What do you do in Mastermind Football?
Mastermind Football is a neverending and always challenging strategy game. You try to build a winning team and then keep them winning over time. You get rid of players and coaches you don't want and sign new ones that will help your team, either by searching out free agents or making trades with other teams. You evaluate the skills your players and coaches have as well as their stats for each game and each season to find out what's working and what isn't. However, you don't call the plays during the games or control the players during each play. You hire the coaches and players that you believe can do a good job, then you let them do their thing when game time comes. If you don't like the way they're performing, then you replace them.

Can I own more than one team?
In the future maybe, but right now we do not condone members owning more than one team. First of all, it would bloat the system with a bunch of unused teams since very few people would invest the time in seriously managing multiple teams. Managing a single team well is a significant commitment and provides loads of fun.

How can I see all the members I've referred to Mastermind Football?
After you log in, click the Account link in the top menu. Near the top of the page you will see 'Number of referrals'. If you've referred at least one person to Mastermind Football then the number will be a link. Click it to see a list of usernames and teams.

How do I find players and coaches?
There are different ways to find players and coaches. You will come across lots of players when you're looking at the stats for teams you play against and when you're looking at other team's rosters. But there are also search forms specifically for finding players and coaches.

How do I renew an expired contract?
Click the icon to the left of the player's or coach's name or click the word 'Expired'.

How do I make a trade?
You can offer one or more of your own players to trade for a player on another team. If you want to make a trade offer to another team, find a player you want to acquire and click the icon to the left of his name.

When a player gets hurt, do I need to move another player up to the starting position?
When a player is injured, the coach automatically moves everyone behind him up in the lineup. When the player recovers and returns to play, he will resume his normal position. You don't need to do anything about it.

How do I play games against other teams?
When your team is ready to start playing (when you're happy with the players and coaches you have), you need to join a season (click the Seasons link at the top of the page). Each season requires a certain number of teams before it starts. As soon as the required number of teams have joined, the schedule will be made and the games will start. Your team can only play in one season at a time.

How can I choose my kickoff and punt returners?
This is one of the few things that you have no control over. Your head coach chooses your kick returners based on his own preferences. Usually, you'll agree with him. If not, then just accept that the decision is his. The only way to influence this decision is to sign another player with a Kick Return rating higher than the ones you already have. If you sign a new player to return kicks, though, the coach may not assign him to that position until game time. So don't panic right away if it doesn't look like your new player is going to return kicks.

How can I see stats for the offensive linemen?
Offensive linemen have no stats.

How many games will my team play in a season?
Each team plays each other team in the season twice. This means that if there are 6 teams in the season, then each team will play 10 games during the regular season. In this example, the 4 best teams would then also play a playoff game. Then the two winners of those games would play one another in the championship.

What time do the games take place?
The time that games are played will vary. They start in the early hours of the morning (Eastern time), and we try to get them all done before most people are out of bed. So usually your team will have already played before you get up in the morning, assuming you get up in the morning. As the site grows and more teams start playing, the games may continue on into the day.

How is it possible that my team is in 1st place and they lose to the last place team?
First of all, any team can potentially beat any other team. There are a lot of variables involved. Most importantly, you have to look at how the two teams match up. Even if your team is 8-1 and your opponent is 1-8, they might match up well against you. For example, if they have a good run defense and your game is based on the run, then they might shut down your offense. But there's much more than that. Sometimes players just have bad days. Perhaps your star player(s) didn't play well, or maybe your team had too many turnovers. Maybe the other team played their best game ever. Try to think of it just like real life. Your team may be the favorite to win, but there are no guarantees. The one thing you can be sure of is that there will be upsets. Just know that if you have a good team, they'll probably win more than they lose.

Does the defense only play a 3-4 or 4-3 formation?
Your team's default defensive formation will either be a 3-4 or 4-3, as listed on your roster. This is based on a combination of your head coach's preferences and the skills of your defensive tackles and linebackers. However, your coach may use different formations during the game. In long yardage situations he may replace a lineman or linebacker with a cornerback. In rare cases he may even bring in two extra cornerbacks. If he's running a 3-4, then he may replace a linebacker with a defensive tackle in short yardage situations.

Which of my defensive players will be blitzing?
Normally, Linebacker1 and Linebacker2 will defend the pass and Linebacker3 will pass rush. In a 3-4, Linebacker4 will also pass rush. Both safeties will be defending the pass. So under normal circumstances, you're going to have 5 guys rushing the QB and 6 guys back defending the receivers. However, there will be many situations where that's not the case. Your head coach may choose to blitz an additional 1-4 guys. It varies who will be blitzing, but the first two blitzers will be Safety2 and Linebacker2. The third and fourth blizters will be Safety1 and Linebacker1. The likelihood of your team blitzing depends a lot on your head coach's Aggressive rating. A more aggressive head coach will blitz more often and blitz more guys. So you may see more sacks but also more big passes.