Background - Slapshot is a simulation of NHL Ice Hockey. You are the manager of an NHL club, taking your team through a 80 game regular season and then the playoffs, trying to reach and win the Stanley Cup.

In Slapshot we try to make the game work the same way as in real life, with realistic decisions to be made about team management. The choices you make are the same as you’d have to make in real life. Sometimes you’ll have to make tough decisions, whether to sign better players, or develop your stadium and income sources to improve your future finances.

In addition to the management decisions about signing and cutting players you’ve also got to shuffle your lineups from game to game. You’ve injuries to contend with, as well as players losing form. You have to decide which players to play in which lines together, who to use in power-play situations and in short-handed situations. You also have to decide how regularly you can play your star goaltender.

Slapshot is a management game. Rather than concentrating on the "game-day" coaching aspect the focus of the game is on longer-term roster building, though there is still a significant element of control over game-day decisions.

How it works - Your objective is to win the Stanley Cup against teams run by other players drawn from all over the country (and around the world). Each league contains thirty teams (we include the two expansion franchises due to begin play in the NHL later this year), divided into two conferences. Each conference is divided into three divisions, each of which contains five teams. During each turn you play five games against teams within your league.

You have to make a mixture of decisions: both "playing" decisions and "management" decisions are equally important for an Ice Hockey manager.

Players and skills - Each team has an "active" roster (players available for selection every game) of twenty-five players, although only eighteen skaters and two goaltenders (the backup rarely plays) are allowed to suit up for each game. In addition each team has a number of reserves, playing in minor leagues, who can be promoted to the active roster at any time. Teams will normally carry three goaltenders in their squad (one in the minors), around ten defensemen and fifteen forwards (wingers and centers).

Each skater (defensemen and forwards) is rated according to eight skills, while goaltenders are rated according to four. For skaters the skills are Power, Accuracy, Quickness, Control, Passing, Defense, Checking and Stamina. For goaltenders the skills are Reflexes, Balance, Handling and Durability. Each skill has a different effect on a player's ability and performance and some skills may be more important than others for certain positions.

The better a player’s skills are the more effective he will be, but the higher his wage demands will be. Slapshot is as much about financial management as coaching - you can’t build a "superteam" because you’ve only got limited finances, so the key to success is getting the best value for money out of your roster.

Game day decisions - Each turn you have to decide who’ll play together in your offensive and defensive lines (players tend to play in offensive lines made up of a left wing, center and right wing, and in defensive lines made up of a left defenseman and right defenseman) and how long these lines will play for (the lines rotate on and off the ice during play). Most teams usually have one or two forward lines who are expected to generate most of the goal-scoring, while the other lines are mainly "checking" lines, intended primarily to stop the opposition scoring whilst their star team-mates recover on the bench.

You also determine how much emphasis each player places on attack and defence when he is on the ice. You also have to decide how often (and when) to play your star goaltender and when to play his backup. Depending upon his durability he’ll be able to play in anything from half to four fifths of your games without needing a rest.

Most skaters need some rest during the season, otherwise they’ll be less effective during the playoffs (assuming you reach them) so you’ve also got to try and rest them as you go through the season, without sacrificing your playoff chances.

In addition to the decisions about your "regular" lineups (when you’ve got five skaters on the ice and so has your opponent) you’ve also got to decide who to play when you’re in power-play situations (when your opponent has a man in the penalty box, so you're trying to make use of the advantage and score), in short-handed situations (when you have a man in the penalty box, so you're playing all out defence) and in four-on-four situations (overtime or if both teams have a man in the penalty box, when both sides have more space on the ice and the game is more open). In all of these special situations teams tend to switch their lineups around to suit the situation.

In addition to the "game-day" decisions described above you’ve also got to make roster and financial decisions during each turn. You can sign players from the free-agent list, or make trades with other managers. Whilst on the free agent list players’ values (and their wages) drop, so you’ll commonly find you’ll need to leave some of your over-priced veterans on the free-agent list and then resign them when their wage demands have dropped to more realistic levels. Other teams may sign them in the meantime but if you lose a player to another team you do get compensation.

You also have to make decisions about sending players to the minor leagues, either to turn their form around, or perhaps younger players you wish to develop. You've also got to deal with player injuries, even contract disputes and so forth as well as investing finances in merchandising, improving stadium facilities, all of which reduce your funds in the short-term, but increase your income in the longer term.

At the end of the regular season the top eight teams in each conference (in fact the three divisional winners, plus the next best five teams known as "wild cards") move forward into the playoffs. These are played over four rounds of best-of-seven series, to determine the Stanley Cup winners. Teams that fail to make the playoffs, or are eliminated during the playoffs take part in a Consolation competition or play pre-season games, readying themselves for the following season.

During the playoffs each team participates in the college draft, signing new talent to their rosters. These are usually "promising" players packed with potential who’ll need a season or two to mature. At the end of each season each player is also assessed for gaining or losing abilities. This is dependent upon a player’s "potential" - a player loses one point of potential each season. A player with lots of potential is likely to gain skills quickly, particularly if his form during the season was good. A player with no potential will start to lose skills. Either way, players’ wage demands increase as they get older so you’ll need to decide whether a player is continuing to provide value for money.

Game reports -Each turn you’ll receive up to a dozen pages of laser printed reports: a full roster listing with current form, injury details, lineups and so on, plus detailed stats for all of your players. You’ll also receive game reports, showing the key events in each game, and full boxscores for all games you played.

In addition you'll receive outline reports on all games played in your league that turn, as well as details of free agent signings, trades, injuries and all the other news you’ll need from around the league. There are also many optional stats listings which you can choose to receive, though the extra listings won’t give you an advantage over other managers (though they may well further increase your enjoyment of the game). Many of the stats listings are regularly issued as part of the standard reports.

Games and turnfees - There are a number of games of Slapshot already running in the UK, and a waiting list is open for the fourth. All run with two week deadlines (so you've fourteen days between turns). We have positions available in most of these games that will allow you to start play immediately (as in real-life, you take over a team and try to turn their fortunes around). Turnfees in Slapshot are £3.25 for one, £13.00 for four, £28.00 for ten and £50.00 for twenty. There are further discounts available if you play in more than one game.

Email game reports are now a standard option if you wish to receive your reports via the Internet rather than relying on the post. We are currently developing our systems to also allow you to submit orders via email.

We welcome players from outside the UK, although there is a need to make special arrangements for sending and receiving orders. Customers from within Europe are charged an extra 10% on all quoted price rates while customers from outside Europe are charged an extra 40% to cover the extra postage costs. These additions do not apply if you receive orders via email.

In addition customers from outside Europe may find air-mail speeds rather slow, and may need to make arrangements to send orders via fax. If you want more information please ask.

To join Slapshot only costs £5.00 and covers the cost of your rulebooks, team setup and first two turns.

To keep things simple, please email us if you have an interest in Slapshot or any of the other featured games. We will then email you back with the joining details. This allows us to continue to financially support the relevant UK sports federations. Thank you.

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