The UFL Manual

Foreword

This manual was written by Larry Rogers and was originally distributed with the DOS-based version of UFL. I have made changes to the manual over the years to reflect the changes that have been made to UFL. I have also added screenshots for illustration.

Welcome To The Universal Football League



UFL: Universal Football League is a pro football simulator. The teams in your league will grow and change through the years, as veterans retire and rookies enter the league. Free agency will change the make-up of each team, sometimes thwarting their plans for the championship. You have total control of the coaching of each team. You can play for as many of the teams as you feel, or allow the computer to control any or all of them. The general manager's role is taken by the computer, which runs draft day and training camp. Your job: coach a team (if you so desire; I'm sure you do) to the Stellar Bowl. You can be a member of numerous league configurations from 8 to 32 teams. Pick your own poison.

Historical Perspective

(UFL for DOS splash screen)

UFL was first written over twenty-nine years ago for the TRS-80 (with a whopping 13K of memory). It went through various incarnations on the Commodore 64 and 128, the Amiga, and finally found a home on the PC. As more memory became available, more features were added. This is a text-only football game. I make no apologies for not using fancy graphics. If that's your thing, then I suggest EA's Madden series. What UFL strives for is simplicity (not simple-mindedness--there's a difference). My friends and I have played over thirty seasons of UFL. As full-time coach of the Baltimore Bruins I have known the excitement of winning the Stellar Bowl and the agonies of going 2-14. One calendar year we played seven complete seasons, calling for about half the teams (the rest coached by computer) of a 24 team league. Players from three states (Tennessee, Arkansas, and Mississippi) made monthly sojourns to play for their teams. Simple to play, UFL has enough complexity, enough sheer excitement, to intrigue players from fifteen to fifty who love football, who love the challenge of building a championship club and taking them to the ultimate game--the Stellar Bowl.

Some of the features included are listed below:  

Getting Started



The main menu includes the following choices:

  1. Play A Game
  2. Look At Statistics
  3. Edit Teams Or Players
  4. Commissioner
  5. Look At Records
  6. Exit

1. Play A Game



You have two choices, a regular season game or an exhibition game. The exhibition game does not save any statistics or allow any game time injuries to carry over. You may select the teams from the current default league. (To change default leagues, go to Commissioner in the main menu). League games will be accessed according to the schedule. However, you may play everything but the playoffs in any sequence you wish. While this is not realistic, it does allow you to have leagues where coaches may not be available to play their games at the proper time. My cousin, who coached the Trojans, used to drive up once a month and play anywhere from 6 to 12 games on a Saturday. Some of us would be finished with our season except for his game. Woe unto you if he was hot that day. If a game has been played, the score will be displayed, and the game may not be accessed. Any weeks already completed can be accessed by clicking the Prior Weeks button. Once the regular season is finished, playoffs begin. Each round must be completed before the next round can begin. Once the Stellar Bowl is played, no game can be accessed until the new season begins. See the Look At Statistics section to begin a new season. Weather conditions for the day's game may be shown while the main program loads, or on the normal screen where down, distance, field position, score and time are shown. Once teams have been selected, the referees will toss the coin and give the option to kick or receive. Deciding to kick in the first half means that the kicking team will receive the ball in the second half. Any kickoff has the option of being a Normal, Onside or Squib Kickoff. Onside kicks are recovered by the kicking team approximately 16% of the time. Squib kicks have less chance of being returned for a TD, though they generally give the receiving team excellent field position.

Offensive Play Calling (Play + Runner/Receiver + Formation, e.g. 2546)


Play Choices:

11 - Plunge              21 - Screen Right       31 - Slant Right
12 - Off Tackle Right    22 - Screen Left        32 - Slant Middle
13 - Off Tackle Left     23 - Flair Right        33 - Slant Left
14 - End Run Right       24 - Flair Left         34 - Square Out Right
15 - End Run Left        25 - Quick In Right     35 - Square Out Left
16 - Draw                26 - Quick In Middle    36 - Post Right
17 - Reverse Right       27 - Quick In Left      37 - Post Left
18 - Reverse Left        28 - Quick Out Right    38 - Flag Right
19 - Option Pass         29 - Quick Out Left     39 - Flag Left

Runner/Receiver Choices:

0 - Quarterback          4 - Wide Receiver 1       8 - Tight End 1
1 - Fullback             5 - Wide Receiver 2       9 - Tight End 2
2 - Halfback 1           6 - Wide Receiver 3
3 - Halfback 2           7 - Wide Receiver 4

Note: On Option Pass (#19 above) the Runner/Receiver is the back throwing the ball. Reverses can only be run by Wide Receivers and Tight Ends. Plunges, Off Tackle, End Runs and Draws may only be run by Quarterbacks, Fullbacks and Halfbacks. Plays which do not observe these restrictions will be rejected by the computer, and you will be asked to enter another call.

Formation Choices:

0 - --- HB1 --- WR1 WR2 --- ---  TE1 TE2      
1 - --- HB1 --- WR1 WR2 WR3 ---  TE1 ---      
2 - --- HB1 --- WR1 WR2 WR3 WR4  --- ---      
3 - HB1 HB2 --- WR1 WR2 --- ---  TE1 ---
4 - FB1 HB1 --- WR1 --- --- ---  TE1 TE2      
5 - FB1 HB1 --- WR1 WR2 --- ---  TE1 ---      
6 - FB1 HB1 --- WR1 WR2 WR3 ---  --- ---      
7 - FB1 HB1 HB2 --- --- --- ---  TE1 TE2
8 - FB1 HB1 HB2 WR1 --- --- ---  TE1 ---
9 - FB1 HB1 HB2 WR1 WR2 --- ---  --- ---

Note: The quarterback is in on all formations. If the Runner/Receiver is not in the formation, the computer will ask for another offensive call.

Other Offensive Commands

FG = Field Goal Attempt
PU = Punt

Defensive Play Calling (Formation + Play/Blitz, e.g. 605)



Formation/Play/Blitz Choices:

  Formations            Plays                  Blitzes              
    1 - 32      01 - Run                  Run           Pass    
    2 - 33      02 - Tight                12     All     19   
    3 - 34      03 - Short Yardage        13     Left    20
    4 - 41      04 - Goal Line            14    Middle   21
    5 - 42      05 - Pass                 15    Right    22
    6 - 43      06 - Bump & Run           16     L/M     23
    7 - 44      07 - Short Zone           17     L/R     24
                08 - LB Drop              18     M/R     25
                09 - Deep Zone          
                10 - Deep Corner Zone
                11 - Free Safety Blitz

Other Commands

CONTROL = Change Coaches (Computer/Human)
LOG = Game Event Log
STAT = Show Statistics
SUB = Substitute

Injuries

When a player in injured, he is removed from the game, and moved down the depth chart. No matter the number of injuries, or their extent, you will always have enough players to fill the designated slots. If injuries mount to one position, then the least injured players will play. So if all 6 wide receivers are injured, the least 4 injured will be chosen to play. Since you have only one field goal kicker and one punter, an injury to them will not involve their removal from the game, but may affect their performance as a kicker or punter. Injured players may be used on special teams. For example, the starting halfback is injured for 11 quarters. However, if he has a kick return rating, then he may still be chosen to return kickoffs. At each new quarter (overtime is considered a quarter), the computer will reduce the injury numbers by one and reevaluate the injury situation. If an injured player becomes available, he will be restored to his normal position in the pre-game depth chart.

Substitutions



To change players during a game, simply type SUB as either the offensive or defensive game call. This will bring up the team for which you entered SUB (offense if entered as an offensive call, or defense if entered as a defensive call). Players which are active are highlighted. Simply drag the substitute on top of the player who is to be removed from the game, and the substitution is made. This will be in effect only for this game. If the change is to be made permanent, then that should be done in the Edit Depth Chart subsection of the Edit Teams And Players section. See the Depth Chart heading below. Note that a player may not be substituted for someone who is injured for less quarters. An injured player may move up the depth chart only to a position in which a player has an amount of quarters injured equal to his own number of quarters injured.

Timeouts

During the last three minutes of each half, the offense will be asked if it wishes to call timeout, providing the clock is not stopped for some other reason (i.e. an incomplete pass, out of bounds play, change of possession, or penalty). There are 3 choices: let the clock run, call timeout, hurry up offense. If the offense calls a timeout when they have none remaining, the computer will simply run a hurry up offense. If the offensive team does not call timeout, then the defense will have only 2 choices: Let the clock run, or call timeout. If the defense has no timeouts, the computer will simply let the clock run.

Fake Punts And Field Goals

In the current version of UFL, there is no provision to call a fake field goal or fake punt. Early versions had these options. Why did I choose to eliminate them? Let me explain my reasoning. As a coach, I expect a play that I call to have a reasonable chance to succeed. If the fake punt (which works only as a surprise tactic) were to be good enough to call, it would have to succeed at a phenomenal rate, since that is what I see happening in the NFL. However, how do I surprise the defense? How do I make the play good enough to call, but not so good that it would suffer abuse by everyone who seeks out flaws in a game, and tries to take advantage of them? I couldn't. Yet I like the fake field goal, and the fake punt. Some of the most intriguing moments in a football game occur when these happen. I tried to include everything I had ever seen in football (within the limits of my capabilities as a programmer). How do I not have the punter throw for a first down, or the holder roll out and scramble for first down on a field goal attempt (or maybe even toss it to the kicker)? No problem. I simply took the decision out of the hands of the coach (sorry, I have to make some concessions to the reality of statistics, and the reality of the game). Sometimes, despite your firm desire to punt the ball away, the punter will attempt a pass. If you say, "No coach in his right mind would try a fake punt at this moment in the game", well, you're probably right. Maybe it was a bad snap, and the punter had no choice. Use your imagination. Make up a story. Crazier things have happened in football. Things which happen on punts and field goal attempts, like runs or passes or such, are either planned or the result of bad snaps and such. Choose the one which makes more sense. The history of the game is never the mere yards gained. It's the players and the tales you tell about them. It's Ken Willard, the "Black Bomber", throwing bomb after bomb against deep zone and prevent, for a 52-3 victory against the invincible Buc defense in what the Buc coach called the greatest defensive game he had ever called and the hottest he had ever seen Willard throw. It's four cracks from the one yard line by Chuck Munser, the only 2000 yard rusher in UFL history, all for no gain in a playoff game which denied the Rebels the Stellar Bowl. Those things happened, and none of the players who were involved, or merely watched them happen, have ever forgotten them. It's the Cobras, who went to more Stellar Bowls than anyone... and never won one! History is what the players do, and how you imagine them doing it. That's the beauty of UFL.

Reverses And Option Passes

While I have included the opportunity to call both of these trick plays, be forewarned that the more often they are called in a game, the worse the possibilities become. Once or twice per game--maybe. After that, save them for another game.

Penalties

I have included a number of penalties in the game. False starts and encroachment, pass interference, etc. are automatically accepted and stepped off by the referees. Others often involve a decision. The team with the option to accept or decline should decide, and then click on his decision. If you are playing the computer, then the computer's choice will be the only one shown, merely to let you know what has happened. Click on it, and the game will be continued after the penalty has been applied.

2. Look At Statistics



There are several statistical views to choose from.

Standings

The standings show you the current win-loss record of each team, as well as who's in first, etc.

Team Stats

Team Stats provides each team's schedule, team offense and defense totals, as well as the individual leaders in all the major categories like rushing, receiving, passing, punt and kick returns, sacks, interceptions, fumbles, punting, and field goal kicking.

League Offensive/Defensive Totals

These two options give you each team's offensive/defensive statistics as well as the league averages: a good way to scout the opponent's strengths and weaknesses as the season goes on.

League Leaders

League Leaders will show you the league's individual leaders in all of these categories: Rushing, Receiving, Passing, Sacks, Interceptions, Punting, Kick Returns, Punt Returns, Tackles, and Touchdowns.

Entire League

This shows you the Team Stats page for every team combined into one page.

Other Information

Any of these statistical views may printed out to the printer or an archive file. As long as the season has not yet reached the Stellar Bowl, the choice to start a new season will not be available. Once a champion is crowned, you may click on New Season. This will send you to a program that retires the players, moves players around in trades and free agent acquisitions, drafts rookies, conducts training camp, reworks depth charts, and writes a new schedule. Your previous season's statistics will also be archived. (These archives can be viewed later by clicking on the Archived option that appears after clicking the Look At Statistics button.) When the program has reworked the league, you will be ready to start a new season, and the main menu will appear.

3. Edit Teams Or Players



This is where you can put your own personal stamp on the league you set up. You can change team names, weather conditions, player names, player ratings, depth charts, and trade players.

Edit Team Data

Here you can decide on the values for the following: City, Nickname, Code, Stadium, Temperature, Wind, Precipitation, Coach, Offense Style, and Defense Style. The code is a 2-4 letter combination which identifies the team when league leaders and such are printed out. The three weather factors--temperature, wind and precipitation--provide the parameters for the different weather conditions that occur as the season moves into the late fall and winter months. Offense and Defense Styles refer to the coaching philosophies that the computer uses to determine its game plan. Offense can choose to pass or run more often, or simply stay balanced. Defense can either blitz a lot, or blitz normally. Game situations, like score, quarter, down and distance will sometimes warrant changes in the basic philosophy for computer coaches. With these different categories, you create an amazing amount of variety in how the game is played. Extremely hot weather, rain and snow, below freezing temperatures, strong wind, all are used to determine the outcome of the games. Players grow more fatigued if the weather is extreme. Rain and snow can cause more fumbles, less traction for runs, dropped passes, bad snaps, more injuries. One of the more extreme occurrences was what is referred to by our league as the Ice Bowl. Temperature at game time was -17 with heavy snow on the ground and a raging wind. The Miami Bucs fell to the Baltimore Bruins 10-7 thanks to a fumbled punt late in the game. Neither team reached double figures in first downs.

Edit Depth Chart

This section controls who the computer chooses for the various offensive and defensive formations. The players available to you or the computer coach are highlighted. Game time injuries can cause the depth chart to be changed. These players should be your best at each position. Don't bother changing them because of injuries; this will be taken care of at game time. But if your starting quarterback threw 5 interceptions in the last ball game, and you want to bench him, this is where you can make the change. Simply drag and drop and the computer will make the changes. Save the data when asked, and the changes will be permanent (depending on injuries, of course).

Edit Player Data



So you want to be a football player, huh? Here's where you and your friends can enter the game. Find a player and change his name to yours or a friend's. Change his ratings. The only thing you can't change is the position. The heart of the game is the ratings. Here is an explanation of the ratings and what they mean.

You may be surprised that the ratings only go from 0 to 5, and not from 0 to 99 as in some games. A rating of 0 does not mean the player has no ability at the skill, though it is quite poor. A rating of 5 is top of the line, and your top performers will possess such ratings. The average rating is 2 or 3. Also take note that the ratings are powerful. Playing a team with all 5s against one with all 1s will generally result in a blowout. All of the teams that are available have a good mix of players with various skill levels. Some teams are clearly superior than others, although time and an influx of rookies will change that.Note also that while each player could theoretically possess a rating in every single category, it would be futile. Linebackers don't use offensive ratings. Offensive linemen don't have pass ratings, or defensive ratings. One final note: don't give yourself a lot of players with punt return or kick return ratings. Remember that these numbers affect the frequency as well as the ability to return kicks.

Print Roster



The roster may be printed to the screen, a printer, or to a team file for archiving purposes.

Trade Player



Trading players is left to your discretion. The computer does not make decisions on the wisdom of such trades. You could strip a team of its best players. If that's the kind of game you want, so be it. This section is included for teams with human coaches to swap players. If you have a half dozen human coaches in your league, any trades between computer teams and human teams could be approved by league vote. Again, I leave this up to you. Trades and free agent acquisitions are also automatically executed by the computer during the new season process.

Conclusion

The above sections of the teams/players editor should give you the leeway to set up a league exactly like you want it.

4. Commissioner



This section allows you to have multiple leagues of various configurations.

Select New Default League



Here is where you move between your leagues and determine which of them is currently active. When this is selected, you will see the names of various leagues that you have previously created. Select the one you wish to be active by clicking on it.

Edit The Default League



Here you can change the league name, or the division names. You may not change the number of teams, or the number of games played per season after the league has been established.

Create A New League



In this section you can establish a new league configuration. You may name the league and the different divisions. Note that one conference is in red, while the other is in blue. The number of divisions that you have will be determined by the the number of teams that you select. You can select any of the following: an 8 team league, playing a 14 game season; or a 16, 24, 30 or 32 team league, playing a 16 game season. Once you have configured your league, you will be prompted to give it a filename. Don't bother adding the .LGE extension, the game will do that. You will then be asked if you wish to rename all the players and randomize their ratings. Clicking Yes will generate new random names for all the players and randomize their ratings (Using this option prevents every league that you create from having the same good teams in the same division slots). Clicking No will leave you with the default players and ratings that come built-in to UFL (For example, Taco Tostada is the kicker of the San Francisco Dragons!). You will also be asked if you want to reset all the players' years to zero. Clicking Yes will reset every players YRS rating to 0, allowing you to start a league with all rookies. Clicking No will leave the players' default YRS rating intact. Then you will be given a menu with enough teams assigned to create the configuration you have already designated. If you wish to change it, then merely drag a team from the UNASSIGNED section onto the team you wish to replace. You can set up the divisions any way you like. Later you can edit the teams and players, and give them new names if you so desire. Once your selections are made, your new league will be saved, and it will be made the default/active league.

V. Look At Records



For each official league game, a record file (specific to that league) will be updated. Individual records in 70 categories, as well as team records in 90 categories are kept up with for regular season, playoff, Stellar Bowl game, and season totals. Also a list of past champions is maintained.

The Records windows have a Copy button that will copy the selected line of text to the clipboard. This was primarily included for copying lines from the Past Champions list, but it is available on all Records windows.

VI. Exit

This button exits the game. You'll never use it, but it is there!

Final Remarks

I hope you enjoy the UFL as much as I do. The experience of watching your team change over the seasons is exciting. Good Luck on your quest for the Stellar Bowl title!