 Series of Drives, with both teams swapping orders after the end of the 4th series. If at the end of 8 series, the teams are within 27 points, then Extended Time shall be granted, consisting of 3 additional Series of Drives in the same order as the first 4 Series. If this does not lead to a clear victor, then the team with the most Offensive Yards is granted 1 point and the Victory.

The Slaughter Line is the amount of points mathematically that a trailing team must be within to have a chance of winning. If a team leads by an amount higher than the indicated Slaughter Line, then they are automatically awarded the victory (known as a Mercy, which is recorded in addition to a Win in the standings and can be used for Tiebreakers in Playoff contention).

I know that's a lot of info in a poorly laid out format, but it should make more sense once I have an actual codified rule set drafted up. I will make a separate thread once that's accomplished. 😁

Best,

-PK