TTRPGs are a versatile medium, able to create moving stories that allow people to put themselves in others’ shoes, consider perspectives beyond their usual perceptions, and ponder what’s bothering them. They can also be used to tell really immature jokes. I don’t think you need any help to work out which camp Finger Bang Sports Mode fits into. However, don’t let the sense of humour fool you, as beneath Finger Bang Sports Mode’s silly exterior sits a really fun party TTRPG.
Created by drmhigginson and based on their previous game Finger Bang, Finger Bang Sports Mode is a 2-player TTRPG where each player controls a three-a-side football (or soccer) team and heads onto the pitch for a decisive showdown.
Get Your Fingers On The Pitch
What makes Finger Bang different from other TTRPGs is the fact that you don’t put miniatures or tokens on the map. Instead, players represent their players with their fingers, with each finger having a unique rule or ability. For example, the middle finger (fittingly) gets a bonus when making tackles, while the index finger gets a bonus if it is the one dribbling.
After deciding which player is going first, each player chooses three fingers on one of their hands and places them on any of the squares on their half of the pitch. This finger placement is a key part of Finger Bang Sports Mode: if any finger moves from its square when not moving, that finger receives a yellow card. If a finger receives a second yellow card, it gets a red card and is sent off (meaning the player has to play the rest of the game with only two fingers).
The player who goes first starts with possession of the ball and may place the ball on any square adjacent to one of their fingers. After this, the match begins.
At the start of their turn, a player rolls a six-sided die and removes one from the rolled result to learn how many movement points they’ll have for that turn. Movement points can be divided between the player’s fingers however they wish. These points can also be used to pass the ball to another finger, with the player expending one movement point for every 2 squares the ball moves.
Naturally, the other player has to try and take the ball for themselves before the opponent can get it in the goal. Tackling actions are triggered whenever a finger enters a space adjacent to the ball. When this happens, both players roll 1d6 (and follow any relevant special rules if the finger has one) and the highest roll wins.
A Gag, A Gimmick, But Great
Finger Bang Sports Mode is clearly written around a singular joke (and the text does a fantastic job of squeezing all the comedy it can out of it without becoming boring or repetitive). However, that doesn’t mean it’s lacking in the game design department, as once you look past the finger-bang gags, you’ll find a super cool TTRPG.
Finger Bang Sports Mode walks a very interesting line. While the game is easy to learn and intuitive to play, it has a surprising amount of strategy under the hood. One of the game’s most important rules is the fact that the ball remains in the relative position it was acquired in as the player moves up the pitch (so if you get the ball by tackling a player on your right, the ball will remain on your right until you pass it or get tackled), meaning that you have to carefully consider how you approach the ball, as getting the ball on the wrong side can prevent you from scoring. Thus, it is often more effective to treat the game like chess, moving your players into positions that force your opponent to go in specific directions, rather than just charging directly at the ball every turn.
Similarly, while the idea of using your fingers may seem like a gimmick, it does add an extra level of strategy to the game by limiting where you can move your players, as opting to spread your guys out as far as possible risks you slipping up and accidentally removing one, leading to a yellow card.
Plus, having abilities tied to specific fingers (rather than generic tokens or minis) helps make the game more intuitive, as it allows the player to know what abilities the player has at a glance, without having to keep track of which is which, which is important in a game where you can’t quickly skim the rulebook as you have to keep one hand on the playmat at all times.
I’ve also got to give the designer credit for creating a dice system that works with one hand, as it would be all too easy to accidentally forget the physical limitations introduced by the gimmick during the design process, and end up creating a system that was painful or borderline impossible to use while playing the game.
As a nice touch, the game comes with a clean version that removes the finger-bang jokes, which I really appreciate. Not because I have anything against a painfully immature joke (I would argue this site is built on them), but because I think Finger Bang is a fantastic gateway game to help ease people into the world of TTRPGs, introducing the idea of acting on dice rolls (as well as using their results tactically), and moving on a battlemap in a very intuitive and unintimidating way.
Plus, the game leads to some very natural roleplay as it’s hard to play without slipping into your best commentator voice and giving a running play-by-play as your fingers charge up to pitch, dodging the opponent like a strange hybrid of Maradona and Sonic the Hedgehog. Meaning this is a great game to help someone overcome the initial awkwardness of roleplaying and teach them that it’s often simply a case of going with the flow.
Finger Bang Sports Mode is a really fun TTRPG that does a surprisingly good job of capturing the fun of soccer (or football) and turning it into a fantastic party game. While the game’s elevator pitch may sound gimmicky at first glance, during play you’ll quickly realize that all of the game’s rules are built around these gimmicks and are designed to use them to their fullest potential, leading to a game with a good amount of strategy. Thus, Finger Bang Sports Mode is a game you’ll likely find yourself coming back to over and over again, even when it isn’t a World Cup year.
