My family really enjoys pulling out a board game and spending hours laughing and playing together. After years of playing board games, we've seen a big decline in the quality of game craftsmanship. However, all of the pieces in the Big Sunday game are of top-notch quality, and the game is made 100% in the USA.

So, yes, the quality is excellent--but is it fun ? That's the question that really matters with any game and the answer, as always, depends on the player. Big Sunday is based completely on the game of football and includes all the scenarios of a real football game. If you detest football, you will most likely not enjoy this game. However, you do not need to have prior knowledge of the rules of football to enjoy the game. In fact, the game would make an excellent resource for learning the rules and details of the real game of football.

The game requires several different maneuvers to work through and is a little complicated but not impossibly so. A video is available on the company website that helps run you through the basics of the game. During his first try, my 13-year-old son was quite confused about the rules, but he has no working knowledge of football. After inviting a football savvy friend over to play the game, he quickly caught on and was able to teach the game to me even though I, too, am football-illiterate. Younger ages could join in the game as well if they had a parent or older sibling to help guide them through it. And truly, it would be an excellent way to teach a child the basic strategies of football. The game can be played with two players, four players, or six players. For six players, you would assign two teams of two, with additional players filling the roles of referee and field judge.

Big Sunday is a bit expensive at $45.00, but it is comparable to other quality-made board games. It's a price that's much easier to swallow if you have a football fanatic in the family. The game is listed as a strategy game, but my family felt that most of the game resided in the luck of the draw or roll of the dice. Even so, we all enjoyed playing together and learning something new. Maybe now we'll be able to follow more than just the marching band at football games.

Product review by Jennifer Harrison, The Old Schoolhouse^® Magazine, LLC, September 2010