Arcade
Commish Bowl is a whole game: kickoffs, four downs, punts, field goals and a clock, against the computer, in the weather you pick. Long Kick is one question: how far back can you make a field goal from? No wallet, no sign-up, and nothing here goes anywhere near the chain.
PICK YOUR TEAM
Your opponent is picked for you, in a colour you can tell apart on the field.
HOW TO PLAY COMMISH BOWL
Before every snap you pick a play with the buttons under the field. Then the ball is live and you steer one player, the one with the orange arrow over his head: whoever has the ball on offense, or a defender on defense. The line under the field always says what the controls do on that snap.
THE CONTROLS
Open a section below for how each part of the game works.
PASSINGRoutes, reading the receivers, scrambling, sacks and interceptions.
Call SHORT PASS or DEEP PASS. The quarterback takes his drop on his own, and every receiver shows a number beside him. The number lit yellow is whoever is most open right now.
- SHORT PASS: 1 slants in from the top, 2 runs a quick out along the bottom, and 3 is the running back swinging out into the flat.
- DEEP PASS: 1 runs straight down the field, 2 runs a post toward the middle, and the back stays in to block.
- Hold the ball too long and you will be sacked. A blitz gets there fastest.
- Throws into tight coverage get knocked down or intercepted. Deep balls are harder to catch the longer they hang in the air.
- Rain and snow make catches harder, and wind moves a deep ball while it is in the air.
CALLING A PLAYWhat each offensive and defensive call is good against.
Each call beats one thing and loses to another, and the computer is choosing too. After the play, the result tells you what it called against you.
RUNNING WITH THE BALLAfter a run, a catch, a kick return or an interception.
DEFENSEChasing, switching players, tackling and picking off passes.
You start as a linebacker. Every defender you are not steering plays the call you made.
YOUR KICKOFFS AND PUNTSAim, power and accuracy, and where the ball ends up.
Pick KICK IT DEEP or ONSIDE KICK on a kickoff, or PUNT on offense. An onside kick goes on its own, and your team gets it back about one time in five.
- A kickoff that lands in the end zone is a touchback to their 35.
- A kickoff short of their 20, or out of bounds, comes back to their 40.
- A kickoff that lands between the goal line and their 20 has to be returned. If it rolls into the end zone and is downed there, it goes to the 20.
- A punt into the end zone is a touchback to their 20. After a safety, the team that gave it up kicks from its own 20.
RETURNING KICKSRunning kicks back, and fair catches.
Your returner goes to the ball on his own. Once he has it, he is yours.
FIELD GOALS AND EXTRA POINTSThe kicker's-eye view, the meters and the wind.
After a touchdown, choose KICK THE EXTRA POINT (a 33-yard kick) or GO FOR TWO (one play from the 2, with RUN, SHORT PASS or DEEP PASS). FIELD GOAL shows on offense with its distance.
- A kick can clip the upright or the crossbar and bounce in or out.
- A missed field goal gives the other team the ball where it was kicked from, or at their 20.
- When the computer kicks a field goal you watch it from the same camera. For its extra point, press WATCH. When it goes for two, you pick the defense.
THE CLOCK AND THE RULESDowns, scoring, timeouts, the two-minute warning, overtime and weather.
- Four downs to gain ten yards. On the field, the orange line is the line of scrimmage and the yellow line is the line to gain.
- Touchdown 6, extra point 1, two-point try 2, field goal 3, safety 2.
- The clock runs during plays and between them: about 28 seconds between snaps, or 12 when a team is hurrying late in a half. It stops after an incomplete pass, a score, a change of possession, and running out of bounds in the last two minutes of a half.
- 3 timeouts a half (2 in overtime), and a two-minute warning in each half of a 5-minute or 15-minute game.
- Teams change ends every quarter, so a wind at your back becomes a wind in your face.
- Tied after four quarters: overtime. Both teams get the ball unless the defense scores first, then the next score wins. It lasts one of your quarters, up to ten minutes, and can end in a tie.
- Weather changes the game. Snow slows everybody and shortens kicks. Rain means more fumbles and drops and slightly shorter kicks. Wind pushes every kick and every deep ball. Time of day changes the light.
- On a phone, turn it sideways and the game fills the screen.
ABOUT THESE GAMES
These are original games, written for this site, in the visual style of late-1980s console football. They are not Tecmo Bowl and they are not an emulator: that game belongs to Tecmo, and the real names in it were licensed from the NFL and the players’ association. None of that is ours to hand out. What is ours is a field, some sprites made of rectangles, and the arithmetic of a football in the wind.
Team colours are used the same way they are on the rest of the site, as a way to tell thirty-two clubs apart at a glance. No club marks, no logos, no player names, no affiliation, no endorsement. The rules follow the NFL’s 2026 rulebook where a small game can, and simplify where it cannot.
The real game is upstairs: one team a week, lose once and your season is over, and the pot sits in the pool’s own vault rather than in anybody’s account.