Port-O-Bowl: Travel-sized fantasy football

Port-O-Bowl: Travel-sized fantasy football

Welcome to Port-O-Bowl, the most compact playset for fantasy football yet known! Players come on pegs that can be fitted with up to 4 skills. Magnetization is easy. 20 teams are available. Finally play Fantasy Football anytime, anywhere.
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Welcome to Port-O-Bowl!

Poster by "Mr. McAngry."


Welcome to Port-O-Bowl, the most compact way to play fantasy football yet! Port-O-Bowl is a fully-featured peg-based system that is easily magnetizable so you and your opponent can play anytime, anywhere.

The Port-O-Bowl pitch can fit in backpacks, laptop cases, and luggage. It unfolds to 8.5" x 17", the size of a sheet of legal paper. Folded up, the pitch is 8.5" x 7.5" x 3.5" (216mm x 189mm x 40mm).

The pitch is fully featured including wide zones, a scatter template, trap doors, and 7s markings.

Regulation sized pitch next to Port-O-Bowl pitch


Port-O-Bowl Notable Features include:

Skill Markers:


Players are on pegs and can be slotted with up to 4 skill markers or player numbers.

Human Blitzer with 3 skills


Consistent and Recognizable Player Design:

Despite the players' small size, they are made with a simplistic "Chess-like" style, so positionals can be easily recognized. Similar positionals are consistent across all teams.

Blitzers

Runners/Catchers

Throwers

Linemen


How small are Port-O-Bowl players? Here are some comparison photos:


Port-O-Bowl BUB next to Black Orc

Port-O-Bowl Goblin next to Goblin Bruiser Lineman


Player Status Indicators:

Turn players to the left or right to indicate their "Prone" or "Stun" status. The pitch is marked with which direction indicates "Prone" or "Stunned." The directions are the same for both coaches to eliminate confusion.

A mummy blocks a human lineman and follows up. Mighty Blow from the mummy breaks armor, so the lineman turns to the left to indicate "Stunned." It is exactly the same direction for the opposing coach.


For Big Guys with nega-traits, use Port-O-Bowl's ring markers to indicate that they have failed their activation roll:

Human Ogre would rather think about butterflies than the fact that he's about to be punch by an unamused mummy next turn.


Magnetization:

Port-O-Bowl is easily magnetizable. Just add steel plates underneath the pitch before assembly. Each player peg has space to add 2 powerful 2mm x 2mm magnets, so you can stay playing even through those bumpy rides or turbulent flights.

Magnetized players and steel plate under the pitch for extra player stability


TEAMS:

There are 20 teams and 14 Star Players available.

Humans:
Left to Right: Ogre, Halfling, Catcher, Blitzer, Lineman

Orcs:
Left to Right: Troll, Goblin, BUB, Thrower, Blitzer, Lineorc

Wood Elves:
Left to Right: Treeman, Catcher, Thrower, Wardancer, Lineman

Ratmen:
Left to Right: Rat Ogre, Gutter Runner, Thrower, Blitzer, Lineman

Undead:
Left to Right: Mummy, Ghoul, Wight, Zombie, Skeleton

Dwarves:
Left to Right: Deathroller, Trollslayer, Runner, Blitzer, Lineman

Dark Elves:
 
Left to Right: Witch-Elf, Assassin, Runner, Blitzer, Lineman


Chaos Dwarves:
Left to Right: Minotaur, Bull Centaur, Hobgoblin, Chaos Dwarf

Goblins:
Left to Right: Loony, Fanatic, Bomber, Goblin, Troll, Ooligan, Pogo, Doom Diver

Halflings:
Left to Right: Treeman, Hefty, Catcher, Lineman 1, Lineman 2

Gnomes:
Left to Right: Treeman, Fox, Illusionist, Beastmaster, Lineman

Amazons:
Left to RIght: Blocker, Thrower, Blitzer, Linewoman

Lizardmen:
Left to Right: Kroxigorr, Saurus, Chameleon, Skink

Necromantic:
Left to Right: Zombie, Ghoul, Werewolf, Flesh Golem, Wraith

Vampires:
Left to Right: Thrall, Thrower, Blitzer, Runner, Vargheist

Norse:
Left to Right: Lineman, Berzerker, Ulfwerner, Valkyrie, Beer Boar, Yeti

Chaos Chosen:
Left to Right: Beastman, Chosen Blocker, Minotaur, Ogre, Troll

Snotlings:
Left to Right: Snotling, Flinga, Hoppa, Runna, Pump Wagon, Troll

Underworld:
Left to Right: Goblin, Snotling, Lineman, Thrower, Gutter, Blitzer, Rat Ogre, Troll

Chaos Renegades:
Left to Right: Lineman, Thrower, Goblin, Orc, Ratman, Dark Elf, Ogre, Troll, Minotaur, Rogre


Star Players:

Top Left to Bottom Right: Griff, Hkflm, Bombr, Kreek, Cindy, Morg, Droot, Glotl, Eldrl, Varag, Wlhlm, Glart, Fungs, Ivar

 
The Port-O-Bowl playset includes:

1 Port-O-Bowl Pitch:

Pitches with and without 7s markings available


Extremely convenient clamshell case fits the turn trackers, ball marker, and reroll trackers.


2 Dugouts/Player Transport cases: 

Port-O-Bowl dugout with Dwarf team

Port-O-Bowl dugout with Undead team


Closed Port-O-Bowl dugout and team transport with standing players inside.

2 Score/Turn/Reroll trackers and 6 Score/Turn/Reroll Markers:


1 Ball Marker:

Ghoul Runner sold separately!


2 teams of your choice from above!


... As well as DOZENS of skill markers (both lettered and blank), status markers for Big Guys, and other various tokens that make playing Fantasy Football on the go a breeze.

The full Port-O-Bowl set including the pitch, 2 turn trackers, 2 teams, and 2 dugouts all fit in 3 small easy-to-pack cases.

Entire Port-O-Bowl set folded up
Case dimensions:

Pitch:

8.5" x 7.5" x 3.5" (216mm x 189mm x 40mm) (Folded up)

Dugouts:

5" x 2.4" x 1.65"  (136mm x 60mm x 42mm)

PORT-O-BOWL IS GREAT FOR:

New Coaches:
If you're new to the game and just want to learn, you don't have to mess with fiddly plastic players made of 5 or more pieces each (like the RATBOTZ). Each player is only one piece, and an entire team can be painted in less than an hour - no exaggeration!

Seasoned Coaches: If you've got an important tournament coming up, quickly workshop a new roster without having to assemble a new team or get skill markers ready. Set up and play in minutes! Then try again with another roster if that one didn't work out.

Coaches with Limited Space: One of the limitations of fantasy football is the space requirement: A playmat requires a sizeable table that can usually only be found at restaurants and game stores (only one of which will actually let you play there!) Teams and their markers can take up a whole closet. Port-O-Bowl takes up a fraction of that space, and can be played even in cafes where your table space is not much more than a barstool!

Even cafes can become Fantasy Football spaces.

Any dining surface, no matter the size, can be a Port-O-Bowl space.


Traveling Coaches: If you've got a long car ride or plane ride, take out Port-O-Bowl and have a game or two in the back seat of the car or on your airplane tray.

Working Coaches:
Take out Port-O-Bowl in the break room to have a few turns with your co-workers. Or if you've got an hour for lunch, get a whole game of 7s in at the lunch table.

With Port-O-Bowl, there's never a reason not to play fantasy football anytime, anywhere. Here are some photos of games in action!

Dwarves vs. Undead

It may seem the Undead have jammed up the ball, but the Dwarves eventually swung around, casulatied/KO'd both wights, and marched unopposed to the endzone, zombies helplessly shuffling after them.

A Wood Elf thrower with Dodge and Leader hides behind a cage made from a Guard Treeman and a Sidestep wardancer.


A Guard Treeman does what he does best: Stand there menacingly.

Two Blodge Gutter Runners stand by in the back field on the off chance the wood elves lose the ball. Always have gutters on standby in the back field!


The campaign will launch on May 20th.

Physical Sets and Digital Downloads will be available. Currently getting quotes for physical distribution in the United States and Europe. 
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The Origin of Port-O-Bowl!

Port-O-Bowl is inspired by 2 things. The first is traveling chess sets. I've never been good at chess but I have always liked those nice-looking magnetic chess sets that can fold in your coat pocket. Even though the pieces were small, their materials and details looked fantastic.

From Amazon - https://www.amazon.com/Magnetic-Foldable-Portable-Beginner-Professionals/dp/B0CR9RMCS4/

My brother had one and while he was a lot better at chess than I was, I have always liked the idea of self-contained traveling game sets. I liked to play it just to handle the pieces, even though I never had a plan to win the game. Then when you were done, you put them all into the board and closed it up.

There was another game I played as a kid that was just like that, but it wasn't nearly as sophisticated.

Spinjas.

Source: http://collectorgene.com/2012/08/sonic-the-hedgehog-spinjas/

Spinjas blew my tiny child mind. They were little battle tops (well before "beyblade") that you put in little wind-up mechanisms. Then you wound them up and set them loose to do battle on a tiny arena that was also its carrying case.

Also, they were tiny men. Their little fists are balled at their sides in anticipation. The guy with the yellow stripe, third from the left, was my personal favorite, because he was holding a little gun.

I never saw the Spinjas commercial- likely it aired when I was too young to remember - but just behold this 90s magnificence:


I can't tell you exactly when the inspiration to make Port-O-Bowl came, but what I can tell you is that combining traveling chess with Spinjas for fantasy football was my completely sane, not-at-all feverish goal. 


Just as traveling chess and Spinjas are self-contained, so, mostly, is Port-O-Bowl. The only reason the dugouts and the pitch are not one complete file is because then they wouldn't fit on the print bed of my 220mm x 220mm 3D printer.  


Unlike Chess and the Spinjas, there is a lot more to playing fantasy football. There are different players with different stats, and each of those could have different skills that alter the game. At any point, players could be knocked down prone, stunned, hypnotized, or even can have completely forgotten they were supposed to be playing a game at all. All of these had to be somehow represented in Port-O-Bowl. 

Thus I came up with Port-O-Bowl's peg system.  
The pegs have 4 slots where pie-sliced skills can be snapped in.
Three letters maximum! The limits of design.


As for Prone or Stunned, the cross design of the peg allows players to be turned left or right. The pitch is labeled to allow coaches to easily tell whether players are on the floor and ready to go next turn, or whether they have to spend a turn dazed on the pitch.

Human Lineman stunned by a mighty Mummy fist.


It's not a perfect solution, but it's extremely portable! When shrinking a game this much, sometimes something has to give.

Finally, for status effects, Port-O-Bowl has rings you place on players who have forgotten that they're supposed to be playing a game. 

Human Ogre would rather think about butterflies than the fact that he's about to be punched by an unamused mummy next turn.

 
Thus, even with its small size, Port-O-Bowl is still fully playable fantasy football. Finally! 

Now, when will Port-O-Bowl release its second version, where players are in fact spinning tops launched from spring-loaded winders? 

Only time will tell! 
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Do you have One Printer Blues?

It's been an amazing opening week for the Port-O-Bowl project as coaches from all over the world clamor with questions about how to get their Port-O-Bowl sets! I'm humbled by the huge interest and enthusiasm.

However, it's no secret that POB is best when printed with TWO type of 3D printers. The pitch, dugout, and turn trackers are designed to be printed in FDM. Everything else is designed to be printed with a resin printer.

But what if you only have one of those kinds of printers?

Well, I've come up with a solution. Want to print the parts for the printer you have, and order physicals for the rest? Now, you can! There are now 3 new pledge levels for those who suffer the One Printer Blues:

If you have a resin printer, but not an FDM one, there's now an FDM Parts Only physical pledge level.


And with that pledge level comes 2 add-ons for digital downloads for the rest of the set:


If you noticed, the Turn Tracker was included in both. Well, it can be printed with both. Which you prefer is up to you.

What if you had an FDM printer, but not a resin one? Well, meet the two new resin parts only pledge levels:




And with those two new pledge levels comes a new add-on to print the FDM parts:


So now if you have only one type of printer, but not the other, you can still get a whole POB set together for a pretty good price!

BUT WAIT, THERE'S MORE!

In the last few days people have requested samples to test print Port-O-Bowl parts that were designed for resin on their FDM printers. One such backer offered a good reason for only having the one FDM printer: She lives in a crowded and extremely expensive city where space is a premium, and where ventillation for the resin fumes is impossible.

So, I gave her some sample STLs for some players, a section of pitch, and skill markers. I was honestly curious how it would go - it didn't even occur to me to print the tiny players on an FDM printer. I thought there was simply no way the tiny players and the tiny skill markers would print on FDM.

BUT THEY DID!

Here are some sample photos she sent. It turns out that Port-O-Bowl was accidentally designed so well that it actually prints well on an FDM printer, skill markers included:



The skill marker even slots in! Unfortunately the Orc Blitzer lost his arm in a support removal mishap. But honestly I'm surprised he even printed at all.

Another backer also sampled it on his own FDM 3D printer:



Is it as precise and as pretty as printing it on a resin printer? It sure isn't. But is it good enough to play POB?

It sure is!

These two brave giraffes (for they were indeed both giraffes) have proven something even I didn't know: That Port-O-Bowl can (most likely) be printed COMPLETELY on an FDM printer!

But don't take my word for it - why not download a sample yourself?

Head on over to the Port-O-Bowl discord and download the samples I provided in the Sample Print channel!


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