How to play Flick Football
A game for two: two sides of discs on a table-top pitch, one flick a turn, and the first to the goals wins.
- Players
- 2
- What you need
- Five discs a side, a ball and a table-top pitch with two goals
- How long
- A match to two goals takes five minutes or so
What Flick Football is
Flick Football is football played on a table with a finger. Each side is a set of flat discs, the players, and there is one smaller disc for the ball. The pitch has a board round it and a goal in the middle of each end.
The two players take turns, and a turn is one flick of one of your own discs. Score by getting the ball into the other side's goal.
Playing it here
- Tap one of your discs to pick it. The one nearest the ball is picked for you when your turn starts.
- Drag on the pitch to aim. The guide shows what your disc will hit first.
- Pull the power bar back and let go to flick.
Everything then slides and rolls until it stops, off each other and off the board, and the turn passes. On a computer, A and D turn the aim, W and S set the power and Space flicks.
Picking a player
Any of your discs can be flicked, wherever it is on the pitch. Picking costs nothing, and you can change your mind as often as you like before you flick.
A disc that meets the ball full on drives it straight along the line between them. Meet it off centre and the ball goes off at an angle, which is how you go round the players in the way.
Goals
A goal is scored the moment the ball crosses the goal line between the posts. It counts for the side attacking that goal, whoever touched the ball last, so a ball knocked into your own goal is a goal for the other side.
Your discs can follow the ball into a goal. A disc that goes in is set back on its own spot, and the turn passes as usual.
The kick-off
At the start both sides line up in their own half, with the ball on the centre spot, and one side kicks off.
After every goal both sides line up again the same way, and the side that conceded kicks off.
How a match ends
The first side to the match's number of goals wins, and the match ends there. If a match goes on for two hundred flicks without that, it ends where it stands: the side ahead wins, and level is a draw.
A few tips
- Look at every disc before you flick. The one nearest the ball is not always the one with a line to goal.
- A flick that misses still moves your disc. Leave it between the ball and your own goal.
- Use the board. A ball sent off the side at the right angle can go round a keeper.
- Hard is not always better. A firm flick leaves the ball near your discs, a wild one leaves it for theirs.
Settings
Flick Football has three settings.
| Setting | Standard | What it changes |
|---|---|---|
| Goals to win | 2 | How many goals win the match: one, two or three. |
| Players a side | Five a side | Five discs a side, or three. Three leaves more room and more goals. |
| Aim guide | To the first thing your player hits | How much of the aim the table draws: nothing, the first thing your disc will hit, or the lines after it as well. It is a rule of the table, so online everybody plays with the same guide. |
Words
- Flick
- Sending a disc off with a flick of the finger. One flick is one turn.
- Goal mouth
- The gap in the board between the posts, where the ball goes in.
- Own goal
- A ball knocked into your own goal. It counts for the other side.
- Kick-off
- The first flick from the line-up, at the start and after every goal.
Every rule on this page is the one the app plays by. Change any of them on the game's own page before you start.