This game simulates owning a hockey franchise. Owners guide their team through a season and playoffs.

Owners spend money to increase their team's skill and roll dice, modified by skill points, to generate game scores against other owner's teams during the season. Periodically a team must draw a card from one of two decks that alter the fortunes of the team, for good or bad.

Play continues until a 40-game season is completed. Teams are seeded into a playoff tree. Each 7-game round, the winner moves on until there is a champion.

Company Name: Rocky Mountain Recreational

Game Inventor: Tony Geldof

Name of the game: Franchise Mania

The whole family can gather around the kitchen table and enjoy the thrill of owning a Hockey team with a game of Franchise Mania. Children eight years old will have no problem learning the game, they will be using addition, subtraction, and reading skills to play in the game, and improving these skills while in the heat of competition. Knowledge of Hockey rules is not required, the game uses the framework of a Hockey season and Hockey terms, but someone who has never heard of, or played Hockey can enjoy the excitement and challenge of the Game.

In the 1990's Peter Pocklington was trying to sell the Edmonton Oilers hockey team. I thought it would be a good idea to give the average person a chance to see what its like to own a hockey franchise. When people talk about their favourite team they always have an opinion as to what the owner should do or should have done, this game gives them the power to make all the decisions for their team, and have to deal with the consequences.

Other sports games in this category are based on the players either being the Coach or Manager. In the -opoly based games, players are the property owners, not the building managers, so in this game it just makes sense to own the franchise.

Many of the other sports related games have a game board that players move their tokens around and are all scenario based. My game is played on a pad of paper, which guides you through your 40 game regular season, with several scenario cards being drawn, and best of seven playoff rounds. Players are given a 40 million dollar budget to spend at their discretion, on skill points, which will guarantee them a certain number of goals scored each game. There is opportunity to buy skill points during the game from other players for less then the bank sells them, and interaction between players that will either help or hinder opponents. It has also been factored into the game that just because an owner spends the most on skill points, they won`t win every game or season championship.

So many of the competitions games have too many different aspects to the game that the kids have a hard time with them, or constantly need assistance. The Franchise Mania game has been designed so that kids can play, and the adults can make it more of a strategic game by playing several season in a row.

Games in this category are based on getting through scenarios with the most money to determine a winner. The goal of the Franchise Mania game is to become the season champion, but if a player gets through the season with 20 million cash on hand, they will feel like winner also.

A full season with four game players will take one hour, while the competitions games can last several. You can play with as little as two players and with 300 million in playing cash as many as ten. Just remember for every player it will add 15 minutes to the game.

For advanced players looking for a longer game with more strategy, players can decide before starting ,how many seasons in a row they will play. In this case the players will take their left over cash from one season into the next, so if you see your opponents spending heavily you can just sit back, you may be able to pick up skill points from your opponents at a discount, if they are forced to sell them to raise needed cash, and wait until next season to make a run at the Championship.

At a suggested retail price of $25, which is ten to fifteen dollars less then the others on the market, I think it is a great price for the average person to,

Live Like an Owner