Football Peg Game

Recreate the Big Game

• What: Travel Football Peg Game
• When: 5 years and up
• Why: Compact, affordable, easy to understand
• Where: Amazon

Whether you’re gearing up for the big game, trying to explain football to your child, or want to find a way to fill in the long months until the regular football season begins again, you and your child can enjoy this football peg version of the classic sports game.

This tiny pegboard game comes with the board, two pegs, and two tiny dice. Players take turns rolling the dice. The board comes printed with instructions on what to do for each possible roll of the dice. For instance, if you roll a six, you gain five yards. But roll a seven, and it’s an incomplete pass. After a touchdown, the extra point is good if the player who scored rolls a five or higher with both dice. For punts on fourth down, players roll one dice and multiply by ten to get the total yards for the punt.

This game works great at simplifying the rules of football for kids, so they can understand what’s happening on the field in real life. It also requires a lot of simple addition, subtraction, and multiplication, though kids who love football probably won’t notice the math practice. It uses all the football terms like fumble and extra point so they get familiar with the lingo. And best of all, the small size means it packs up compactly so kids can take it with them wherever they go. The tiny pegs and dice can be easily lost, but luckily any dice will do to play. 

If you get really gung-ho, you can save yourself the $6 or so and make your own version with pen and paper. Laminate the field for extra credit and you can use coins and dice to mark each team’s progress towards scoring touchdowns and field goals.