The Rules of Tecmo

For those of you out there who haven't actually played Tecmo, you need to realize Tecmo isn't football. It looks like football, its got football teams, but it's something a little different. If you've played the game before, you don't even think twice about these anymore. For the rest of you let this serve as a guide for what to expect:

There are no penalties

There are no defensive plays, you play D by guessing the offense's play

If you pick their play, you're players become super fast

There is no play clock

There are no fake punts or fake kicks

You're playbook consists of 8 and only 8 plays

You can't touchback kickoffs

All QB's can throw 100+ yards

All punters can punt 80+yards

70 yard field goals are fairly standard fare

You don't switch sides at the end of quarters

If you fumble the ball out of the endzone on offense, you get the ball on the 1

The seconds are about four times as fast as normal ones are

Holding is an essential part of offense

There are no spikes or kneel plays

You can only run about 8 seconds off the clock between plays

Players have a vertical of approximately twice their height

If the ball is fumbled you don't get the stats you would have from the play

The highest seed plays the winner of the 3-6 game, not the lowest seed remaining

You cannot block punts

You cannot return interceptions out of the endzone

On kickoff, clock starts as soon as the ball is kicked

Chop blocks are legal

Players can return to the play after running out of bounds

If a ball is caught in the air and the player lands out of bounds it's a catch

If you are tackled before you punt or kick on 1st, 2nd or 3rd down you lose the ball

There are several things that seem different because they were the way the game was played in the NFL back in 1991, but have since chnaged. These include: the kickoff being from the 35 yard line, no two-point conversions allowed, and the other team getting the ball at the original line of scrimmage after missed field goals.