An American football coaching simulation where players take the role of head coach and owner of a GFL franchise. They draft rookies, trade stars and build teams to win the Bowl. This is a game where records last - a game with a strong sense of history, with career statistics which ensure that achievements live on. And a game where they matter, with a strong social element supported by online message boards and live events. Although Gridiron boasts more than one league, it is all one game. Gridiron.

A coach logs in to get access to team information and order forms which are not available to the public. Through standard web pages, coaches draft players, train players, and design plays. Gridiron is a strategy game more than a tactical game. Games are played at weekends, one game per team each week. During the week, head coaches prepare game plans which can be simple or complex, and after each game the coach can see how his game plan turned out, and digest the comprehensive game statistics. Some coaches spend 10 minutes a week on their game plan, others spend much more. And there is no shortage of information with which to plan: coaches receive private game analysis from their coaching staff.

Games are played weekly during the regular season. Coaches log in at least once at any time during the week to make adjustments for the next game and conduct training, then at the deadline games are run and the results published. All games results are published at the same time. There are 10 regular season games for each team, followed by play-offs and ultimately Bowl games to establish champions. In the off-season coaches trade and draft players, and each season is launched with a round of pre-season games. Gridiron features exactly two full seasons each calendar year, a frequency that ensures achievements can be enjoyed, but a turnaround fast enough for long-term planning to reach fruition in a reasonable timeframe.

Plenty of successful Gridiron coaches started the game with no knowledge of American football other than that it was a game of football played in the USA by men wearing helmets and padding. Gridiron has encouraged some folk to start following a sport they might otherwise have never enjoyed. But it sure helps to know a bit about the game before you start. And if you know the game well, you’ll find plenty that’s familiar in Gridiron.

No. All you need is an internet connection and a web browser which meets our minimum requirements. You can play it anywhere you have a browser which can connect to our website. You can play with Windows, Mac, Linux, and even some mobile phones. You do not need to buy special software or install any other software.

Gridiron started as a computer-moderated play-by-mail game in the Nineteen Eighties. After a hiatus in the late Nineties, it was resurrected as an online game and launched its first online season (the new Season I) on 1st June 2005 after 18 months of development. The first league largely involved coaches who had played in the original play-by-mail game. On 2nd February 2008 we launched our second full league, the GFL Atlantic, in which the majority of coaches were new to Gridiron. The GFL Big Sky is our third full league, launched 31st January 2009.

Gridiron is fortunate in its players and is lucky to be played by people who for the most part care about their teams and develop them with a long view. The game is developed by two enthusiasts, is only available on this website, and aims to be highly responsive to coaches’ input. It is constantly under development and coaches have a major influence on the evolution of the game. Gridiron has a strong sense of game history, so achievements are recorded and last. We maintain a wealth of stats.

Although Gridiron has multiple leagues, we regard it as a single game. There is a level of interaction between the leagues, and the annual live event is cross-league.

A season’s subscription is levied from each coach, usually towards the end of the season. At the time of writing that subscription is £10.60 (British) paid exclusively through PayPal. There is no charge to join the waiting list.

Sign up for the waiting list. Coaches who join the waiting list will be invited to fill vacancies in current leagues when others leave or, if the waiting list grows large enough, to form a new league. We review the waiting list every six months to see if the list can support a new league: because all leagues run concurrently, we only start new leagues at the start of new game seasons. When you join the waiting list we ask for the minimum of details, but do ask you to give us a valid e-mail address so we'll be able to let you know about places in the game (we do not share your e-mail address with anyone outside Gridiron). There is no charge to join the waiting list, but you’ll be able to log in to the website and see dedicated waiting list pages. We’ll keep in touch with you by e-mail, and let you know when there’s a place in the game. Some folks don’t like waiting, but Gridiron isn’t a game for the short-term. We think it’s worth waiting for, and hope you will too.