**New – Grid Soccer “Retro” version now available

Following the success of the original Grid Soccer, and after some requests I have received, there is now a “Retro” version of Grid Soccer available on eBay.

This version is modelled on the English League setup from the 1980s and earlier, i.e. a 92-team league with 2 divisions of 22 teams (1st & 2nd Divisions) and 2 divisions of 24 teams (3rd & 4th Divisions). It also models the old-style, knockout European club competitions, i.e. the European Cup, European Cup-winners’ Cup and the UEFA/Fairs Cup. The international competitions are a 16-team World Cup using the format used up to an including 1970, and a Euro Championship with 8 teams in 2 groups of 4, as used in the 1980s.

Everything else is the same as the “modern” version, i.e. you can print off grids or use the screen, or a combination of both. There is a dice roller if you want to auto-generate results and a slightly modified dice selector allowing for use with 2 or 3 points for a win systems. The spreadsheet is also configurable to use different points per win options.

It’s available on eBay as “Grid Soccer – Excel Soccer Game – RETRO version (4 divisions)”, item number 154296204322.

28 thoughts on “**New – Grid Soccer “Retro” version now available”

  1. Hi Alex,
    What system do you use for scoring your games. Do you use normal Logacta scoring dice values or do you use a more accurate and sophisticated system.
    I have set up all my leagues and tournaments between my hectic last few months at language school here in Finland but now I seem to have a little more tme to get my own Logacta project started.
    I have made a nice colour table with the normal values BUT on 4 of the 6 except green & yellow there is a chance of getting a greater of lesser score if the split dice is a 5-6 apart form black where all values use the split dice as a neutral dice.
    I am just interested as I have invested a lot of time creating my season and really would like the best possible scoring system and who better to ask but you of course the legend of this game.
    Hope you are keeping well and may your seasons keep rolling on mate.

    1. Hi Paul

      Thanks for your question.

      Basically I use positional ratings for all my leagues rather than the original LOGacta system whereby you start off with blue-v-red for the first four match sets and then points thereafter. I find that the original system produces points differences that are way too high towards the end of the season, especially once you start getting to the bigger leagues.

      I tend to rate the teams 1-5 and they can move up or down the ratings during the season depending on performance. This keeps the differences between ratings on an even keel throughout the season.

      The dice I use are the new LOGacta style dice available at http://www.logacta.co.uk, which are the same as in the orginal game except that one of the ‘2’s on the black die is replaced with a ‘1’.

      Alex

      1. Ah ok that sounds like a good system. Yes I modified the black dice the same way funny enough as that never felt right.
        Nice to see Logacta get a new lease of life hopefully it’s popularity will grow, I guess there was demand for it to be remade again. I did not buy it as I have my own tournament structures so would be a waste of time for me.

      2. Hi Alex,
        Sorry to bother you again but when you said you rate the teams do you do that after every game or do you rate them after every 4 games when the form is renewed.
        Also I was thinking of in the neutral cup ties section making teams that are the same rating as each other roll the black die each as this seems to give a more tighter score and more realistic scoreline for to even rated teams on a neutral ground,plus as mentioned before I have a split score system on my dice table so the 3 can turn into a 4 on my black dice if the split roll determines this.
        Finally is there a good league table generator to download I can use as I am not IT minded I have looked online but noting suitable of safe looking has come up. and creating my own league table is beyond my IT capabilities to say the least haha.
        I may stick to the points difference system as per logacta as this would for me be quicker to get the games done without trying to work out manually league positions every 1 or 4 game sets.
        Thanks for now mate..take care
        P

        1. Hi Paul

          I “re-rate” teams every 8 games for PL and every 14 games for the Retro League. It’s not too much bother to do.

          Re table software, there are a couple around. One I think is called LTrack, but I’m not too sure of the name. Are you on the LOGacta Players’ Association group on Facebook? They have some good suggestions for league table software, so it might be an idea to check there. Other than that I don’t know as I use all my own stuff.

          Alex

  2. Hi Alex,

    Hope is all well up north beyond the wall.

    I have been experimenting with using the points system and ratings system on my Level 7 “Northern Premier League” test league. I have based the ratings on league postions every 4 games. Once I got the calcs done on my master template it was straight forward to do the ratings, because they are all automated.

    You do definetely get closer league postions point wise using ratings, sometimes too close, so far I’ve done two tests and both times nothing was sorted until the last game. I am undecided whether to change from the points system to the ratings system on my other leagues. Again I’m tinkering more than playing at the moment!

    Anyway enough of my ramblings.

    Stay safe

    Mark

    1. Hi Mark

      Yes, all is fine here thanks. Looking forward to being able to do a bit more soon, hopefully, as regards the lockdown.

      That sounds interesting, especially the fact that nothing was sorted until the last game. I use positions too, and I’ve never had it run that closely to the ratings before myself.

      Alex

      1. Hi Alex,

        Do you think that Ratings are more “Accurate” than the points method in regards to points differences etc. Using the points method I have adjusted the points based on how many teams are in the league so not the same as the original Logacta points.

        I am in the process of doing a bit of research on the Non-League Pyramid, which is all changing by the sound of it next season. Some of these non league team names are a bit obscure (if that’s the right word” Hashtag Utd is one example. I am hoping to do a spreadsheet for Level 8 leagues, of which there will be 8 next season. Obviously I have too much time on my hands!!!

        Regarding real football, I think the ESL were trying to copy Logacta with their ‘Super League’ lol. Also my team reached the F A cup final for the first time in over 50 years, my wife can’t understand why I am not joyous about it. I am happy, but it’s just not the same because I won’t be able to go it’s all a bit surreal to me.

        Anyway enough of my ramblings.

        Mark

        1. Hi Mark

          I can’t really answer the first question as it “depends”. I use a points based system that reflects positions (I know, it sounds daft but bear with me). I put the teams in the order I want them rated at and then give 20 points to the top team, decreasing by 1 all the way down to 1 point for the bottom team. I then use the normal LOGacta system of points differences to decide on the dice for each match. As for accuracy, I’m not sure one system is more accurate than another, but I prefer a system where the points differences don’t become huge as you progress through a season.

          Good luck with the non-league stuff. I know a few folk doing non-league stuff and it certainly is time consuming.

          Congrats on your team (Leicester I assume) getting to the F.A. cup final. I know it’s not the same without fans being able to attend the games, but I’m hoping Leicester win it as I think they would really deserve it.

          Alex

          1. Hi Alex
            It’s been a while since I commented here though as you know I’m quite active elsewhere with Logacta 🙂
            I never realized after all this time (or perhaps I’ve forgotton) that you did your league matches with a descending points sytem of 20 to 1. So Liverpool who were first in Season 192 will be considered “20” in Season 193 and Watford who were 17th will be “4” all season plus form dice where applicable? If so, I like the sound of that for Season 32 in my own set up.

          2. Hi Kevin

            Yes, those are the initial ratings but they are updated every 8 matches depending on current positions. So they do change during the course of the season. And yes, form dice applied when appropriate.

            Alex

  3. Hi Alex.
    I hope you are fine
    I changed your game system a bit and held my own leagues
    like this :
    For the Premier League, first, I divide the teams into 5 ratings based on their rankings from last season. Each rating has 4 teams. Then, after 10 weeks, I change their rating based on their position in the table
    After every 5 weeks, I will specify the team or teams that have scored the most points from the previous 5 games as a form
    I use 6 ratings in lower divisions. I had to add a pink dice. With these details:
    (1 – 1 – 2 – 3 – 4 – 6) Goals
    Do you think my pink dice are right?
    Finally, do you suggest to improve my competitions?
    Thankful
    Ali

    1. Hi Ali, and thanks for the post.

      That sounds like a really good system, it should work really well. I also use a ratings system similar to that except that I update the ratings every 8 games, and form calculated every 4 games, so not too different from your system. The 10 and 5 system might actually work better. It’s always good to see people trying different systems.

      Re the pink dice, yes, that seems like a good way to go. I know some have had an extra die with numbers 1 – 2 – 3 – 4 – 5 – 6, but replacing the 5 with the 1 might be a better balance so as not to overload it with too many high scores.

      I’d say you have a really good setup there Ali, so keep on with that. 😉

      All the best.

      Alex

  4. Hi Alex,

    Hope all is well with you.

    Just a quick question, how are your vba skills? I am trying to automate my dice throws for the cup competitions I have with loads of matches, the original tie is easy, I worked that out, and the extra time I have sorted, penalties I do manually, but it is the replays i can’t fathom. How do you code them to only put scores in if the original tie is a draw? Obviously if you don’t do vba then you won’t know, lol.

    Any help or guidance would be appreciated.

    Thanks

    Mark

    1. Hi Mark

      Yes, I can do VBA, I have automated some of my league stuff already. But that is straightforward as league fixtures are, of course, a linear progression of results and always the same amount of results. But for your particular problem it would be a bit more involved, as you have discovered.

      The problem is, without me knowing how you’ve programmed it so far it’s difficult for me to give any pointers. The only thing I might say is that you must have some way of working out which ties need extra time, so it would probably need some similar sort of “flag” to tell the macro which matches need replaying. There would probably be some way of iterating through each match, getting the result and if it’s a draw then do a replay, something like that. That’s as much as I can advise really and I’ve no idea if it helps at all, sorry if it doesn’t.

      Alex

  5. Hi Alex,

    I have sorted it in a way, but I have to paste and copy a row of figures first, because i was relying on the “flag” to be home score less away score as the “flag”, which of course is zero for a replay situation, but when you run the replay this sum of course changes for the away team dice. So i did try to get it to run for the away team dice relying (“flag”) to be the home cell replay score not being blank, but it didn’t like it. I have pasted what I ended up with, but not ideal with the copy and paste first to column 35. I would be grateful if you could have a look at my code and see if you can advise of any changes or improvements.

    Sub WPFA_Vase_1st__Round_Replay_Dice()

    Dim i As Integer

    i = 35

    For i = 8 To 135

    If Cells(i, 35).Value 0 Then
    Cells(i, 18).Value = “”

    ElseIf Cells(i, 35).Value = 0 And Cells(i, 32).Value = 1 Then

    Cells(i, 18).Value = [Index(AQ9:AQ14,RandBetween(1,Rows(AQ9:AQ14)), 1)]

    ElseIf Cells(i, 35).Value = 0 And Cells(i, 32).Value = 0 Then

    Cells(i, 18).Value = [Index(AQ9:AQ14,RandBetween(1,Rows(AQ9:AQ14)), 1)]

    Else
    Cells(i, 35).Value = 0 And Cells(i, 32).Value = -1
    Cells(i, 18).Value = [Index(AS9:AS14,RandBetween(1,Rows(AS9:AS14)), 1)]

    End If

    Next i

    Dim J As Integer

    J = 35

    For J = 8 To 135

    If Cells(J, 35).Value 0 Then
    Cells(J, 16).Value = “”

    ElseIf Cells(J, 35).Value = 0 And Cells(J, 32).Value = 1 Then

    Cells(J, 16).Value = [Index(AT9:AT14,RandBetween(1,Rows(AT9:AT14)), 1)]

    ElseIf Cells(J, 35).Value = 0 And Cells(J, 32).Value = 0 Then

    Cells(J, 16).Value = [Index(AR9:AR14,RandBetween(1,Rows(AR9:AR14)), 1)]

    Else
    Cells(J, 35).Value = 0 And Cells(J, 32).Value = -1
    Cells(J, 16).Value = [Index(AS9:AS14,RandBetween(1,Rows(AS9:AS14)), 1)]
    End If

    Next J

    End Sub

    Thanks

    Mark

    P.S Sorry to be a pain

    1. Hi Mark

      OK, I’ll have a look when I get time, but can’t promise anything. But what you say about the flag changing is confusing me a little as my thought would be to have a flag based on the original scores being equal, and that not being affected by any replay score. Again it’s difficult without seeing the actual setup and the references to cells in the code doesn’t mean much if you can’t see what those cells are for.

      Anyway, as I say, I’ll have a look and let you know.

      Alex

      1. Hi Alex,

        My mistake, I was taking the flag from the aggregate boxes (All the home scores of tie, replay and extra time plus pens all added together les the same with the away scores). Now I have set a different flag to be just the original ties home score less away score, so it wont change with replay scores aor anything else.

        So you helped without knowing it.

        Sometimes it’s good to talk or message, lol.

        So no need to look at the code as I have sorted it.

        Thanks for your help

        Mark

        P.S My excuse is that I am new to VBA so I am learning still 🙂

  6. Hi Alex.
    In a section related to European club competitions, you categorized teams into 1 to 8 ratings ‌. What color dice do you use to play 1v6 or 1v7 or 1v8 teams?
    be healthy

  7. Hello Alex. I hope you are fine. I recently Grid Soccer game in Excel (Chart Soccer update) – Modern version (4 divisions)

    I bought But there is a problem. In Grid Soccer User Guide.pdf page 28 and African ratings, Cameroon’s name is written twice. Number 7 and 8. Has there been a mistake?

    1. Hi (Mohamad?)

      Yes, that would appear to be a mistake. Unfortunately I don’t know what the name should have been as it was taken from the FIFA rankings 2 to 3 years ago.

      Those lists are only meant to be a guide and are now obviously out of date. The best way to check the updated list is to go to the FIFA men’s rankings page at https://www.fifa.com/fifa-world-ranking/men?dateId=id13792 and select the “CAF” option to get the current African rankings. You can check rankings for the other regions of the world there too.

      Alex

  8. Thank you very much Alex. I want to rate the national teams again. According to the latest FIFA Rankibg. But I don’t know how. How many top teams should I give rating 1, how many teams rating 2? I would like to know your opinion

    1. Hi

      It’s difficult to say as those ratings in the document were just really a “best guess” and intended purely as a guide as to how to do it. What I do myself is look at the spread of the FIFA coefficients, then split it into a certain number of groups of equal points and then rate them that way.

      As an example, say I want the African teams rated from 1 to 5, I would take the top value and subtract the bottom value, then divide that value by 5. This gives me the ranges to use. So Senegal are at 1,584 and Somalia are on 854, which gives an overall range of 730. Divided by 5 that’s 146 for each range. So, the top range would be from 1,438 to 1,584 and all teams in that range would be rated ‘1’. So that would give you Senegal down to Mali rated as ‘1’.

      Alternatively you could just look at the range of teams and decide how many you want rated at each level. That’s the thing: there isn’t one answer to how it can be done, it’s down to personal preference.

      I hope this helps in some way.

      Alex

        1. Well that’s the thing. It takes out any possibility of bias when rating the teams, although I suppose that’s part of the fun of the game. I must admit, I do “tweak” the ratings when I feel that the “maths” doesn’t quite produce the desired result.

          Alex

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