Description

Players build a football team one player at a time in Fußball Poker, but they're never assured of getting the player they want since all of the other team owners are bidding at the same time as you.

Each player starts the game with €100 million; someone shuffles the 48 player cards, then places them in a face-down pile. On a turn, the active player draws and reveals four cards, then places a bid face-down on the table; while the bid itself is secret, other players can see how many money cards you included in the bid. Each player in turn places a secret bid, then they reveal these bids. Whoever offers the most money takes the footballer of his choice and places it in an empty position in his team line-up on the game board, then the second-highest bidder does the same, and so on. If a player has no money, he takes the last card on offer. The active player position rotates to the left, then players each bid on and draft another card.

In addition to acquiring high-valued footballers, players are trying to fill their team with a proper line-up of players – midfielders in the midfield, three defenders and a keeper in the back, and so on – as they score bonus points when those sections have the properly positioned players in them. When a player drafts an "ersatz" (substitute) footballer, it can replace any footballer already in play and it counts as being in the proper position; the drawback is that an ersatz player is worth no points on its own.

After twelve rounds of drafting, each player will have a full line-up and one player on the sidelines; this player can be substituted for any other footballer already on the team, even if the substitute is not labeled "ersatz".

Players then tally their player points and any bonus points for completing a section with the proper footballers. The player with the highest score wins, with ties being broken by the money still in hand.