.png)
If you love hockey, then you're in for a real treat.
Hockey Hardware: The Original Game is a hockey themed tabletop game made by a hockey fan for hockey fans and inspired by fantasy hockey.
Everything about this game reflects elements, terminology, and actions of the sport we love on the ice.
Here are some examples:
Start the game by creating your player profile. Determine your Conference (East or West), and then determine your position (Forward or Defence) and Roster Level (Forward Line 2 or Defence Pair 2).
Note that you'll want to be mentally prepared to move up and down the Roster Level throughout the game. A Line Demotion will send you down a Roster Level, while a Line Promotion will bring you back up. This matters because depending on where you are in the Roster Level, you will get more production opportunity (E.g., as a Forward on Line 1) or less (E.g., as a Forward on Line 4). It's a dynamic and proportional reality, just like in real hockey.
Then start the game!
Over the course of 15 Rounds, collect more Hockey Stats than your opponents, while avoiding Adversity and strategically playing your Game Cards to earn the most trophies.
Players compete for 11 trophies in total. Some of the trophies include Beast of the East, Best of the West, Big Shot, Block Ops, Elite Sniper, MVD (Most Valuable Defence), Power Forward, and more. The player with the most trophies at the end of the Third Period is awarded the Champion's Cup and wins the game!
The 15 Rounds are divided into three Periods and two Intermissions in the Game Schedule. There are five Rounds in each Period.
Each player - unless you are suspended or bought out - gets a turn on every Round to collect Hockey Stats, confront and resolve Adversity, and draw and play their Game Cards.
Players collect Hockey Stats by rolling the Stat Dice. These Hockey Stats include Goals, Assists, Shots, Blocks, Hits, and Plus Rating.
Some of the Adversity players are trying to avoid includes getting benched, being demoted down the line-up, suffering from road fatigue, receiving a suspension, trading conferences, or even getting bought out (which can be devastating to your game).
And the hockey actions that players engage through drawing and playing Game Cards include take aways, give aways, break aways, stick lifts, poke checks, turnovers and more.
During the Intermissions, players lock-in their Leader Points, total their tallied Hockey Stats for each Stat Category on their Score Sheet, handout the Hockey Hardware accordingly, and replenish their Game Cards if they have less than five cards remaining in their hand.
From start to finish, this fun, new and authentic hockey themed tabletop game will keep hockey lovers fully entertained at home on a Saturday night with some pizza and the game on TV, in the cottage on a rainy day, or in a hotel during a hockey tournament road trip.