This is Retro Bowl unblocked: New Star Games' pixel football game loads from retrobowlpoki.com in your browser, so you can throw passes and run your club on a school Chromebook with no download and no sign-up. More football games are right below.
Retro Bowl: an 8-bit football season where the coach also throws the ball
Retro Bowl comes from New Star Games, the small British studio of Simon Read, best known before this for New Star Soccer. It looks like a football cartridge from the late 1980s — chunky players, a flat green field, a scoreboard in block letters — but underneath is a team-management game with a salary cap, a rookie draft, contracts, trades and a fan base that remembers your losses.
The unusual part is how a game is played. You never call plays from a list. When your team has the ball, you are the quarterback: press on the passer, drag back to aim the throw and let go, leading the receiver so the ball arrives where he is going, not where he is. Once a runner has the ball you steer him yourself, dodging tacklers and diving for the last yard. Defense and kick-offs are simulated, so every drive the other team makes happens in a few seconds of commentary, and the next possession is yours again.
Between games the Front Office takes over. You keep up to ten key players with star ratings under the salary cap, and the rest of the squad is hidden inside your offensive and defensive coordinator ratings. Each season there is a three-round rookie draft with one pick per round, free agents who turn up at the training facility, trade offers for future picks, and players who refuse to re-sign when morale is low. Coaching credits — the game calls them kudos, the respect you have from the owner, the team and the fans — pay for coordinators, free agents and upgrades to the stadium, training and rehab facilities.
A new career starts in an odd spot: you are appointed with a week left of somebody else's losing season, so your first game is a formality and the real work starts with the draft. Win the division, win the playoffs and the final is the Retro Bowl itself.
Controls & mechanics
| Action | Control | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
| Pass | Press on the quarterback, drag back to aim, release | The dotted line shows the throw; the further you drag, the harder and longer it goes |
| Run with the ball | W / S to dodge (swipe on touch) | Side-steps the next tackler; tired players are more likely to fumble |
| Dive | A or D (swipe forward on touch) | A dive gains the last yard or two but ends the play |
| Kick | Click to set power, click again to set direction | Used for field goals and the point after a touchdown |
| Go for two | 2 pt button after a touchdown | Instead of the kick, run one more play from the two-yard line |
| Manage the team | Front Office, Roster and Continue on the home screen | Draft, sign, trade, cut and upgrade facilities between games |
How to win more games in Retro Bowl
- Throw short early: A five-yard pass to a receiver who has just made his cut is almost never intercepted. Keep the long bomb for when a receiver is clearly behind the last defender.
- Lead the receiver: Aim in front of where the receiver is running. A ball thrown at his current position arrives behind him and gets broken up.
- Watch stamina: Stamina decides how long a player runs at top speed and how much arm or leg a quarterback or kicker has left. A tired runner fumbles more — rest him on the roster screen.
- Build morale before stars: Low morale makes players refuse new contracts and cutting good players lowers it further. Win, answer the press well and keep the locker room happy before you chase a fifth star.
- Spend credits on facilities: Training facilities speed up player development and rehab brings injured players back faster. Both keep paying for many seasons, unlike a single signing.
- Scout before you draft: Rookie potential is hidden until you scout him from his profile page, and you only get a few scouts per draft. Use them on the players you would actually pick.
Key features
- You are the quarterback: Every pass is aimed and thrown by hand; every run is steered by you.
- A real front office: Salary cap, three-round rookie draft, free agents, trades for future picks and contract renewals.
- Coordinators and facilities: Hire offensive and defensive coordinators and upgrade stadium, training and rehab.
- Morale and fans: Both move with results and with your answers at press conferences, and both matter.
- Chase the Retro Bowl: Division, playoffs, conference title, then the final. The Hall of Fame keeps your records.
- Chromebook friendly: Mouse for passing, W A S D for running; the pixel art stays sharp at any size.
Game info
- Title: Retro Bowl
- Developer: New Star Games
- Category: Football
- Platform: Web browser (HTML5)
- Developer: New Star Games (Simon Read) · Retro Bowl (2020) · HTML5 build made for Poki, self-hosted on retrobowlpoki.com
Pro tip: On third and long, look at the tight end first. He runs a short route over the middle, and a quick five-yard throw to him keeps the drive alive far more often than a hopeful pass down the sideline.
