Huddle: The Fantasy Football Game Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Welcome to Huddle
  • Huddle Objectives
• Components
• Setup
• Season Length and Schedule
  • Game Schedule
• Gameplay
  • Phase I – The Draft
    • Key Concepts
    • Draft Steps
  • Phase II – The Season
    • Key Concepts
    • Season Steps
  • Phase III – The Championship
• Huddle Manager Aid

Welcome to Huddle

Huddle Objectives

In Huddle, 2–6 players become fantasy football Managers, navigating a full season of competition in hopes of being crowned champion.

The game kicks off with a fast-paced auction draft where every Manager builds their dream roster.

From there, you'll square off in weekly head-to-head matchups in a round-robin schedule. Dice rolls determine how your players perform, while News Cards deliver surprise twists that can turn the tide at any moment.

Rack up wins to finish among the top two Managers, then face off in the Championship Match. Win it all, and you're crowned the Huddle Champion, with bragging rights that last until the next season.

Players: 2–6 Managers

Components

• Player Cards (120 total): 20 teams with 6 positions per team (QB, WR, RB, TE, K, D/ST). Each player has a position, team, name, and star rating.
  • QB: Quarterback
  • WR: Wide Receiver
  • RB: Running Back
  • TE: Tight End
  • K: Kicker
  • D/ST: Defense and Special Teams
• News Cards (100 total): Mix of Team News and Player News.
• Manager Tokens (20 each): Currency for Auction Draft bidding, Waiver Wire pickups.
• Dice (6 per Manager): Rolled to determine players' scores each week.
• Manager Score Sheet: Track player scores, News effects (+/–), and stacking bonuses. (Use the +/– column on the right of each week for News and Stacking player impacts, and the left column for player scores.)
• Manager Board: Where Managers organize their roster of 9 players (QB, RB, WR, TE, D/ST, K, FLEX, and 2 Bench spots).
• Timer (1 Minute): Keeps time during the auction draft rounds and weekly waiver wire round.
• Field Boxes (4): Dice-rolling zones; anything rolled outside doesn't count.

Setup

1. Each Manager receives 1 Manager Board, 6 Dice, 20 Tokens, and 1 Score Sheet.
2. Shuffle each position pile (QB, RB, WR, TE, D/ST, K) and place them face down in the card tray in the center of the table.
3. Shuffle News Cards into two piles: Team News & Player News. Place them in the card tray in the center of the table.
4. Place the Timer in the center for the Draft. Put the Field Boxes aside until Matchups begin.
5. Elect a Commissioner. After consulting the group, the Commissioner will be responsible for:
   • Setting the season length.
   • Flipping the timer for each Draft round and Waiver Wire phase.
   • Reading Team News aloud and handing out Player News cards to each Manager.
   • Note: The Commissioner is still a normal Manager—don't go easy on them.

Season Length and Schedule

Each week consists of: News, Waiver Wire, Free Agency, Matchups.

The group helps the Commissioner decide how long the season will be, but here are defaults to keep things simple (it is a round robin style so everyone will play everyone once).

• 4 weeks, Short Season: 4 Managers play a 3-week season + Championship.
• 6 weeks, Standard Season: 6 Managers play 5 weeks + Championship.
• 11 weeks, Long Season: 6 Managers play each other twice + Championship.

Game Schedule

• 2 Players: Head-to-head every week. Season length is set at the start, or play until one Manager reaches 3 wins (or keep going if you're having fun).
• 3 Players: All three Managers roll into the same Field Box. Highest score wins the week. Play to 3 wins (short) or 5 wins (long).
• 4 Players: Round robin where each Manager faces every other Manager once (3 weeks).
• 5 Players: One Manager sits out each round (bye week). By the end, all Managers will have played the same number of games and had one bye.
• 6 Players: Round robin where each Manager faces every other Manager once (5 weeks).

Gameplay

Phase I – The Draft

The Draft is a series of 1-minute rounds where Managers use their 20-token budget to bid on players against other Managers, with the goal of building the highest-ranking team. These 1-minute rounds continue until all Managers' rosters are full (9 players) or their budgets are gone. Spend wisely!

Key Concepts

These are concepts Managers should keep in mind while they are drafting their team.

Star Ratings & Dice

Player cards are rated 1 to 5 stars. The star rating equals the number of dice that a Manager rolls for that player in a matchup. More stars mean more dice, and more dice mean greater scoring potential. For reference, each Manager Board includes the full player rating distribution.

Team Stacking

• If a Manager rosters 2 or more players from the same team, they may assign +1 die to one of those players each week. These players can be in any position including a Manager's bench.
• Additional players from that same team do not increase the bonus (it's always +1 per team).
• Managers may stack up to 3 different teams, for a maximum of +3 dice per week.

Example of Team Stacking: A Manager has a QB, TE, and WR from Miami. This counts as one stack—meaning they choose one Miami player to receive +1 die. They also have 2 players from Chicago and 2 players from Seattle. That's three stacks total (Miami, Chicago, Seattle). Result: +1 die to one player from each team = +3 dice maximum.

Draft Steps

1. Reveal Players – Flip the top card from each position pile. These players are available for bidding this round.

2. Start the Timer – 1 minute begins (1:00 minute auction round).

3. Manager Bidding Begins

   • Every Manager must place at least one bid per 1 minute round (you don't have to win, but you must bid).
   • The first bid sets the price; all new bids must be higher.
   • Managers may bid on multiple players during a round.
   • If a Manager gets outbid, and they do not want to bid more, they can take back their tokens to use on other bids.

   Examples:

   • Manager A bids 3 on a WR. Manager B raises to 4 → Manager B wins for 4.
   • Manager C bids 6 on a QB. No one raises → Manager C wins for 6.
   • A TE gets no bids → stays in the pool for the next round.

4. Timer Runs Out: End of Round – When the timer runs out, no more bids can be made by any Manager. Players who were bid on are added to the roster of the highest-bidding Manager. Unsuccessful bids are returned to their Managers (unless they were taken back mid-round). Players who were not bid on remain in the player pool to be bid on in the next round.

5. Continue Drafting – Repeat 1 minute rounds until all rosters are filled (9 players each). Any unspent tokens carry into the Season for Waiver Wire roster additions (Season Carryover).

Open Roster Penalty: If a manager is careless with their budget and does not fill their roster properly (all 9 spots), they lose 1 token for every open spot from their Season budget at the beginning of the season.

Phase II – The Season

The Season is where the drama unfolds as Managers battle through weekly dice matchups. News Cards shake things up, forcing tough roster calls, waiver pickups, or trades to keep your championship hopes alive.

Before the season begins, each Manager receives a token for every week that will be played (e.g., 3 weeks = 3 tokens). These are used for Waiver Wire bidding.

Key Concepts

News Events

Each week, News shakes things up in two ways:

• Team News: Affects all players from a specific team across every roster.
  • Example: "Miami got stuck on a yacht party the night before the game. –1 die for all Miami players this week."
• Player News: Affects one roster slot on a Manager's board. Some Player News cards can impact another Manager's roster.
  • Example: "Kicker is training with world-class soccer players. +1 die for your Kicker slot this week."
  • Example: "Give your opponent's highest-ranking player a season-ending injury."

Waiver Wire

A 1-minute auction each week during the season where Managers can spend their season budget to pick up new players or upgrade their roster.

Free Agency

Managers who drop players to make room for new ones from the Waiver Wire phase can have those players claimed for free by other Managers. This ends each week once dice rolling begins.

Season Steps

Step 1: News Alerts

• The Commissioner reads aloud 1 Team News card that affects all players from the named team across every Manager's roster.
• The Commissioner hands out 1 Player News card to each Manager. Managers read it aloud and apply the effect to their roster (or to an opponent, if the card specifies).
• News Card effects should be recorded in the +/– column on the Manager's Score Sheet, but wait until after the Waiver Wire, since rosters might still change.

Step 2: Waiver Wire

• Reveal the top card from each position pile.
• Run a 1-minute auction.
• The highest bidder wins and must drop someone to make room.
• Dropped players become Free Agents.
• Waiver Wire is optional, skip if you're happy with your roster.
• At the end of the round, any remaining players go to the bottom of the pile. The top card becomes the player available in next week's waivers.

Step 3: Free Agency

• If a Manager picks up a new player during the Waiver Wire phase but has no open roster spot, the replaced player is dropped into a Free Agency pile in the middle of the table.
• Dropped players can be claimed by other Managers for free before dice rolling begins.
• Priority goes to the Manager with the worst record (use total score as the tiebreaker if needed).
• Any unclaimed players return to the bottom of their position pile each week.

Example: Manager A dropped a 3-star QB to make way for a 4-star QB. All other Managers pass, so the 3-star QB goes to the bottom of the QB pile.

Step 4: Matchups

• Record team stack bonuses and News impacts for the week in the +/– column (e.g., +1, –1).
• Place the Field Box between opponents.
• Roll dice equal to each player's star rating (adjusted for +/– from News and stacking). Dice that leave the Field Box do not count. No re-rolls!
• All Managers roll at the same time, starting with their QB. They continue position by position in the order shown on the Manager Score Sheet.
• Sum up the total on all the dice and record each player's score on the Score Sheet.
• Add team totals; the highest score wins the matchup.
• The losing Manager earns 1 token as a consolation prize for future Waiver Wire bids or trades.

Tie Breaker – Battle of the Benches!

Example: Both Managers tie at 96. Each rolls their two bench players. Manager F = 9, Manager G = 15 → Manager G wins. If it is still a tie, the two managers do a single dice roll off with the highest score winning.

Phase III – The Championship

• The 2 Managers with the best records advance (if there is a tie it's time for a battle of the benches!).
• Play one final week as normal.
• Winner = the Huddle Champion.

Huddle Manager Aid

Draft Phase

• Start: 20 Draft Tokens per Manager.
• Reveal: 1 card from each position pile (6).
• Bid: 1-minute timer.
• Must place at least one bid per round.
• First bid sets price; all bids must be higher.
• Win = highest bid, add player to roster.
• Lose = tokens returned.
• Unbid players stay for next round.
• Penalty: –1 Season budget token per empty roster spot at end of draft.

Season Phase

• News: 1 Team News (all affected). 1 Player News per Manager (self or opponent).
• Waiver Wire (optional): Reveal 1 card per position. 1-minute auction. Must drop a player to add a new one.
• Free Agency (optional): Dropped players can be claimed for free. Priority = worst record → lowest total score → coin flip. Unclaimed = return to position pile bottom.

Matchups

• Add stacking (+1 die per team, max +3) & News modifiers.
• Roll dice (in Field Box).
• Total scores = winner.
• Loser earns +1 Season Token (consolation).

Championship

• Top 2 advance (or 3 in case of tie).
• Final matchup(s) played as a normal week.
• Winner = Huddle Champion.

Key Rules

• Team Stacking: 2+ players = +1 die (max +3 across 3 teams).
• Dice: Must land in Field Box. No re-rolls.
• Bench: Any position player. Used for tie-breakers.
• Season Budget: Token budget based on number of weeks being played.

Tie-Breakers

• Bench players roll-off.
• Single die roll-off if the bench is also a tie.