Retro Bowl+ (2023) [+]
Feb 02 2026
Retro Bowl+ is the Apple Arcade version of the pixel-graphics NFL-like management game Retro Bowl. You have been hired as the new head coach of a (random team) and you're goal is to do well enough to be hired by a better team and so on until you finally get to your (pre-chosen) favorite team and lead it to the Retro Bowl Championship.
You start the new season with a three-round draft. Players have 1 to 5 stars as their current level and you have a dozen-plus scouting actions which you can use to drill into specific players and see their potential stars and max stats. During the draft you can also trade out players for draft picks -- so if I'm drafting a good QB I can trade out my current QB to get another draft pick.
Your team has 10 players (the game notes these are above average players and other positions have average players -- in my experience even a 1-star player is better than average). If you are overstocked in a position then the extras don't play on game day (though you can platoon them and alternate starts). In general it's better to have everyone playing as injuries are not that frequent -- I see one to three (of 1 to 4 weeks each) per season.
Each game can be played manually or in simulation. Two minute quarters and at least in simulation it's relating the 3rd down play and either you move the ball forward for another set of downs or it's 4th down. You might go for it on 4th down, try for a long FG, throw a Hail Mary as time expires, or go for two-point conversions. In simulation your coaches determine that and sometimes it doesn't make sense to me for the situation but I haven't played with good coaches (you have an offensive and defensive coach of 1 to 5 stars). In the end the game scores are fairly in-line with what you see for the NFL.
A win increases fan popularity and a loss decreases it. Winning and losing also affects team and individual happiness (really unhappy players become toxic to the team). There is a news conference after the game where you have two choices to distribute a good or bad event (praise a player or the fans? blame a player or the refs?) Before the next game there is a random event which sometimes gives you a similar choice and sometimes doesn't and is just an effect.
After a game you get a Coaching Credit (CC) or two, more if you win and your fan base is really happy. CC can be used to get free agents, hire new coaches, or improve facilities (re-resigning a player with an expiring contract costs 0 CC, though re-signing a coach does cost CC, maybe because players have a salary and you have a salary cap to manage). For facilities you have stadium (fans are happier and are as unhappy about losing), training facility (XP bonuses to players), and rehab facilities (players don't get hurt as much or if hurt are out less weeks). Facilities go from 0 to 10 and each level costs that many CC.
The league is realistic in that all the NFL cities are there (cities with two teams have an N and an A team, e.g. Los Angeles A for the team in Conference A). Getting into the playoffs is the same as in the NFL and the playoff format is the same too. You can play/sim every playoff game or skip and it tells you who won the Retro Bowl.
I'm finding this to be a very fun game. There is enough complexity for casual play (I've tried one or two PC manager-type games and they are way too complicated for me). A game can be simulated in less then five minutes (or you can hit the skip button four times and finish it in 5 seconds), so a full season is a couple of hours if you're watching the simulated games. And you gradually improve the team year to year which makes drafting important and trading out aging stars important.
Overall a pretty good game and I never played the games manually which I guess it's its own sort of fun. I don't want to do that because I'm afraid you can just play the video game well and the players don't matter much so the coaching infrastructure doesn't matter much.
You start the new season with a three-round draft. Players have 1 to 5 stars as their current level and you have a dozen-plus scouting actions which you can use to drill into specific players and see their potential stars and max stats. During the draft you can also trade out players for draft picks -- so if I'm drafting a good QB I can trade out my current QB to get another draft pick.
Your team has 10 players (the game notes these are above average players and other positions have average players -- in my experience even a 1-star player is better than average). If you are overstocked in a position then the extras don't play on game day (though you can platoon them and alternate starts). In general it's better to have everyone playing as injuries are not that frequent -- I see one to three (of 1 to 4 weeks each) per season.
Each game can be played manually or in simulation. Two minute quarters and at least in simulation it's relating the 3rd down play and either you move the ball forward for another set of downs or it's 4th down. You might go for it on 4th down, try for a long FG, throw a Hail Mary as time expires, or go for two-point conversions. In simulation your coaches determine that and sometimes it doesn't make sense to me for the situation but I haven't played with good coaches (you have an offensive and defensive coach of 1 to 5 stars). In the end the game scores are fairly in-line with what you see for the NFL.
A win increases fan popularity and a loss decreases it. Winning and losing also affects team and individual happiness (really unhappy players become toxic to the team). There is a news conference after the game where you have two choices to distribute a good or bad event (praise a player or the fans? blame a player or the refs?) Before the next game there is a random event which sometimes gives you a similar choice and sometimes doesn't and is just an effect.
After a game you get a Coaching Credit (CC) or two, more if you win and your fan base is really happy. CC can be used to get free agents, hire new coaches, or improve facilities (re-resigning a player with an expiring contract costs 0 CC, though re-signing a coach does cost CC, maybe because players have a salary and you have a salary cap to manage). For facilities you have stadium (fans are happier and are as unhappy about losing), training facility (XP bonuses to players), and rehab facilities (players don't get hurt as much or if hurt are out less weeks). Facilities go from 0 to 10 and each level costs that many CC.
The league is realistic in that all the NFL cities are there (cities with two teams have an N and an A team, e.g. Los Angeles A for the team in Conference A). Getting into the playoffs is the same as in the NFL and the playoff format is the same too. You can play/sim every playoff game or skip and it tells you who won the Retro Bowl.
I'm finding this to be a very fun game. There is enough complexity for casual play (I've tried one or two PC manager-type games and they are way too complicated for me). A game can be simulated in less then five minutes (or you can hit the skip button four times and finish it in 5 seconds), so a full season is a couple of hours if you're watching the simulated games. And you gradually improve the team year to year which makes drafting important and trading out aging stars important.
Overall a pretty good game and I never played the games manually which I guess it's its own sort of fun. I don't want to do that because I'm afraid you can just play the video game well and the players don't matter much so the coaching infrastructure doesn't matter much.