Introduction
Now that the World Cup 2022 is into the latter stages and everyone is having bets and predictions on the winner, I would like to tell you about the football games that I am playing. They are all on the blockchain:
- Rabona - Hive
- Nifty Football - Flow
- Ultimate Champions - Polygon
- CosmosEleven - Wax
There are at different stages of development but they have similarities.
Rabona
I started playing Rabona almost a year ago when I first discovered blockchain gaming. Their website is minimalistic and mostly text based. If I remember correctly, it costs US$10 worth of Hive to start. You get a team of eleven players. There are four leagues and you start at the bottom and work your way up.
A Season lasts roughly a week. Games are automatically played, i.e. there is no need for you to be in front of your PC. Games are played at 02:23 and 14:23 UTC. Things that you could do to improve your team are increasing the capacity of your Stadium, Catering and Shop, Building, Academy and Training facilities. You can also scout for players and buy/sell them in the Market place within the game.
Currently the development of Rabona has been suspended but the server is still running and rewards are being given out after every season.
Nifty Football
What initially attracted me to Nifty was the quality artwork. The 2D retro style which completely goes against the current trend is from artist Stanley Chow from Manchester, England.
Nifty is a bit more hands-on compared to Rabona. What I mean by that is, you could choose to be available at match time and Change Tactics (make substitutions) at any point in the game. To this end, there is a very nifty (pun intended) setup in the game that you can choose the time your matches are being played each day. There is no worry of which timezone you're in, just set it to your lunch break or whenever.
There is also a bit more micro management with Nifty. You get experience points from logging in and playing matches and you use these to upgrade your players' stats. You also need to find a Formation that fits the players you have and get them trained accordingly.
Nifty is still in beta and their token $nifty is yet to launch. Sadly, like Rabona, this game is also in limbo at the moment.
Ultimate Champions
Out of the 4 blockchain football games that I am discussing today, Ultimate Champions is the only one where gameplay is complete and their in-game token $CHAMP has launched successfully. This is also the only game based on real world football teams. The biggest names they have signed so far are Arsenal and Bayer Leverkusen. A complete list of all the teams are as follow:
- Premier League (UK) - Arsenal
- Championship (UK) S - Cardiff FC, Birmingham City, QPR FC, Blackpool FC, Huddersfield Town FC, Reading FC, Sheffield United FC, Sunderland AFC
- League One (UK) - Fleetwood Town F.C, Morecambe F.C., Port Vale, Bristol Rovers, Bolton Wanderers, Charlton Athletic FC, Cheltenham Town FC, Peterborough United FC, Sheffield Wednesday FC
- EFL League Two (UK) - Tranmere, Doncaster Rovers FC
- Scottish Premiership (Scotland) - Hibernian FC, Dundee United FC
- Ligue 2 (France) - Chamois Niortais, Le Havre AC, Pau FC, Quevilly-Rouen Metropole
- Ligue 1 (France) - ES Troyes AC, Stade de Reims
- Liga I România - All 16 clubs
- Bundesliga (Germany) - Wolfsburg, Leverkusen
As a player you can participate in Global Leagues and Tournaments. You can also create your own league to play with friends. There is no need for micro management of players as you don't need to upgrade your fictitious players. All you have to do every game week is to select your 11 players and 3 subs for any leagues or tournaments and sit back as the points mount up.
Every Thursday, there is a pack drop. Packs are usually limited to 1 or 2 per account to prevent Pay to Win and there are better value packs for new managers. Multi-accounting will be banned. All you have to do to start playing is to Sign up. You get a budget to spend on your first 11 Common players. As you earn in-game tokens MGC or $CHAMP, you can use that to buy more players from the in-game Marketplace.
Discord | Whitepaper | Website
Cosmos Eleven
I have just started and have yet to assemble my ideal team. This game is like a combination of Nifty and UC. On the one hand, you are dealing with a team of Humans and Aliens, on the other you can host tournaments if you wish.
There are some features that I haven't seen modelled in other footy sims. They are Coaches, Medics, Terrain and Weather conditions. The last two are particularly interesting. If you are the Home team, you are able to set these conditions. Imagine having a dedicated team specialised playing under meteor showers and glass! What a hoot! This game is in active development.
Discord | Website | Whitepaper
Conclusion
TLDR
Rabona - good engine
Nifty - best UI
Ultimate Champions - professional
Cosmos Eleven - unique features
All four games have some good elements in it and that's why I keep playing. I like Rabona for its engine. There is always a random side to it that you cannot win all the time even if you have a maxed out team of players. I like Nifty for its UI. Everything is nicely laid out and intuitive. I also like the Change Tactic option where you feel you can positively affect the outcome of the game. Ultimate Champions is on a league of its own. If you have the knowledge of real world footballers already, this is a no brainer. They are constantly negotiating for more and high profile teams to join. Lastly, although Cosmos Eleven still has a bit to catch up on game features and UI, I feel there is enough of unique gameplay in there to keep me interested. Hopefully one day, with an improved UI and all game features in the whitepaper completed, it could turn out to be a top game.