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Gameplay Demo
You don't have to be an avid golfer or golf fanatic to enjoy watching Sunday Golf on TV! In recent years, the networks have become expert at presenting pro golf in a fast-paced, star-driven, hyper-exciting fashion. Lots of dramatic shots. Pressure putts. Very little down-time. OK, so—what if there was a golf simulation board game that presented pro golf on your tabletop the same way it's presented on television? Well, soon there WILL be! Say hello to HISTORY MAKER GOLF Championship Golf Game, it's everything that's great about Sunday Golf on TV—and you won't even have to wait until Sunday to enjoy it!
Classic golf simulation board games typically work like this: you have a map-like representation of a golf course, often laid out in a grid, and cards with a mathematical representation of a golfer's abilities from which you calculate shot distance and accuracy based on club selection and atmospheric factors. (Incidentally, there's nothing wrong with playing golf this way, especially if you like math!) However, HMG simulates golf in a completely different way, using a "story" approach instead of math. With our method of portraying golfers with keyword attributes or "qualities," a hole is resolved not based on numerical calculations but on the presence or absence of specific golfing abilities. On any given dice roll combination, if the golfer has the called-for quality, a specific result will occur; if not, an alternate result occurs. A hole can be resolved with a single keyword result, or it can cascade into several keyword checks, each one branching off into a different potential outcome.
The result is an unexpectedly detailed presentation of a golfer moving from tee to green to cup, sometimes expertly, sometimes nightmarishly, often in one of the million shades of "in between!" With HMG, you'll be amazed at how you "see" golfers navigate the tees, fairways, hazards, bunkers, and greens of some of America's grandest golf courses—you'll feel like you're watching TV rather than doing a math problem! Sometimes a great tee shot will be followed up with a troublesome iron; or perhaps an errant shot to the trees is countered with a TV-worthy recovery, straight to the pin! Some approaches are routine, others are memorable either for their excellence or for the trouble the golfer got into! Two golfers might each record the same score on the same hole, yet have very different paths to get there—these are the kinds of nuances you'll experience and savor, in HISTORY MAKER GOLF!
Despite what appear to be very simple golfer keywords, HMG realistically captures the real-life abilities of real pro golfers. The top golfers will dominate your tourney events. The big hitters will time and again launch monster shots that put them in position to break par. The "golden" putters make the clutch putts that others miss. Those who have demonstrated their prowess out of the bunker or rough will have you nodding in admiration as they do the same thing on your tabletop! And, just like in real golf, intangibles matter, too! Experience, mood, momentum—there are keywords for those, too, with both positive and negative ramifications. Every golfer gets his own unique, individual card, a compilation of all the keywords applicable to his game.
AND, the same is true about the golf courses! Each course has a different card for each hole, eighteen cards in all. Using actual pro statistics, each hole is assigned keywords that capture its ease or difficulty in approach and on the green, and icons that represent the various hazards. Thus, the 11th hole at Augusta will play very differently than the 3rd hole at Kapalua, which will in turn be very different from the 18th hole at Doral! Course cards have icons as well as keywords, so you can readily see at a glance what each hole's challenges are. Different challenges offer different possible solutions, and you'll have all the fun of making these key considerations, without the expense of clubs and greens fees!
This emphasis on words rather than numbers has a wonderful side-effect: with no calculations to make, the game plays very FAST. You'll be delighted at how quickly and smoothly results are obtained from the game's main results booklet. For a solo golfer, a round of golf can easily be played in fifteen minutes, a foursome in under an hour!
So that the game doesn't devolve into merely a dice-rolling exercise, we've also devoted a healthy amount of time and energy to ensure that there are decision points to be engaged and strategy elements to be considered when playing HMG. Aside from the just-mentioned course hazards, there are many other levels of decision-making. A less-than-stellar result from the tee sometimes requires you to take on risk to give your golfer a shot to break par—or, you can play safe and be rewarded down the road for your patience. It'll be your choice. There are caddy strategy cards which can be implemented to hedge your bets or increase your odds. The very real effect of momentum is captured through multi-colored chips, which give you added focus to be used at your discretion. Each of these strategy elements is easy to grasp, quickly executed! It's just another way we make it feel like real golf with HMG!
With HMG, there are multiple ways to play. Grab your favorite golfer and head out to an iconic course to play eighteen holes. Get a pair or foursome of favorites and conduct match play, just for fun. Or, for those who enjoy re-creating actual sporting events, you can crown a tabletop golf champion with your own series of big-money pro golf tournaments! Wait, what? A full tournament—four rounds with a starting field of 150-200 golfers? That would take YEARS to play out on the tabletop, wouldn't it? Not with HMG's Tournament Mode! Read on...
HMG's Tournament Mode was born of a sense that sports board game simulations are most compelling when they have context. Sure, it's fun to play an exhibition round between four favorite pro golfers to see who wins. But there's nothing like the tension, pressure, drama of "Sunday Golf," where the stakes are high. Four days of intense competition crystallized to a final round with a handful of contending golfers giving it everything they've got to win the event and improve their standing on the pro tour.
Tournament Mode allows you to experience the excitement of a new week, a new event, a new course in a new city—150-200 pro golfers each arriving with high hopes! The first two rounds separate the field—you make the cut, or go home. Then the third round, which winnows the field further—who will play well enough to contend going into the final round? AND, what story-line elements will add to the drama? Will contentious comments from a TV host or corporate sponsor drag down a golfer's game? Is weather going to be a factor? Tournament Mode often adds these wrinkles to the mix to make the build-up to your final round even more compelling. Finally, we get to Sunday, the grand finale of your big golf week. With TV camera coverage flitting from hole to hole, you'll get to watch contending golfers show their mettle. Some will soar, some will sink—and you'll watch it all unfold, hole by hole, putt by putt! Our "leaderboard" card layout system will give you a TV-like visual of who's on top, who's got momentum, who's fading. Finally, your event will reach its decisive moment where it'll be won or lost on the eighteenth green: and when it's over, you'll put your game back in its box probably experiencing a distinct post-round afterglow, the feeling that you really "were there!"
If you're a solitaire sports board gamer, you'll be pleased to know that HMG was specifically designed for solitaire play. Get out the game, pour yourself a favorite cold or hot beverage, and you've got golf! Yet, more than most sports games, HMG is also uniquely suited for multi-player action! A group of two, three, four or more can each play at the same time, assuming the role of "caddy" for your choice of famous golfer!
Or, you can play as yourself! We offer a "How-To" guide for a small additional charge which gives you complete instructions for creating cards that reflect the full range of golfing abilities, from hacker to champion. Make your card based on your own real-life abilities, OR your abilities as you'd like them to be! (Want to play like Arnold Palmer in his prime? Go ahead! We won't tell!) You can also create cards for your golfing pals, or non-golfing friends and family. AND the guide gives you instructions on how to create your own golf courses, too!
Thus, with HMG, the possibilities for golfing fun are almost limitless. Want to play a round of golf with a foursome made up of, say, a legendary pro from the mid 20th century, today's top pro golfer, a favorite "decade star" from the '70s or '80s, and—YOU? And, how about playing your round on your own local municipal course? Or, on a "what if?" course of your own design and difficulty! All this is possible with HMG! Never before has a golf simulation board game offered you these kinds of opportunities!
FAQ
How long does it take to play a game? It depends on the mode in which you are playing. Eighteen holes with a single golfer takes about 15 minutes, while a full tournament with four rounds and 150+ golfers will take a few hours to complete.
Can this game be played solitaire? Yes, it's perfect for solitaire play!
Can I create my own players and teams? YES! The card-creation instructions for both golfers and courses are available for a small extra charge, and will allow you to easily create whatever golfers and courses you'd like.
How long has this game been around? HISTORY MAKER GOLF was released in March 2017, in development since 2014.
Question not answered? Contact us!
Testimonials
S. F., Batesville, AR: “I have to say, this is one of the best sports games I have played! I found myself highly engaged by the shot-by-shot action...thoroughly impressed! History Maker Golf is a Hole-In-One!”
C. S., Springfield, MA: “I am having a grand time with this game, I find it difficult to stop playing it!”
M. B., Sacramento, CA: “The game plays out like a golf tournament on TV, simply awesome! I've had as much fun with this game as I've had since a was a 15 year-old playing my first card and dice sports game!”
W. K., Green Bay, WI: “I absolutely love the game play of your golf game. Received it yesterday and played 2 stroke play games. Put it away and a half hour later, had it out again. Having an absolute BLAST!”
T. R., San Francisco, CA: “It's amazing to resolve holes so quickly, and yet with so much detail and storytelling. The blue and red chips are a stroke of genius, in addition to moods and other human factors. You've really captured the full essence of the game itself!”
E. L., Seattle, WA: “By using metaphoric descriptors rather than encoded numbers, and by being willing to deliver you a true surprise and delight (History Maker Golf has) truly revolutionized the way tabletop sports sims can be conceived, designed, and enjoyed. I am grateful and very impressed.”
D.V., Northampton, PA: “Last night I played an 18 hole match with my twelve and seven year-old sons. It took us under an hour and we all had a blast! Several times last night all three of us were on the edge of our seats for important putts. My twelve year-old commented that the "morale system" (he meant the chips) is fantastic. You have succeeded, yet again, in creating a game that makes the subject sport more exciting, fun, and dramatic than it seems to be in real life!”
G.E., Dorchester, UK: “I have to say that I haven't had this much fun with a game in a long time. I've only ever been a casual golf fan at best, but the 'story' narrative of the gameplay seemed very intriguing, and having now played a few rounds I've become hooked!”
T. R., Hickory, NC: Played last years first tournament at Kapalua and Jordan Spieth holes a clutch birdie putt on 18 to win it by 1 over Jason Day. This is my new favorite game!!