17 Slot Machine Facts You Don’t Know but Should

When I turned 18, there was a casino about 2 hours away on a reservation that I could get into. We'd get paid on Friday night, head to the gas station near us that would cash a paycheck, pile into my crappy little Ford, then make the drive. We'd get there a little before midnight and everyone had their own game.
The second time we went, one of my friends was hypnotized by the craps table. There were 16 players standing around this sea of green, and every minute or so, you could hear them screaming at the top of their lungs like they just won a million dollars. On the way home that night, I taught him everything I learned from books I'd read about the different bets. "Smart" bets where the house edge was only 1.4%, all the way down to the risky ones where the house edge was over 10% (meaning that for every $100 wagered, you should expect to lose $10).
The next time we went, we hung around the table, trying to figure out the right way to bet. It seemed a little complicated, so we tried other games. At the end of the night, I had the last $10 and he asked if he could borrow it to go place a bet. I handed it over, then went to the bathroom in preparation for the ride home. When I finally found him again, he had a stack of chips in front of him. He had been gone for about 5 minutes and already turned $10 into a few hundred. Well, if you can turn 10 into 100, you can turn 100 into 1,000 just as easily. We left empty handed that night, but I'll never forget the rush.
I loved blackjack. I learned how to play at an early age from my uncle, who would always cheat and take my money. He'd say "I just taught you a very valuable lesson." He actually taught me two: 1) if you play against a casino, you may have a good night and win thousands of dollars, but if you keep going back, you'll eventually have nothing left. 2) My uncle was a scumbag who continually cheated and took my money, then told the family I was a poor sport and they couldn't understand why I hated doing anything with him. One of my earliest memories at the casino was running $100 at the blackjack table into $3000, which is more than I made in a month of bussing tables. I went home, paid my rent and blew the rest on useless things I can't even remember.
What does any of this have to do with $GME? Well I'm still chasing the same high as I was when I was 18. I don't go to the casino anymore, but I've got something even better on my computer. I bought $2k worth of weeklies on Jan 25. Before everything crashed, they were worth over $100k, more than enough to fix most of the problems I've caused in my life. BUT, I was still standing around that craps table. The roller had just made his 30th point in a row, $GME was on fire and couldn't possibly roll a 7! I put my 2k back in my pocket and shoved the rest on the pass line. A few minutes later, the croupier inevitably yells "7 out!" and just like that, I'm back to nothing.
Now I do what every moron around the table does. You reach back into your pocket, pull out the 2k and make a deal with your maker. "Just let it happen one more time. I won't be greedy THIS time and I'll stop when I hit 50k." I stop looking at the smart bets and start eyeing the center of the table, where hard ways are paying 10:1. Yeah, that'll be how I get back to 50k. A couple of those in a row and I can put a down payment on a house. 5 minutes later, I'm on my way out to the car and I feel like I've been punched in the gut. Again.
Every one of you in this subreddit is another person sitting at the casino. Everyone has their game. The people holding $GME stonks right now? You're playing baccarat. If you've never heard of it, it's what James Bond plays in the old movies. It's about the most boring thing you can do. Two hands are dealt and you're betting on which one wins before anything happens. There's no actual skill and it's the same thing as betting heads or tails, while losing 1% of your bet every time.
The people who cashed out and picked something else like $AMC or $BB? Those are the slot players. You had a big hit and now you're going to switch machines because the other ones are "due". You're looking for the exact same magic, thinking there was something smart in your play, when it was really just dumb luck in timing.
The people saying "If Daddy Elon or Cowboy Cuban gets in, we can trigger a squeeze!" You're the guy who spent too much money in the first 20 minutes of the trip and now you're begging everyone else for a loan.
Tldr: Nothing is happening with $GME. Stop saying "tomorrow is the day." Billionaires are not coming to bail you out. If institutional investors come in, they're waiting for this constant downhill slide to end at where the stock belongs, probably around $20. You can't trigger shit by holding. The HFs will outlast you.
Edit: Screenshots from the worst 40 minutes of my financial life https://imgur.com/a/MlTRJmx
Edit 2: JFC, some of you are takin WSB way too seriously. You should not be using reddit for DD. Also, this is not financial advice. Don't take financial advice from someone who tells you stories about chasing highs at casinos.
Edit 3: This is WSB, my dudes. I'm glad most of you were entertained by my story. For the few of you who got that worked up by a random stranger on the internet telling you that he's a degenerate, you may actually have a problem. https://www.ncpgambling.org/help-treatment/

Source: https://www.bungie.net/en/News/Article/50040
This week at Bungie, we introduce Seasonal Challenges.
Welcome to the second-to-last TWAB of Season of the Hunt. Many of you have been navigating the secrets of the Harbinger mission, uncovering randomly rolled Hawkmoons and earning the Radiant Accipiter Exotic ship. Content-wise, we’re coming to a close for the Season, and we’re incredibly excited for what’s to come in just a few short weeks. We’ve been covering some upcoming quality of life changes to Destiny 2, like the return of Umbral Engrams, but it’s almost time to take a peek at fresh content.
Season of the [REDACTED] trailer goes live on February 2, 2021.
Before we get there, we have a new feature to cover, Seasonal Challenges, and a round of weapon-focused sandbox changes to walk through. As a warning, this is a pretty large amount of information in a small space. We've joked about "meaty" TWAB's before, but this one may feel a bit overwhelming if you rush through it. Let's take it slow, step by step, and get through it together in one piece.

Introducing: Seasonal Challenges

Over the last year, we’ve been looking at ways in which we can reduce the amount of FOMO (Fear of Missing Out) in Destiny 2. We’ve recently made some changes to Seasons and how Seasonal content is available throughout a given year of Destiny 2. This week, we’re looking to bounties and Bright Dust, introducing a new system not only to remove FOMO, but give fresh ways to earn XP and alternate rewards. To walk us through the ins and outs of Seasonal Challenges, we pass the mic to the Development team.

Dev team: During production of Beyond Light, we started looking at the problems of bounty fatigue and FOMO, as well as Seasonal legibility (i.e., “What is in a Season?” and “How to I engage with it when I log in?”). We created a few goals which we believe will improve the experience:

• Provide a guide to new, returning, and veteran players for what to do today/this week.
• Guide the player through the Seasonal content, week-over-week.
• Encourage players to engage with complexities and nuances of the Seasonal activity and rituals.
• Reduce the penalties on XP and Bright Dust for missing a given week.

To solve these goals, we are introducing a new pursuit type for players – Seasonal Challenges. The Seasonal Challenges live on their own page, are accessed through the Quest Log or Season Pass, and are separated by week.
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Here’s a quick breakdown of how this feature works:

• Every week, for the first 10 weeks of a Season, between 3 and 10 new Challenges appear automatically for players.
  
  • Some of the Challenges deal with the Seasonal content.
  • Others push players to complete strikes, Gambit, and the Crucible, or to focus on non-activity focused Destiny rituals, like gaining Power, unlocking Seasonal Artifact mods, or improving guns and armor.
• These Challenges can only be completed once per account, but once they become available, these Challenges can be completed at any time before the end of the Season, and do not need to be started or picked up from a vendor.
  
  • As an example, if a player doesn’t play for weeks 2 through 4, they can return on week 5 and have all of those Challenges waiting for them!
• Completing each Challenge awards XP, contributing to your Season Pass ranks.
  
  • Other rewards could be Bright Dust, Seasonal currency, or other interesting items!

In moving away from weekly bounties, which were restricted to broad objectives tied to ritual activities, we have taken more leeway with creating some interesting or more difficult Challenges. These may be things you are already doing, or things that test your ability. Some examples include:

• Defeating Primeval Envoys in Gambit
• Defeating enemies in Nightfall: The Ordeal with Seasonal weapons
• Gaining Infamy or Valor ranks
• Acquiring the ritual weapon and its cosmetic ornaments
• Winning rounds in Trials of Osiris
• Completing a Grandmaster Nightfall

Not all the Challenges will require that level of accomplishment, but the harder or longer the Challenge is, the more experience it rewards. Challenges that focus on the Seasonal activity and ritual mostly need the Season Pass to complete, but most of the ritual focused Challenges can be completed without the Season Pass. Overall, roughly 60% of the Seasonal Challenges do not require the Season Pass.
With the changes above, we are removing weekly bounties from the three ritual vendors (Zavala, Shaxx, and Drifter), Banshee-44, and the Seasonal vendor. These vendors will still have daily bounties which reward XP, and the three ritual vendors will still have repeatable bounties for those of you who want to pursue additional XP and Bright Dust.
Lastly – most of the Challenges disappear after the Season they were introduced, and anything that isn’t claimed will be lost. We don’t add any new Challenges after Week 10 – which should give everyone a few weeks to clean up any Challenges they didn’t finish. Any Challenge that rewards unique or Seasonal items (currencies, lore books, Seasonal weapons, etc.) – can be completed as long as the Seasonal activity is in the game, but XP awarded for completing the challenge will only be available during the season it was introduced.
Let’s Talk Bright Dust
Back before Beyond Light launched, we discussed some of the goals around the changes to Bright Dust. As a refresher, we wanted to change the way you earn Bright Dust and move more towards account-specific paths to give players with only one character significantly more Bright Dust than they've been earning over the last year. In Season 13, we’ll be continuing to move toward these goals by adding Bright Dust onto Seasonal Challenges.
Since you no longer have to purchase weekly ritual bounties, each of the strike, Crucible, and Gambit Seasonal Challenges will award between 75 and 300 Bright Dust. We are also introducing an end-of-Season Bright Dust bonus – if you complete (nearly) all of the Seasonal Challenges, we are awarding a single 4,000 Bright Dust pile.
Additionally, each ritual vendor challenge (“Complete 8 bounties”) awards 120 Bright Dust for each character who completes it each week. And because this is prompted by the removal of weekly bounties, the only Seasonal Challenges that will be awarding Bright Dust are the ones that both Season Pass owners and free players can complete. Here’s a quick breakdown of how much Bright Dust you should expect to earn over the course of Season 13.

Seasonal Challenges Bright Dust (All Players)

• Free Seasonal Activities – 6,000
• Seasonal Extra – 4,000
• Total – 10,000 Bright Dust

Season Pass Bright Dust

• Free Path – 7,500 (All Players)
• Paid Path – 3,000 (Players who own Season Pass)
• Total – 10,500 Bright Dust

Weekly Ritual Vendor Challenge Bright Dust (All Players)

• 120 Bright Dust per ritual vendor, per character, per week
  
  • 14,040 total if completing all required weekly Challenges over the course of Season 13

Additionally, we still plan to offer weekly and repeatable Bright Dust bounties for Seasonal events, giving you a bit more Bright Dust towards desired rewards.
As a final note, please be sure to claim all Seasonal Challenges that award Bright Dust prior to the end of a Season. Once a Season ends, associated Challenges and their Bright Dust rewards will expire and can no longer be claimed.

It’s always exciting when we bring a new feature online for Destiny 2. We hope that the changes detailed above make it easier to create goals to complete each week. As always, we’re eager to hear your feedback once you start finishing your first Seasonal Challenges, so please sound off with your thoughts!

Back to the Sandbox

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Every Season, we have a collection of changes to the Destiny 2 sandbox to spice things up a bit. This Season, we’re making some targeted changes to weapon archetypes that need some love as well as beginning some preparations for crossplay.

Dev team: In preparation for crossplay, coming later this year, we’re making some changes to the Recoil stat.
Currently, several weapon archetypes have their Recoil reduced by around 40% (dependent on archetype) when using mouse and keyboard. This results in an issue where players on mouse and keyboard are able to largely ignore the stability weapon stat, creating unintended discrepancies in weapon performance between controllers and mouse and keyboard.
The following weapon archetypes will have their mouse and keyboard Recoil adjusted closer to controller (reduced the difference from ~40% to ~20%).

• Auto Rifle
• Scout Rifle
• Pulse Rifle
• Submachine Gun
• Hand Cannon
• Machine Gun

In the case of Pulse Rifle, Submachine Gun, and Machine Gun, we will also be introducing some buffs. In some cases, these weapons will have less Recoil across both Controller and mouse and keyboard input methods compared to what’s in the game today.

• Submachine Guns are largely outclassed by Auto Rifles at medium range, and by Sidearms at short range, with player feedback often mentioning how hard they are to control. To address this feedback, we’re introducing the following change:
  
  • Reduced camera movement from firing a Submachine Gun by 24%.
• Pulse Rifles with the mouse and keyboard changes were kicking a little too much.
  
  • Reduced camera movement from firing a Pulse Rifle by 7%.
• Machine Guns with the mouse and keyboard changes were kicking a little too much.
  
  • Reduced camera movement from firing a Machine Gun by 9.5%.

We will pay close attention to how these changes play out when they go live, and plan to revisit individual archetypes in a future update as needed.
Outside of Recoil adjustments, we will also be tuning a few weapon archetypes in Season 13. Looking through backend data and community feedback, we landed on the following:
Buffs

• Rocket Launchers have fallen behind other Heavy weapons in most measures of effectiveness, we’re pushing them more into a burst damage role.
  
  • Increased Rocket Launcher damage by 30%.
  • Exotic Rocket Launchers have been adjusted individually and are affected by this change to different degrees.
  • Paired with the buffs to reserves from last Season, we’re hoping you’ll explode many more things in Season 13!
• Fusion Rifle usage is very low, and they feel like an unreliable choice in Crucible compared to Shotguns.
  
  • Increased Fusion Rifle damage falloff start distance based on Range stat. (6% with 0 Range, 16% with 100 Range)
  • Reduced camera movement from firing a Fusion Rifle by 9.5%.
• Breech Grenade Launcher usage is very low (outside of Mountaintop). We believe part of the reason is that the loop of "hold the trigger to arm, then release to detonate” is challenging to execute, particularly since projectiles can bounce off targets if the trigger is held
  
  • Breech Grenade Launcher projectiles will now detonate on impact with a character, even if holding the trigger.

Nerfs

• While Sniper Rifle usage has dropped in Crucible, we’ve observed that it’s hard to challenge someone with a Sniper Rifle – even if you get the first shot on an enemy, they can often respond and win the fight.
  
  • Increased ADS flinch to Snipers when taking damage from other players
• Swords are extremely dominant in PvE. At this time, 65% of players are using Swords for the majority of gameplay encounters in Destiny 2. While we are introducing a buff to Rocket Launchers to make them a bit more enticing, we feel that Swords do too much damage compared to other options.
  
  • Reduced Sword damage by 15%.

Exotic Changes and Bug Fixes

• Some Exotic weapons lose their buffs when you switch weapons, which is intended. They would also lose their buffs when pulling out your Ghost Shell, which is not intended. Fixed that issue on these weapons:
  
  • Ace of Spades
  • Tarrabah
  • Hawkmoon
• Borealis and Hard Light now have a custom (quite short) animation for switching damage type.
  
• Duality
  
  • Increased damage falloff distance by 1.25m (while both firing from the hip and aiming down sights).
  • Reduced maximum buff stacks from 7 to 5, each stack now grants more of a damage bonus, extended buff duration slightly.
• Sturm will once again reload any equipped Special slot weapon on kill provided the Special weapon's clip isn't full already and there's available reserve ammo.
  
• Fixed an issue that was preventing Merciless from increasing its charge rate on non-lethal hits.
  

Ah, and before we go – we are planning to take a quick tuning pass on Arbalest. This won’t be ready in time for February 9, but we are expecting to have this touched later in Season 13!

Now, we know it can be difficult to understand the scale of buffs and nerfs without having these changes in your hands. Not to mention, there will be some new perks for you to hunt as you start navigating content in Season of the [REDACTED]. As always, we’re excited to see these changes out in the wild on February 9, and will be eager to hear your feedback.

Crimson Days

Each year, we look to February as a time to celebrate bonds of friendship throughout the community. Guardians have come to know this celebration as Crimson Days. It was one of our first “Seasonal” events in Destiny 1, a tradition that we carried to Destiny 2. While there was great enjoyment of Crimson Days, we feel that it’s been missing the mark in terms of quality over the last few years.
As such, we have made the decision to discontinue Crimson Days moving forward. While we’ll miss the event, this move will allow us to maintain focus for alternate Seasonal offerings, ranging from quests to activities and more. We have quite a bit planned for Season of the [REDACTED] and our hope is that we’ve maintained, or even improved, the quality you’ve come to expect from this upcoming release.
Some of you may be asking about the fate of Crimson Doubles, our once-a-year Crimson Days playlist. This mode is currently being shifted to the Destiny Content Vault but may return in the future.
Many thanks to every Guardian who has joined us over the years for this event. Crimson decorations may not be hung in the Tower, but we have no doubts that you’ll continue to form Crimson Bonds over the years to come.

BugTrax

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For those who may be new to the TWAB, welcome to the Player Support Report. This section is dedicated to known issues, active investigations, and pending updates for Destiny 2. Our Player Support team navigates the Help forum daily, collecting info on new issues and dishing out help articles.
This is their report on the most frequently reported issues of the last week.

CRUCIBLE TOKENS AND FRAGMENT QUESTS
Due to the updates to the vendor progression system, Crucible Tokens and Crucible Token Gifts are no longer needed and will be deprecated into Junk that will delete as a full stack starting in Season 13. Additionally, current Stasis Fragment Quests will be deprecated at the end of Season of the Hunt. Players are advised to turn in all Crucible Tokens and Crucible Token Gifts and finish all available Stasis Fragment Quests before Season 13 starts.
KNOWN ISSUES
While we continue investigating various known issues, here is a list of the latest issues that were reported to us in our #Help forum:

• Stasis abilities can be difficult to distinguish between enemy and friendly for colorblind players.
• The Double Trouble Triumph is unobtainable.
• In the Deep Stone Crypt raid, the augment lockout timer occasionally resets during the final encounter against Taniks.
• During the final fight against the Sanctified Mind in the Garden of Salvation raid, sometimes a shielded tether box can become tethered instead of the correct glowing tether box.
• Hunter legs clip through the Ten-Grasp Sword Sparrow.
• In the Last Wish raid, the Shuro Chi puzzle room plates don't work if a Titan bubble or Warlock well are placed on them.
• The Titan Phenotype Plasticity Helm eye clusters no longer glow red.
• Weekly and daily elemental kill bounties have stopped rotating off of Void.
• When overcharging grenades while using the Voidwalker top tree subclass as a Warlock, Super energy stops charging.

For a full list of emergent issues in Destiny 2, players can review our Known Issues article. Players who observe other issues should report them to our #Help forum.

[Bird Noises Intensify]

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It’s been fun watching Hawkmoon clips and montages throughout the Season. With recently introduced random rolls, players have been pushing the limits of this Exotic, taking on 1v1 encounters in the Crucible that they may have otherwise avoided. This week, our top pick not only got a sweet roll on perks, but a killer roll on audio, too!
Movie of the Week: Ting Ting Ting Ting
Video Link
Movie of the Week: Deep Stone Lullaby Violin/Piano Cover
Video Link
Movie of the Week: …That’s a lot of Hawkmoon
Video Link
As always, if you'd like to submit your creation to be featured in a future TWAB, make sure to create a post on the Community Creations portal of Bungie.net.

Credit Where It’s Due

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Every day, we take a moment to scroll through various social media apps to take a look at community artwork. We’re always awestruck by the talents that many of you possess, and eager to share your works with a wider audience.
Here’s a quick roundup of some sweet art, and direct links to their authors. Give them a follow if you want to see more of their stuff!
Art of the Week: Art Sharing

destiny art share!!! spread the positivity, doesn't matter how frequently you do art or how many pieces you've made - post your favorites!! #Destiny2Art #DestinyArtShare pic.twitter.com/bq6hHJrCLD
— 🥀alex🥀🏳️‍🌈 (@miyagiie) January 25, 2021

Art of the Week: Eris

나는야 내일부터 월급쟁이 #냙서 pic.twitter.com/MI6Y6Gi1LY
— 🧅김냘본™🍺 (@NyarNyarbon) January 17, 2021

Cheers, and make sure to tag your content with some form of #Destiny2Art so we can find you easily!
That’s it for this week, folks. Season of the [REDACTED] is almost here. We’ll have some patch previews to cover in the TWAB next week, so stop by if you’re interested!

If this gets 7 likes we'll add a new LZ on Europa next Season.
— Destiny 2 (@DestinyTheGame) January 27, 2021

We’ll see you again next week, bright and early on Tuesday morning.
Cheers,
dmg04

https://steam.cryotank.net/wp-content/gallery/slaythespire/Slay-the-Spire-01-HD.png
Slay the Spire (StS) has finally arrived to Android! For two years many of us dreamed for this legendary game to be accessible on their mobile devices, and finally the day has come. No need to talk about how awesome this game is, how it basically started a new genre of card-based dungeon crawlers (UPD: or roguelike deck-builders, if you prefer the term), and even about how well or poor it works on Android hardware in its current state (there will be lots of these posts during the days to come). What I wanted to talk about is the impact this game had on (specifically) mobile industry and how other developers were able to utilize this innovative formula in their own products.
Personally, I am somewhat glad that StS release was delayed that much. This allowed a lot of "clones" to be spawned, many of which I enjoyed playing. Some of them appear to be straight rip-offs, but others introduced many fresh ideas of their own, some even surpassing the predecessor's greatness. What the heck am I talking about and how is this even possible will be revealed to you, should you decide to stay on a bit and read through the article below.

General info

First and foremost, let's clarify the important thing: card based dungeon crawlers are not Collectible Card Games (CCGs). Even though they share the same ideas, and some of them (StS included) even have a feature to permanently improve starting cards, or a mode to play with pre-constructed decks, this is not the case for the genre in general. There is no place for multiplayer and PvP battles here: a turn-down for the most, but an undeniable advantage for the rest - only though-out puzzle-like single-player experience which we can pause at any moment and continue when the time is appropriate. Thus, there will never be troubles with downtime, matchmaking, ratings, overpowered builds and other PvP stuff, as there will never be a satisfaction of crushing your opponents with the power of your mighty intellect... The fun of discovering interesting synergies between various card combinations is still present, though.
With this being said, let's quickly look through the core features of the genre, which will be relevant for almost every game we review below: - we must explore a dungeon, which (usually, but not necessarily) consists of three floors with increasing difficulty; - we have limited control over the order in which to face the challenges; - there is a powerful boss in the end of each floor; - we battle using deck of cards, usually drawing new cards from deck to hand each turn; - there is a limitation on how many cards we can play during our turn; - we start with a weak basic deck, but get new cards as rewards for fighting enemies; - there is a possibility to permanently remove (weak) cards from the deck; - successful gameplay strategies revolve around utilizing the synergies between different cards; - there are several character classes, each with their own cards and tactics; - there are often additional items to acquire in the dungeon, providing bonuses and emphasizing specific types of play;
Before Slay the Spire (StS) came out, there was another card-based dungeon crawler called Dream Quest (DQ), which considered by many to be the first game of the genre (at least the first one to make a significant impact). Not sure if the former drew inspiration from the latter, but certain parallels can easily be drawn: in fact, all of the features mentioned in the list above are valid for DQ the same way as it is for StS. The rich plethora of card based dungeon crawlers (both PC/Console and mobile) originated from some combination of the two.
StS, however, can not be considered a clone of DQ, as it introduced a lot of original ideas and spawned its own line of descendants. It is always interesting to analyze each new title to see which of two games was the biggest inspiration, and to group them accordingly. For me the main criteria lies in the core difference in battle system: - in StS, enemies (usually multiple) show their intentions at the beginning of each turn, so we know what to expect and what to play against; - in DQ, the enemy (usually single) draws and plays cards the same way as we do, often using the same abilities and synergies we ourselves can use.
Introductions aside, let's finally get to the interesting part - the games! (Note: Games are listed in alphabetical order to not give any privileges to one over another. For my personal preferences see the comment section).

Dream Quest clones

Call of Lophis takes us on a grim journey through infested lands full of deadly monsters, dangerous traps, and one of the most ridiculous card art I have ever seen. It's surprising to see how dark fantasy elements combine with the humor and gags this game presents. From the gameplay point of view, there is enough card variety and interesting synergies, but it will take a long time to reach the interesting parts. Really: this game just does not know when to end, forcing new and new dungeon locations onto us with basically the same monsters and same approaches to dealing with them over and over. Its the boss battles which crank the difficulty up to over 9000, and if we don't have the right deck by the time we reach them, there is nothing we can do to pull it off. Plus there is some shady business going on with monetization schemes, where even paid version of the game makes us spend money to unlock additional classes and grind a lot to buy permanent improvements. Only truly dedicated players will be interested in dealing with all this nonsense. [...] UPD: Haven't checked on it for a long time - maybe the situation improved somehow.
Crimson Deep is still in early alpha and was not updated for a long time. But the development hasn't stopped, and there is a new major release approaching in the nearest future. It makes no sense to talk about the game till then: the version in the store is too raw to provide any significant gameplay experience, but it would be interesting to see where it goes in the end.
Dimension of Dream is probably the only game that has the same grid-based dungeon layout as DQ itself. This time with full 3D and a possibility to fight only limited set of enemies before facing the final boss (which allows to moderate difficulty as we go, either defeating tougher enemies with better rewards, or to save HP and fight only the easy ones). This game has one of the most interesting battle systems and 6 truly unique classes with deep complex strategies unlike anything we have ever seen (not only the cards themselves, but the order in which we play them greatly affects the outcome). Unfortunately, the English version was pulled from Google Play, leaving only Chinese version for Asian people to enjoy. UPD: Apparently, the game was re-released under different publisher with the title Dreaming Dimension, so there you have it. [...]
Meteorfall: Journeys offers the streamlined approach to dungeon crawling, where all our decisions boil down to Reigns-like "swipe left / swipe right" operation: picking the path, encounter resolutions, and even battles are simplified to utilize this binary choice mechanic. But don't worry: these specifics do not affect the gameplay, still providing enough strategic depth to appeal even to hardcore players. Add here a neat visual style, lots of character classes and their variations, cool card combos, and you get a true masterpiece, which is Meteorfall. [...]
Night of the Full Moon offers a fresh take on a fairy tale of Red Riding Hood, but adding darker elements to it (including werewolves, zombies, mad scientists and cursed cultists). It demonstrates an amazing production quality with top-tier art, beautiful audio support, and intriguing storytelling. Gameplay wise, we have the closest thing to DQ, safe for the grid-based dungeon maps, which were changed to just picking the encounter out of available three. Some people may argue that the game does not offer enough strategic variety, only suggesting a single best build for each class, but you will still get different runs due to the randomness of card and power-up drops. Another argument of it being too easy is completely nullified on higher difficulty levels. Wish the story would develop in a different direction, though. [...]
Spellsword Cards: Origins provides the gameplay similar to the Night of the Full moon, but focuses more on role-playing character development part. Aside from choosing a class, we also get to pick race with unique traits, and a school of magic, greatly affecting which cards will be available to us during the run. The problem here, though, is that monster encounters do not demonstrate a lot of variety, forcing us to fight the same enemies over and over, and the difficulty is rather high, with starting cards doing almost nothing and enemies quickly run out of hand with their devastating attacks, whereas good cards are hard to come by, and even then you will still be devastated on later stages. [...] UPD: Or maybe I am just bad at this game (welcome to comment section for valid strategy suggestions).

Slay the Spire clones

Blood Card offers a unique possibility to construct the dungeon ourselves, providing a pool of encounters of different types: regular monsters, elite monsters, events and shops. We pick a desired encounter from the pool, deal with it and then move on to the next one. Another interesting feature is that our health is defined by the number of cards in draw pile, which limits our tactical possibilities, but is compensated by the fact that we get multiple copies of cards as rewards for fighting enemies. There are a lot of interesting mechanics related to moving cards between various piles, as well as other neat features (like: the Death inevitably arrives in three turns and starts whacking everyone on the field with increasing persistence), but I'll leave them for you to discover on your own.
Card Crusade seemed like a cool idea of mixing classic "roguelike" dungeon crawling with its "deck-based" counterpart, where we explore the dungeon the same way as we do it in Hack, Angband, Pixel Dungeon and other similar games, but use cards to fight actual enemies. In reality though, this implementation just adds a useless abstraction, as the adventuring does not provide any tactical benefits and is only there to inter-connect battle sequences (heck, even breaking pots and chests does not give us any coin, of which developers themselves warn us at the very beginning!). The cards are not very interesting, with next to none cool synergies, and new classes (which should be unlocked by performing specific actions on previous runs) do not provide any major difference. [...]
Card Quest takes us on an epic journey through fantasy lands, where we will perform great deeds as one of the classic RPG hero classes (fighter, wizard, rogue, ranger), each with their own equipment and fighting disciplines. The interesting part is that the cards we use during runs are defined by said equipment, and if we find some new pieces during our adventure, we get to keep them for further runs. Also worth noting that defense cards are played not during our turn, but during enemy turn, which requires us to plan ahead a bit. This being said, the game is extremely hard - it will take a lot of unsuccessful tries to finally reach the end. But the variety of dungeons and possible builds will keep us occupied for long.
Dungeon Tales for a long time was the closest, yet simplified copy of StS mechanics (up to similar cards and gaming strategies), but without certain elaborate features, like upgrading cards or using potions. The basics are left intact though: we still build our deck along the way and face the powerful boss in the end. There are only two characters available yet, but each has a couple of viable builds, so it can keep us invested for quite some time. [...]
Endless Abyss is a close StS clone with very similar character classes (only two so far) and a lot of cards with exactly the same effects. Graphically the game looks very good, but angry monetization, lots of grinding, and forced ads make it almost impossible to fully enjoy. [...]
Heroes of Abyss is a predecessor to Endless Abyss with basically the same core gameplay, but very simplified dungeon crawling part. There is no floor map with choosing our path, nor there are elaborate adventure events: just a series of battles with the boss in the end. The spoils we get after each battle go into improving our starting deck and unlocking new difficulty modes with higher rewards. What makes the game unusual, is that we chose the preferred build right from the beginning with appropriate set of starting cards, without the need to rely on the randomness of card drops. It may be interesting to unlock and compare all the 6 available builds, but once the task is done, there is almost no reason to play the game further.
Heroes Journey provides a different setting for a change: this time we will play as space explorers, who crash landed on an alien planet. Thus, instead of familiar swords and bows, we will be wielding blasters and energy shields: the rest remains the same, up to the majority of cards straight up copied from StS. Unfortunately, this innovative idea was completely ruined by repetitive grinding and angry monetization, forcing player to make dozens of identical runs with the same small card pool, until something adequate is unlocked. Oh, and the game is long abandoned by the developers.
Pirates Outlaws is an amazing rework of original StS ideas in a pirate setting with some changes to gameplay mechanics, such as introducing persistent charges needed to play certain cards, and different buff/debuff statuses that replace each other. There are also some questionable features, such as ship stamina that deteriorates over the course of the journey and leads to game over if not repaired in time, or a quest system, where quests can not be completed in parallel, but instead picking the new quest resets your progress in the current one. Some may also argue that new classes take long to grind for, or expensive to pay for, but with permanent booster pack this should not be a problem. Anyway, the game is highly recommended for any StS fan. [...]
Rogue Adventure offers a twist to usual mechanic: our hand is limited by 4 cards, but each time we use one of them, a new card is immediately drawn to its place, thus we never run out of cards to play. Non-starting cards are common for all classes, but are grouped by type (or race), giving huge synergies depending on how many similar cards we have. Aside from this, the game offers diverse gameplay by providing a lot of different classes, each with its own unique strategies and dynamics, and some interesting items to work around. The developers constantly provide updates with bug fixes and new content, but be warned that new mechanics may break what you are already accustomed for.
Royal Booty Quest started as a straight rip-off from StS with the same classes and abilities, and even cards having the same names. And absolutely atrocious pixelated visuals, which were not possible to look at without eyes bleeding out. Over time, though, it developed its own unique mechanics and interesting card combinations, but the art style did not get any better. However, if this is not a problem, the game is enjoyable to an extent, but since it was not updated for a long time, I doubt it will keeps anyone's interest for long. [...]
Tavern Rumble adds an unusual strategic element - a 3x3 grid, on each units and enemies are placed. The core gameplay remains the same (we still see what opponents are planning to do each turn and adjust our own strategy accordingly), but the addition of the grid introduces another tactical layer: not only we should maximize the damage output, but also plan the layout for our troops to provide the effective delivery of said output, while at the same time establish enough defense to minimize the damage to ourselves. There are a lot of cards and classes to play around, different play modes and a lot of features that are still being constantly added to the game. Some may argue about simplistic pixel graphics or long repetitive grinding, but it is easy to unlock everything within reasonable amount of time, even without paying. [...]

Other Games

Of course, my criteria does not work 100% of the time, as some games are way too different from anything else to confidently enroll them into one of the categories. They either demonstrate traits of both, or implement entirely unique mechanics of their own (which I like the most), while still maintaining the basic dungeon crawling ideas (so a lot of the games you might think of will not end up in the list). What I have in mind is the following:
Dungeon Reels removes the cards from card-based dungeon crawler - why bother, right? Instead, it provides some kind of a slot machine, where each turn three rows spin independently to pick available actions based on what slots we have in our reel. Winning battles awards us with new, better slots to add, each with their own specifics and synergies. Enemies also randomize their moves with slots of their own, but the most satisfying mechanic is the possibility to spin a jackpot with three identical slots for some powerful effect. It is interesting to see this concept developed further, but the game has not been updated for a long time.
Iris and the Giant takes us on journey through imaginary world, inspired by Ancient Greek mythology. Each battle takes place on a grid, where various enemies advance in huge numbers. We play a card from our hand, usually dealing damage to nearest enemy, and then everyone who is still standing and can reach us deals damage in return. There are cards that target multiple enemies at once, as well as ways to play more than one card during our turn, so most of the time we will be deciding which card to play at which moment. The deck has limited size, and if it becomes empty we lose, so new cards should be constantly acquired. There are a lot of interesting mechanics to discover, but the game is very hard and luck based, requiring a lot of trial-and-error to finally reach the end. [...]
Phantom Rose Scarlet has the same basic core, but with completely innovative battle system, not seen in any other game. On each turn there are four positions for cards to be played in strict order, where two of them are randomly filled with opponent's cards, and the remaining two are left for us to fill. Instead of drawing the hand, we have our entire deck available right away, but playing cards puts them on a cooldown, which does not reset between battles, so we constantly face the strategic choice of playing our best cards right away or keep them for later. The game is in active development, providing new mechanics and further developing the story, which is quite captivating here. [...]
Void Tyrant is a bit of a stretch, but still a "card based dungeon crawler", in which we basically play BlackJack against our enemies by dealing card with numbers from 1 to 6 one-by-one from our deck until we stand or bust. Whoever has the highest value wins and deals damage to the loser. There are various supporting cards on top of this mechanic, allowing us to either jinx the outcome in our favor, or to perform various other metagame manipulations. The only downside of the game is the lack of content, as it quickly runs out of interesting things, and since it was not updated for a long time, it is unlikely that anything new will be added in the future. [...]

Conclusion

As you see, there is a lot to play besides StS, so even if you are not hyped by its long-awaited Android release, but appreciate a good intellectual dungeon crawler, you will find something to suit your needs. I hope, even with StS release, new games of the genre will continue appearing on mobile phones, and I will gladly review them and add to the list. If you know any hidden gems (or even trash) that was not highlighted in this article, please share the names and/or links in the comments. I am also open to any discussions on the topic, as I am obviously able to talk a lot about my favorite genre.
Good luck to everyone in all your endeavors.
P.S. I am well aware of games like Dungeon Cards, Card Adventure, Dungeon Faster, Meteorfall: Krumitz Tale, Card Thief, Maze Machina, Cube Card, Card Hog, Fisherman, Relics of the Fallen and other "grid-based puzzles", but do not consider them to be a part of the "family".

Welcome back to my Rookie Mock series!
The college football season has concluded and draft season is officially upon us. As an NFL Draft fanatic, this is my favorite time of year, and we are going to be absolutely spoiled here in 2021 with one of the better draft classes in recent memory.
This will be a five-round 2021 rookie mock for a 12-team, superflex, PPR league. Individual player analysis is provided for the first two rounds. The final three rounds will have summaries that highlight a few of the players within the tier.
Keep in mind that seniors have the option of an extra year of eligibility available to them. The deadline for them to decide if they’re declaring or staying in school is March 1.
Let's get it.
Round 1:
Note that in parentheses, it is the player’s ranking within his position group, followed by how much that ranking has changed since the last mock. A link to my first mock will be provided at the bottom to compare how draft position has changed.
1.01 - Trevor Lawrence, QB, Clemson (QB1, --)
Lawrence is almost certainly going to a dysfunctional Jaguars franchise with a head coach I don’t believe in. While I have my doubts that he will live up to the borderline insane expectations fans and the media (myself included) have placed on him over the years, even approaching 90% of that image still easily makes him the top quarterback in this class.
1.02 - Zach Wilson, QB, BYU (QB2, +4)
My tune has changed toward Wilson greatly since the last mock. I finally got a chance to research a little more and catch up on his film. I like what I see. A lot. Wilson has a really high floor and is as close to bust-proof as a QB can be. Strong arm, accurate, generally makes good decisions. I have a great feeling about this kid becoming a top 12 dynasty QB in time.
1.03 - Trey Lance, QB, North Dakota State (QB3, +2)
Got your attention? Good. Lance is in possession of the highest fantasy upside of any QB in this class. He’s also the biggest wildcard. Incredibly talented, but incredibly raw, similar to Josh Allen and Patrick Mahomes. Based on talent, I want Lance over Fields. The beautiful thing is that you will not have to pay up 1.03 to get him. Realistically, you could wait until 1.06 or later.
1.04 - Justin Fields, QB, Ohio State (QB4, -2)
Fading Fields a little here in favor of Wilson and Lance. Fields is not ready. Point blank. Neither is Lance, to be fair. The fact he is still here at 1.04 is a testament to how talented he is. If he booms, Fields has Deshaun Watson-like upside. There’s also a solid chance he never lives up to expectations. Beware of organizations with a poor track record of developing QBs.
1.05 - Najee Harris, RB, Alabama (RB1, --)
As far as pure runners are concerned, I honestly prefer Travis Etienne and Javonte Williams. But it is what Harris brings in the passing game as well as on the goal line that separates him. If used correctly, Harris could be a 50 reception kind of running back who totals 1500 yards and 15 scores consistently. He also feels like the least landing spot-dependent RB in this class.
1.06 - Travis Etienne, RB, Clemson (RB2, --)
Etienne, to me, is at about the halfway mark between Ronald Jones and Chris Johnson. He’s a 1500 yard rusher in the right situation. The total yardage Etienne can put up might exceed Harris. The main separator between them concerning fantasy production will be touchdowns and PPR points. Both look the part of backs who will produce top 12 RB seasons though.
1.07 - DeVonta Smith, WR, Alabama (WR1, --)
Heisman Trophy. Biletnikoff Award. 1st Team All-American. Virtually every receiving record in Alabama history. Smith broke the SEC receiving records set by Ja’Marr Chase last year in fewer games. Despite his slender build, Smith will be the #1 receiver for whoever drafts him. The shades of Marvin Harrison are strong with this one.
1.08 - Ja’Marr Chase, WR, LSU (WR2, --)
Chase opted out of the 2020 season to prepare for the NFL Draft. Considering how LSU’s season panned out, that opt out actually helped Chase in the end. If this is your guy at WR1, you aren’t wrong. Neither he nor Smith is the wrong answer. They can both be good. That outcome is entirely possible, and it doesn’t get said enough in this conversation.
1.09 - Javonte Williams, RB, North Carolina (RB3, +1)
The cat is out of the bag on Williams now. A relative unknown at the beginning of the season, Williams has risen his stock to be mentioned among the top running backs in this class. If you want to land this angry-running, tackle breaking machine who will receive all the goalline work, you will be paying at least a late 1st. Worth it.
1.10 - Mac Jones, QB, Alabama (QB5, -2)
Jones is a better quarterback prospect than Tua Tagovailoa. This slight fade is less about anything he did and more about the “Konami Code” upside and overall potential of the QBs ahead of him. Jones is going to come into the NFL with a decently high floor and I like his chances to fetch 1st round draft capital this April. That should get him at least a two-year audition as a starter.
1.11 - Jaylen Waddle, WR, Alabama (WR3, --)
Remember when Henry Ruggs was the first receiver drafted in 2020 and people thought he was going to be good? Waddle is what people were hoping Ruggs would be. He’s a do-it-all receiving threat with legit 4.3 speed who can always get open vertically, as well as do some of the dirty work over the middle. After the catch, few are as dangerous. A steal at 1.11.
1.12 - Rondale Moore, WR, Purdue (WR4, +2)
You ever go so long without seeing a guy play that you forget how good he is? Moore is that guy for me. This dude is the prototype for what the modern NFL slot receiver should be. He can be that rare slot receiver who is also the team’s #1 target. This is one of those late 1st round picks that will easily outperform the invested draft capital.
Round 2:
2.01 - Kyle Pitts, TE, Florida (TE1, --)
If any tight end is worthy of this type of selection in a non-TE premium league, it’s Pitts. Tight ends tend to take a few years to really pop but Pitts is capable of making an impact immediately as a mismatch nightmare from day one. This will likely be the cheapest you’ll ever acquire him.
2.02 - Terrace Marshall Jr., WR, LSU (WR5, +2)
Priority 2nd round target. In almost any other class, Marshall is easily a top 3 receiver. He just happens to be in a class with a Heisman winner, that Heisman winner’s teammate some suggest is actually better, 2019’s Biletnikoff winner, and a dude who caught 114 passes as a freshman.
2.03 - Rashod Bateman, WR, Minnesota (WR6, -2)
Slight fade of Bateman, still a very good prospect. This is a receiver I have been on about for a while now. He is a really good athlete and has a well-rounded skill set. This will contribute to Bateman being a solid producer early on. He will develop into a team’s #1 receiver in time.
2.04 - Kenny Gainwell, RB, Memphis (RB4, -1)
Gainwell gives me Austin Ekeler vibes. He will see the majority of receiving work among running backs on his team, and his fair share of carries, but he will never be the three-down featured back. If Gainwell is 80% of Ekeler, you aren’t disappointed with this pick.
2.05 - Pat Freiermuth, TE, Penn State (TE2, --)
As great as Kyle Pitts is, the most well-rounded tight end prospect in this class is Freiermuth. The Penn State product is a good blocker and is also no slouch in the receiving game. They don't call him "Baby Gronk" for nothing. He looks every bit the part of a good 10 year starter.
2.06 - Kadarius Toney, WR, Florida (WR7, oversight)
Toney was a pretty egregious oversight in my last mock. This guy is at least a 2nd round talent, and I’ve been hearing some potential 1st round chatter. He’s quick and explosive and is a dangerous deep threat. I like the upside here a lot. Could be a steal at this draft position.
2.07 - Amon-Ra St. Brown, WR, USC (WR8, -3)
St. Brown feels like a strong PPR option from the slot with his crisp route running and great hands. He won’t be a consistent 1000 yard receiver, but looks the part of one who’ll regularly get you 800 yards on 70 receptions. Throw in 5-6 touchdowns, that’s a solid fantasy option.
2.08 - Kyle Trask, QB, Florida (QB6, -2)
Of the big name quarterbacks in this class, Trask is the least desirable as a dynasty asset. While I can still see a world where he is drafted at the tail end of the 1st round this coming April, and he can be a starter in the right system, his chances are the lowest. Alas, this is a superflex mock...
2.09 - Tylan Wallace, WR, Oklahoma State (WR9, +2)
Don’t sleep on Wallace. He came back after a torn ACL in 2019 only to ball out again in 2020. While he probably won’t ever emerge as a #1 receiver, I love his prospects as an eventual high-end #2 target who should produce at around a 700 yard level as a rookie.
2.10 - Michael Carter, RB, North Carolina (RB5, +2)
Much like Gainwell, Carter doesn’t profile as a three-down back in the NFL. But that’s not to say he won’t have fantasy value. This is an explosive runner with some decent receiving chops. He will likely be heavily involved in a committee and provide RB3 or flex production.
2.11 - Trey Sermon, RB, Ohio State (RB6, unranked)
It’s disappointing he got hurt against Alabama, but what Sermon did against Northwestern and Clemson in the games previously really shook things up for this class of running backs. He was JAG status before that Northwestern game, but definitely has people’s attention now.
2.12 - Chuba Hubbard, RB, Oklahoma State (RB7, +1)
Full disclosure, I’m not a big fan of Hubbard. Maybe I’m missing something, but he feels one-dimensional to me. He’s fast though, and will break off big runs. His college production can’t be ignored either. Might be great for bestball, but I’m not expecting a lot of consistency.
Round 3:
3.01 - Dyami Brown, WR, North Carolina (WR10, -1)
3.02 - Seth Williams, WR, Auburn (WR11, -1)
3.03 - Brevin Jordan, TE, Miami (TE3, --)
3.04 - Jermar Jefferson, RB, Oregon State (RB8, -2)
3.05 - Demetric Felton, RB, UCLA (RB9, unranked)
3.06 - James Patterson, RB, Buffalo (RB10, -5)
3.07 - Rhamondre Stevenson, RB, Oklahoma (RB11, unranked)
3.08 - CJ Verdell, RB, Oregon (RB12, -2)
3.09 - Elijah Moore, WR, Ole Miss (WR12, +5)
3.10 - Sage Surratt, WR, Wake Forest (WR13, --)
3.11 - Tamorrion Terry, WR, Florida State (WR14, -2)
3.12 - Khalil Herbert, RB, Virginia Tech (RB13, --)
Jordan is an interesting option in the 3rd. He’s a freaky athlete and is one of those receiver-like tight ends who can be moved all over the formation to create athletic mismatches. He will also receive day 2 draft capital. Felton gives me Antonio Gibson vibes, just 30 pounds lighter. Like Gibson, Felton is a converted receiver who had relatively few touches in college. Will lightning strike again? And finally, keep Moore in mind around this range. He’s going to be a solid slot receiver and outplay this 3rd round status.
Round 4:
4.01 - Zamir White, RB, Georgia (RB14, --)
4.02 - Elijah Mitchell, RB, Louisiana-Lafayette (RB15, +5)
4.03 - Kylin Hill, RB, Mississippi State (RB16, -7)
4.04 - Marlon Williams, WR, UCF (WR15, +6)
4.05 - Anthony Schwartz, WR, Auburn (WR16, unranked)
4.06 - Trevon Grimes, WR, Florida (WR17, unranked)
4.07 - Amari Rodgers, WR, Clemson (WR18, --)
4.08 - Malik Willis, QB, Liberty (QB7, +2)
4.09 - Javian Hawkins, RB, Louisville (RB17, -6)
4.10 - Rakeem Boyd, RB, Arkansas (RB18, -3)
4.11 - Dax Milne, WR, BYU (WR19, unranked)
4.12 - Hunter Long, TE, Boston College (TE4, +2)
Williams is built like a running back and is very strong after the catch. He looks like the kind of guy who can emerge as a starter and I’m targeting him in the 4th round everywhere in rookie drafts this offseason. Also keep an eye on Schwartz and Grimes, a couple of talented SEC receivers who were overshadowed by bigger-name prospects. White might be the most recognizable running back in this group, but Mitchell might be the one most likely to become a starter. Smaller school, lesser known guy. He’ll fly under the radar, just keep that name stashed away in your mind.
Round 5:
5.01 - Tutu Atwell, WR, Lousiville (WR20, -5)
5.02 - Jamie Newman, QB, Georgia (QB8, --)
5.03 - Matt Bushman, TE, BYU (TE5, unranked)
5.04 - Kenny Yeboah, TE, Ole Miss (TE6, -2)
5.05 - Kellen Mond, QB, Texas A&M (QB9, unranked)
5.06 - Dazz Newsome, WR, North Carolina (WR21, -5)
5.07 - Jonathan Adams, WR, Arkansas State (WR22, unranked)
5.08 - Nico Collins, WR, Michigan (WR23, -3)
5.09 - Spencer Brown, RB, UAB (RB19, unranked)
5.10 - Chris Evans, RB, Michigan (RB20, unranked)
5.11 - Racey McMath, WR, LSU (WR24, unranked)
5.12 - Shi Smith, WR, South Carolina (WR25, unranked)
Atwell is a notable faller for me. I acknowledge that he is getting some 1st round draft buzz, and while he's a fun player to watch, I just don't see it. He strikes me as a KJ Hamler type, but smaller. He will be better for an NFL team than a dynasty squad. Unless Newman gets 1st or 2nd round draft capital, this is where to expect to draft him. Adams is another name to keep an eye on, too. At 6-3, 220, he has that prototypical “X” receiver build, and he really stands out on film, even if he is just beating up on lower level competition. It’s hard to tell where to rank him but he could be a sneaky late-round jackpot.
As there are only 60 slots, a number of guys had to be omitted. If I missed anyone glaring, let me know.
Edit (1/24/21, 3:08 pm): A commenter pointed out that Zamir White went back to school. I should have checked a couple extra sources. Everyone just shifts up one spot and 5.12 becomes Kylen Granson, TE, SMU.
Edit (1/24/21, 6:47 pm): It turns out CJ Verdell has also returned to school. This one was much more recent (2 days ago) and fell under my radar. Again, everyone shifts up one spot and the new 5.12 is Jaelon Darden, WR, North Texas.
You can find me on Twitter @thedevydirtbag and here on Reddit u/thedevydirtbag.
Another mock will be on its way closer to the draft. The plan is for that one to be in the form of a YouTube video. If you want to compare this mock to the one from early December, you can find that here: https://www.reddit.com/DynastyFF/comments/k97ltz/2021_rookie_mock_draft/
Thanks for reading!

1 - Jacksonville Jaguars - Trevor Lawrence, QB, Clemson - At this point, the only way Lawrence wont go first is if the Jags somehow write the wrong name on the card.
2 - New York Jets - Justin Fields, QB, OSU - Zach Wilson vs Justin Field has become a hotter debate in recent times, with mocks seems to split 50/50 on which of the 2 will go before the other. This one will likely end up coming down to preference, but personally I prefer Field’s upside and athleticism. Still, it’ll probably end up being a close call overall.
3 - Carolina Panthers (via MIA via HOU - sends 1.08, 3.73, 2022 CAR 1st, 2022 CAR 2nd, for 1.03) - Zach Wilson, QB, BYU - This seems like a lot at first glance, but I’d bet on the Panthers being much improved next year with the return of a healthy McCaffery and Joe Brady/Matt Rhule having another year to establish their system. What that means is that if the Panthers can improve at QB, they could be a legitimate playoff contender. Teddy Bridgewater is not the answer, and IMO when you have someone as good as CMC, you need to give him a good QB. The Panthers don't want to end up like the Vikings, sticking a bunch of mediocre at best QBs next to their stud RB.
4 - Atlanta Falcons - Trey Lance, QB, NDSU - I know there’s a large portion of Falcons fans who really want to go anywhere but QB here, but how much longer can Matt Ryan play at a high level? With the 2022 QB class still full of question marks, grabbing your guy of the future right now would be a prudent move. Its instant gratification vs long term strategy. And with the success of raw QBs at the next level under proper development, Trey Lance looks like a solid bet. He’s got a great arm, and plays smart enough to only have a single interception in his college career. There’s a serious ceiling here, and he could absolutely benefit from learning from Matt Ryan for a year. Arthur Smith completely revitalized Tannehill as well, so maybe he could turn Lance into a stud.
5 - Cincinnati Bengals - Penei Sewell, OT, Oregon - Seems like it ends up working out for the Bengals, who really need to protect Joe Burrow. There’s been whispers that teams have Rashawn Slater over Sewell currently, but I partially chalk that up to prospect fatigue. IMO Sewell’s the best OT in the class, and although he’s got areas he can improve, his body of work is utterly dominant currently. If he can polish up his technique and stay healthy, he’ll be a godsend to the Bengals OL.
6 - Eagles - Ja’Marr Chase, WR, LSU - DeVonta Smith has been crazy this year, but it seems like people have forgotten Ja’Marr Chase was just as dominant last year too. Honestly, the Eagles really can't go wrong here with either WR, but IMO Chase is more of a sure thing to be dominant in the NFL, as minute of a difference as that is.
7 - Detroit Lions - DeVonta Smith, WR, Alabama - After that insane performance against Ohio State, I don't think the Lions can pass up on Smith here, even as bad as their defense is. With their entire WR corps being possible FAs, they need to find replacements ASAP, especially if they cannot find a way to agree to a deal with Kenny Golladay. As for Smith well, he’s a beast. Plain and simple. Y’all saw what he did to Ohio State in just one half.
8 - Houston Texans (Via MIA via DET - Sends Deshaun Watson, 2022 HOU 3rd for 1.08, 2.50, 2022 MIA first, 2023 MIA first, Tua Tagovailoa, salary fillers) - Kwity Paye, EDGE, Michigan - The Dolphins send away Tua + a ton of picks for a shiny new franchise QB, and the Texans begin their rebuild. First up is addressing the defensive line. JJ Watt is very likely gone, Whitney Mercilus is done, and Jonathan Greenard has disappointed. They need someone who can make a serious impact, now. Kwity Paye has been one of the most dominant players in college football, with an insane pressure rate, and is a supposed athletic freak who runs a sub 6.8 3 cone at 6’4’’, 272, with some claiming it being as low as 6.37. No matter what the time ends up being, it's utterly insane for someone of his size, and he could likely play the same role that Watt does for the Texans.
9 - Denver Broncos - Micah Parsons, LB, Penn State - The Broncos do really need CB, but there’s a pretty big hole in the middle of the defense next to Alexander Johnson. Josey Jewell isnt a 3 down LB, and it's really hard to pass up on Parsons here, an elite LB who can be the tonesetter of the Broncos defense from day one. Pairing up Parsons and Johnson should give Denver two monsters in the middle of the defense.
10 - Dallas Cowboys - Caleb Farley, CB, Virginia Tech - Now that Dan Quinn’s the new DC, meaning that they’ll be running a ton of Cover 3. And with how much Quinn loves his physical/athletic CBs who can play both man and zone, Caleb Farley is the natural pick here IMO. He’s sticky as glue, with fluid hips and a size profile that NFL teams dream of, perfect for pattern-match that should be used a lot in Dallas next season. His zone coverage does need a little work, but the Cowboys will likely be doing mostly spot-drop zone, which is pretty simple to pick up, and outside of injury concerns, Farley should be a huge help for the Dallas defense.
11 - New York Giants - Jaycee Horn, CB, South Carolina - The Giants love their press man coverage, but were forced to run zone a lot last year due to how bad their cornerbacks were outside of James Bradberry. Jaycee Horn fits their preferred scheme, and also shores up that huge hole at CB2 that they have. No CB in the class is as good as disrupting WRs at the LOS as Horn is, and he’ll be a great addition to what was a surprisingly good defense last year.
12 - San Francisco 49ers - Patrick Surtain, CB, Alabama - The 49ers have 0 CBs under contract next year. They need building blocks now, especially with Robert Saleh now gone. Patrick Surtain fits into their zone heavy system perfectly. He’s got elite ball skills, is consistently disruptive, and can stick to WRs like glue. He’d be the perfect guy to replace Richard Sherman if the 49ers cant bring him back, and should be able to slot in at CB1 or CB2 immediately.
13 - LA Chargers - Rashawn Slater, OL, Northwestern - Slater’s a guy who's been getting a ton of hype in recent times, with some even putting him above Sewell. How much of that is real and how much of it is smoke? Hard to say at this point, but I do know that he’ll be an upgrade no matter where he slots in for the Chargers. Protecting Herbert should be there #1 priority right now, especially for the terrible LA OL. Slater should be a fantastic player for the Chargers from day 1.
14 - Miami Dolphins (Via Minnesota Vikings - sends 1.18, 3.82 for 1.14) - Jaylen Waddle, WR, Alabama - Miami goes ALL in here. With Watson now on the roster, their window is now, and they treat it with urgency, giving up some more draft capital to grab the last of the 3 main stud WRs in the class. Jaylen Waddle fits what Miami needs right now, a speed demon joystick who would be what Will Fuller was for Watson in Houston, a connection that was lethal even with Fuller being injured constantly. Watson to Waddle should be one of the deadliest partnerships in the league, turning the Miami offense into a high powered scoring machine.
15 - New England Patriots - Mac Jones, QB, Alabama - Mac Jones is a guy who’s worked his way from fringe QB prospect all the way up to R1 guy. I'm not sure if the NFL likes him as much as most people in the draft community do, but he’s a smart QB who was instrumental in leading the Crimson Tide to a National Championship. I’d say he grades out pretty well at all the important areas of being a QB, like his arm, going through progressions, that kind of thing. This only big flaw IMO is his ability to extend plays, but the Patriots have the OL to shore up that weakness. The main question here is how will Mac Jones play without any solid WRs? The Patriots receiving corps is barren, so that will be something that must be addressed soon.
16 - Arizona Cardinals - Wyatt Davis, OG, Ohio State - The Cardinals offensive line seems to consistently lose at the LOS, something that was a huge part in them not making the playoffs. With that in mind and all of the top 3 CBs long gone, they grab the mauling OG out of Ohio State, an absolute mauler who can hit hard to create space in the run game. He’s a great fit for the Cardinals run game, and should give them some of the nasty they’ve been lacking.
17 - Las Vegas Raiders - Jeremiah Owusu-Koromoah, LB, Notre Dame - It's hard to say what the Raiders will go with, as Mayock has not been on the job that long, but this is a pick that I agree with Daniel Jeremiah on. The Raiders lack that dynamic linebacker who can move around and cover everything, and JOK should be able to line up all over. He’s perfect for an NFL that seems to value positionless players more, and especially for a Raiders defense that’s going to be stuck against Travis Kelce for the near future.
18 - Minnesota Vikings - Gregory Rousseau, DE/DT, Miami - When your sack leader is a guy you traded away half way through the season, there's a problem. That Vikings defense was inexcusably bad this year, even with the loss of Danielle Hunter, and basically cost their offense a shot at the playoffs. They need to add some juice to the pass rush ASAP. Gregory Rousseau would be perfect, a raw and crazy athletic player who can line up all over the defensive line to wreak havoc. Considering Minnesota turned one athletic freak into a stud, they should have confidence that they can make Rousseau great too, and he’d be a wonderful addition, especially considering the fact that the Vikings have moved around their edge rushers to exploit mismatches, most notably against the Saints.
19 - Washington Football Team - Christian Darrisaw, OT, Virginia Tech - There doesn't seem to be a solid answer at QB available here for Washington, so they look to bolster up their trenches in order to replace the departed Trent Williams. Darrisaw has the size and length to be a fantastic NFL tackle, along with an extremely strong anchor and some great agility for his size. His technique needs to be cleaned up a little, but he could easily lock down the LT spot for Washington in the future.
20 - Chicago Bears - Rashod Bateman, WR, Minnesota - Allen Robinson is gone, leaving a huge hole at WR1 for Chicago. Seeing as there’s not really a great way to fix Chicago’s QB situation, they instead look to try and make the most of their closing window. Rashod Bateman should come in and be the WR1 for Chicago, a great route runner with sure hands who can snag a ball and some more yards after the catch. Hopefully Trubisky builds a much better connection with him than he did with Arob.
21 - Detroit Lions (Via IND - sends Matthew Stafford for 1.22, salary filler) - Zaven Collins, LB, Tulsa - The Lions defense really needs help at LB. Jarrad Davis is probably starting again, but Tavai really shouldnt be. Zaven Collins can step in and be the best LB in the Lions from day 1, an absolute freak athlete who can cover, can stop the run, and even has a pass rushing upside. He’s the perfect chess piece for the new Lions defense to build around, and should be an immediate impact player from day 1.
22 - Tennessee Titans - Daviyon Nixon, DT, Iowa - The Titans need pass rush in every capacity, and that includes from the defensive line. Jeffery Simmons is a monster, but he doesn't get much help. He’d pair up great with Daviyon Nixon, a freak athlete out of the B1G who excels most when he gets to pin his ears back and just attack the QB. His ability to cause issues down the middle should help alleviate the Titans pass rush issues somewhat.
23 - New York Jets (Via SEA) - Kyle Pitts, TE/WR, Florida - The Jets just need to add weapons to their team at this point. Their WR corps has little promise outside of maybe Mims, and their TE corps is equally barren. Pitts addresses both of those issues at once. Able to play all over the lineup, Pitts can work as both a huge WR and a TE, able to consistently beat coverages and get catches against defenses. He’ll be a great weapon for Fields to utilize, a truly dynamic threat who could be one of the best receivers on the Jets from day 1.
24 - Pittsburgh Steelers - Liam Eichenburg, OT, Notre Dame - A lot of the Steeler’s tackle depth, most notably starting LT Alejandro Villenueva, will be lost to FA, and Pittsburgh needs to address that ASAP. Liam Eichenburg isnt the most athletic OT with a crazy high ceiling, but he’s a solid technician who should be able to start from day 1, perfect for a contending team like the steelers.
25 - Jacksonville Jaguars (via LAR) - Samuel Cosmi, OT, Texas - The Jaguars need to protect their investment, especially with Cam Robinson a question mark to be back due to his poor play. Protecting a young QB should be the #1 priority after landing one, and Cosmi is a tantalizing prospect to add. He’s got plenty of athleticism and a frame that’s waiting to be filled out, a solid pass blocker who can deal with speed rushers really well. He’s a high ceiling prospect who could become a great LT and lock down Tlaw’s blind side for the future.
26 - Cleveland Browns - Jaelen Phillips, EDGE, Miami - Sometimes it just feels like the Browns defensive line is just Myles Garrett. That can't stand. The Browns need to give Garrett some help in the pass rush, and that's why they pick Jaelen Phillips. There’s a lot of injury concerns here, but if Phillips can stay healthy, he’s an absolute MONSTER in the pass rush, having notched 8 sacks in just 5 games this year. If he can stay on the field, he and Garrett should give opposing offensive lines some serious headaches.
27 - Baltimore Ravens - Alijah Vera-Tucker, iOL, USC - The Ravens need to bolster their offensive line more. After the loss of Marshall Yanda, the Ravens offensive line has taken a notable step back, and Ronnie Stanley’s injury certainly didn't help there. AVT’s easily BPA at this point, an interior beast who is a stone wall with excellent hand usage. He should be able to make the Ravens offensive line even better, and boost their already lethal run game to higher levels.
28 - New Orleans Saints - Kyle Trask, QB, Florida - Im sorry, I don't think Taysom Hill is an NFL level QB. Especially not for a title contender. Drew Brees is retired, and I doubt Winston will be back. That means QB is the most glaring hole in NO. Kyle Trask might never be Patrick Mahomes, but he’s a good solid player who can make accurate passes, adjusts to pressure well, and is willing to extend plays. With the Saints filled with weapons and talent, Trask should be a good enough game manager to help the Saints be contenders for the rest of their window.
29 - Green Bay Packers - Levi Onwuzurike, DT, Washington - Kenny Clark and Keke Kingsley are building blocks along the defensive line, but the Packers could afford to add some depth. Onwuzurike has been mocked in the first by DJ, and he tends to have his ear to most NFL team’s pulse. Onwuzuriki’s calling card is his length and athleticism, which combined with his explosiveness and motor results in him just running over people at times. He does need to improve his power and add more consistently, but the addition of Onwuzurike could make the Packers defensive line a force as good as the Steelers DL.
30 - Buffalo Bills - Travis Etienne, RB, Clemson - The Bills just need playmakers especially in the run game, and Etienne is one of the best pure playmakers in the class. He’s an explosive threat who must be addressed at all times, or else he could break free and gash the defensive for serious yardage. His acceleration and contact balance make him a problem to tackle, and with supposed 4.3 speed, defenders won't be able to catch him once he gets into open space. He’s no slouch in the pass game either, putting up solid production at Clemson and flashing the ability to run a few option routes. The Bills already have their Jim Kelly and Andre Reed in Josh Allen and Stefon Diggs. Time to add the Thurman Thomas of the trio, and turn Buffalo into an offense that can toe to toe with the Chiefs.
31 - Tampa Bay Buccaneers - Jalen Mayfield, OT, Michigan - Donovan Smith is very likely gone this year, meaning that Tampa would have a hole at one of the tackle spots opposite of Wirfs. No matter if they move Wirfs to LT or keep him at RT, Mayfield would be a great get opposite of him. Mayfield’s a dependable run blocker who has good feet, and although he's not finished just yet, if Tampa can utilize his athletic gifts to the fullest, he’d be a great compliment to their current franchise OT.
32 - Kansas City Chiefs - Joe Tryon, EDGE, Washington - Joe Tryon’s another player who is apparently well regarded according to DJ. He’s shown flashes of being a great pass rusher, but he’s really still a WIP in most areas, especially as a run defender. However, he does fit the mold of what the Chiefs want in their pass rushers, standing at 6’5 262. Kansas City does need the help on the EDGE, and they can afford to take a gamble here, considering the Mahomes led offense should be able to easily cover up any defensive deficiencies for the next few years.

In the late 1980s and early 1990s when I was a young teen growing up in far North Austin, it was a popular custom for many boys in the neighborhood to assemble at the local Stop-N-Go after school on a regular basis for some Grand Champion level tournaments in Street Fighter 2 and Mortal Kombat. The collective insistence of our mothers and fathers to get out of the house, get some exercise, and refrain from playing NES or Sega on the television only led us to seek out more video games at the convenience store down the road. Much allowance and lunch money was spent as well as hours that should have been devoted to homework among the 8 or 9 regular boys in attendance, often challenging each other to 'Best of 5' matches. I myself played Dhalsim and SubZero, and not very well, so I rarely ever made it to the 5th match. The store workers frequently kicked us out for the day only to have us return when they weren't working the counter anymore if not the next day.
There is something about that which has been lost in the present day. While people can today download the latest games on Steam or PSN or in the app store on your smartphone, you can't just find arcade games in stores and restaurants like you used to be able to. And so the fun of a spontaneous 8 or 10 person multiplayer video game tournament has been confined to places like bars, pool halls, Pinballz or Dave&Busters.
But in truth it was that ubiquity of arcade video games, how you could find them in any old 7-11 or Laundromat, which is what killed the original arcades of the early 1980s before the Great Crash of 1983 when home video game consoles started to catch up to what you saw in the arcade.
I was born in the mid 1970s so I missed out on Pong. I was kindergarten age when the Golden Age of Arcade Games took place in the early 1980s. There used to be a place called Skateworld on Anderson Mill Road that was primarily for roller skating but had a respectable arcade in its own right. It was there that I honed my skills on the original Tron, Pac Man, Galaga, Pole Position, Defender, and so many others. In the 1980s I remember visiting all the same mall arcades as others in my age group. There was Aladdin's Castle in Barton Creek Mall, The Gold Mine in Highland, and another Gold Mine in Northcross which was eventually renamed Tilt. Westgate Mall also had an arcade but being a north austin kid I never went there until later in the mid 1990s. There were also places like Malibu Grand Prix and Showbiz Pizza and Chuck-E-Cheeze, all of which had fairly large arcades for kids which were the secondary attraction.
If you're of a certain age you will remember Einsteins and LeFun on the Drag. They were there for a few decades going back way before the Slacker era. Lesser known is that the UT Student Union basement used to have an arcade that was comparable to either or both of those places. Back in the pre-9/11 days it was much easier to sneak in if you even vaguely looked like you could be a UT student.
But there was another place I was too young to have experienced called Smitty's up further north on 183 at Lake Creek in the early 1980s. I never got to go there but I always heard about it from older kids at the time. It was supposed to have been two stories of wall to wall games with a small snack bar. I guess at the time it served a mostly older teen crowd from Westwood High School and for that reason younger kids my age weren't having birthday parties there. It wasn't around very long, just a few years during the Golden Age of Arcades.
It is with almost-forgotten early arcades like that in mind that I wanted to share with y'all some examples of places from The Golden Age of the Video Arcade in Austin using some old Statesman articles I've found. Maybe someone of a certain age on here will remember them. I was curious what they were like, having missed out by being slightly too young to have experienced most of them first hand. I also wanted to see the original reaction to them in the press. I had a feeling there was some pushback from school/parent/civic groups on these facilities showing up in neighborhood strip malls or next to schools, and I was right to suspect. But I'm getting ahead of myself. First let's list off some places of interest. Be sure to speak up if you remember going to any of these, even if it was just for some other kid's birthday party. Unfortunately some of the only mentions about a place are reports of a crime being committed there, such as our first few examples.
Forgotten Arcade #1
Fun House/Play Time Arcade - 2820 Guadalupe
June 15, 1975

ARCADE ENTHUSIASM
A gang fight involving 20 30 people erupted early Saturday morning in front of an arcade on Guadalupe Street. The owner of the Fun House Arcade at 282J Guadalupe told police pool cues, lug wrenches, fists and a shotgun were displayed during the flurry. Police are unsure what started the fisticuffs, but one witness at the scene said it pitted Chicanos against Anglos. During the fight the owner of the arcade said a green car stopped at the side of the arcade and witnesses reported the barrel of a shotgun sticking out. The crowd wisely scattered and only a 23-year-old man was left lying on the ground. He told police he doesn't know what happened.

March 3, 1976

ARCADE ROBBED
A former employee of Play Time Arcade, 2820 Guadalupe, was charged Tuesday in connection with the Tuesday afternoon robbery of his former business. Police have issued a warrant for the arrest of Ronnie Magee, 22, of 1009 Aggie Lane, Apt. 306. Arcade attendant Sam Garner said he had played pool with the suspect an hour before the robbery. He told police the man had been fired from the business two weeks earlier. Police said a man walked in the arcade about 2:45 p m. with a blue steel pistol and took $180. Magee is charged with first degree aggravated robbery. Bond was set on the charge at $15,000.

First it was called Fun House and then renamed Play Time a year later. I'm not sure what kind of arcade games beyond Pong and maybe Asteroids they could have had at this place. The peak of the Pinball craze was supposed to be around 1979, so they might have had a few pinball machines as well. A quick search of youtube will show you a few examples of 1976 video games like Death Race. The location is next to Ken's Donuts where PokeBowl is today where the old Baskin Robbins location was for many years.
Forgotten Arcade #2
Green Goth - 1121 Springdale Road
May 15, 1984

A 23-year-old man pleaded guilty Monday to a January 1983 murder in East Austin and was sentenced to 15 years in prison. Jim Crowell Jr. of Austin admitted shooting 17-year-old Anthony Rodriguez in the chest with a shotgun after the two argued outside the Green Goth, a games arcade at 1121 Springdale Road, on Jan. 23, 1983. Crowell had argued with Rodriguez and a friend of Rodriguez at the arcade, police said. Crowell then went to his house, got a shotgun and returned to the arcade, witnesses said. When the two friends left the arcade, Rodriguez was shot Several weeks ago Crowell had reached a plea bargain with prosecutors for an eight-year prison term, but District Judge Bob Perkins would not accept the sentence, saying it was shorter than sentences in similar cases. After further plea bargaining, Crowell accepted the 15-year prison sentence.

I can't find anything else on Green Goth except reports about this incident with a murder there. There is at least one other report from 1983 around the time of Crowell's arrest that also refer to it as an arcade but reports the manager said the argument started over a game of pool. It's possible this place might have been more known for pool.
Forgotten Arcades #3 & #4
Games, Etc. - 1302 S. First St
Muther's Arcade - 2532 Guadalupe St
August 23, 1983

Losing the magic touch - Video Arcades have trouble winning the money game
It was going to be so easy for Lawrence Villegas, a video game junkie who thought he could make a fast buck by opening up an arcade where kids could plunk down an endless supply of quarters to play Pac-Man, Space Invaders and Asteroids. Villegas got together with a few friends, purchased about 30 video games and opened Games, Etc. at 1302 S. First St in 1980. .,--.... For a while, things, went great Kids waited in line to spend their money to drive race cars, slay dragons and save the universe.
AT THE BEGINNING of 1982, however, the bottom fell out, and Villegas' revenues fell from $400 a week to $25. Today, Games, Etc. is vacant Villegas, 30, who is now working for his parents at Tony's Tortilla Factory, hasn't decided what he'll do with the building. "I was hooked on Asteroids, and I opened the business to get other people hooked, too," Villegas said. "But people started getting bored, and it wasn't worth keeping the place open. In the end, I sold some machines for so little it made me sick."
VILLEGAS ISNT the only video game operator to experience hard times, video game manufacturers and distributors 'It used to be fairly common to get $300 a week from a machine. Now we rarely get more than $100 .
Pac-Man's a lost cause. Six months ago, you could resell a Pac-Man machine for $1,600. Now, you're lucky to get $950 if you can find a buyer." Ronnie Roark says. In the past year, business has dropped 25 percent to 65 percent throughout the country, they say. Most predict business will get even worse before the market stabilizes. Video game manufacturers and operators say there are several reasons for the sharp and rapid decline: Many video games can now be played at home on television, so there's no reason to go to an arcade. The novelty of video games has worn off. It has been more than a decade since the first ones hit the market The decline can be traced directly to oversaturation or the market arcade owners say. The number of games in Austin has quadrupled since 1981, and it's not uncommon to see them in coin-operated laundries, convenience stores and restaurants.
WITH SO MANY games to choose from, local operators say, Austinites be came bored. Arcades still take in thousands of dollars each week, but managers and owners say most of the money is going to a select group of newer games, while dozens of others sit idle.
"After awhile, they all seem the same," said Dan Moyed, 22, as he relaxed at Muther's Arcade at 2532 Guadalupe St "You get to know what the game is going to do before it does. You can play without even thinking about it" Arcade owners say that that, in a nutshell, is why the market is stagnating.
IN THE PAST 18 months, Ronnie Roark, owner of the Back Room at 2015 E. Riverside Drive, said his video business has dropped 65 to 75 percent Roark, . who supplied about 160 video games to several Austin bars and arcades, said the instant success of the games is what led to their demise. "The technology is not keeping up with people's demand for change," said Roark, who bought his first video game in 1972. "The average game is popular for two or three months. We're sending back games that are less than five months old."
Roark said the market began dropping in March 1982 and has been declining steadily ever since. "The drop started before University of Texas students left for the summer in 1982," Roark said. "We expected a 25 percent drop in business, and we got that, and more. It's never really picked up since then. - "It used to be fairly common to get $300 a week from a machine. Now we rarely get more than $100. 1 was shocked when I looked over my books and saw how much things had dropped."
TO COMBAT THE slump, Roark said, he and some arcade owners last year cut the price of playing. Even that didn't help, he said. Old favorites, such as Pac-Man, which once took in hundreds of dollars each week, he said, now make less than $3 each. "Pac-Man's a lost cause," he said. "Six months ago, you could resell a Pac-Man machine for $1,600. Now, you're lucky to get $950 if you can find a buyer." Hardest hit by the slump are the owners of the machines, who pay $3,500 to $5,000 for new products and split the proceeds with the businesses that house them.
SALEM JOSEPH, owner of Austin Amusement and Vending Co., said his business is off 40 percent in the past year. Worse yet, some of his customers began returning their machines, and he's having a hard time putting them back in service. "Two years ago, a machine would generate enough money to pay for itself in six months,' said Joseph, who supplies about 250 games to arcades. "Now that same machine takes 18 months to pay for itself." As a result, Joseph said, he'll buy fewer than 15 new machines this year, down from the 30 to 50 he used to buy. And about 50 machines are sitting idle in his warehouse.
"I get calls every day from people who want to sell me their machines," Joseph said. "But I can't buy them. The manufacturers won't buy them from me." ARCADE OWNERS and game manufacturers hope the advent of laser disc video games will buoy the market Don Osborne, vice president of marketing for Atari, one of the largest manufacturers of video games, said he expects laser disc games to bring a 25 percent increase in revenues next year. The new games are programmed to give players choices that may affect the outcome of the game, Os borne said. "Like the record and movie industries, the video game industry is dependent on products that stimulate the imagination," Osborne said "One of the reasons we're in a valley is that we weren't coming up with those kinds of products."
THE FIRST of the laser dis games, Dragonslayer and Star Wan hit the market about two months ago. Noel Kerns, assistant manager of The Gold Mine Arcade in Northcross Mall, says the new games are responsible for a $l,000-a-week increase in revenues. Still, Kerns said, the Gold Mine' total sales are down 20 percent iron last summer. However, he remain optimistic about the future of the video game industry. "Where else can you come out of the rain and drive a Formula One race car or save the universe?" hi asked.
Others aren't so optimistic. Roark predicted the slump will force half of all operators out of business and will last two more years. "Right now, we've got a great sup ply and almost no demand," Roark said. "That's going to have to change before things get- significantly better."

Well there is a lot to take from that long article, among other things, that the author confused "Dragonslayer" with "Dragon's Lair". I lol'd.
Anyone who has been to Emo's East, formerly known as The Back Room, knows they have arcade games and pool, but it's mostly closed when there isn't a show. That shouldn't count as an arcade, even though the former owner Ronnie Roark was apparently one of the top suppliers of cabinet games to the area during the Golden Era. Any pool hall probably had a few arcade games at the time, too, but that's not the same as being an arcade.
We also learn from the same article of two forgotten arcades: Muthers at 2522 Guadalupe where today there is a Mediterranean food restaurant, and another called Games, Etc. at 1302 S.First that today is the site of an El Mercado restaurant. But the article is mostly about showing us how bad the effects were from the crash at the end of the Golden Era. It was very hard for the early arcades to survive with increasing competition from home game consoles and personal computers, and the proliferation of the games into stores and restaurants.
Forgotten Arcades #5 #6 & #7
Computer Madness - 2414 S. Lamar Blvd.
Electronic Encounters - 1701 W Ben White Blvd (Southwood Mall)
The Outer Limits Amusements Center - 1409 W. Oltorf
March 4, 1982

'Quartermania' stalks South Austin
School officials, parents worried about effects of video games
A fear Is haunting the video game business. "We call it 'quartermania.' That's fear of running out of quarters," said Steve Stackable, co-owner of Computer Madness, a video game and foosball arcade at 2414 S. Lamar Blvd. The "quartermania" fear extends to South Austin households and schools, as well. There it's a fear of students running out of lunch money and classes to play the games. Local school officials and Austin police are monitoring the craze. They're concerned that computer hotspots could become undesirable "hangouts" for students, or that truancy could increase because students (high-school age and younger) will skip school to defend their galaxies against The Tempest.
So far police fears have not been substantiated. Department spokesmen say that although more than half the burglaries in the city are committed by juveniles during the daytime, they know of no connection between the break-ins and kids trying to feed their video habit But school and parental worries about misspent time and money continue. The public outcry in September 1980 against proposals to put electronic game arcades near two South Austin schools helped persuade city officials to reject the applications. One proposed location was near Barton Hills Elementary School. The other was South Ridge Plaza at William Cannon Drive and South First Street across from Bedlchek Junior High School.
Bedichek principal B.G. Henry said he spoke against the arcade because "of the potential attraction it had for our kids. I personally feel kids are so drawn to these things, that It might encourage them to leave the school building and play hookey. Those things have so much compulsion, kids are drawn to them like a magnet Kids can get addicted to them and throw away money, maybe their lunch money. I'm not against the video games. They may be beneficial with eye-hand coordination or even with mathematics, but when you mix the video games during school hours and near school buildings, you might be asking for problems you don't need."
A contingent from nearby Pleasant Hill Elementary School joined Bedichek in the fight back in 1980, although principal Kay Beyer said she received her first formal call about the games last Week from a mother complaining that her child was spending lunch money on them. Beyer added that no truancy problems have been related to video game-playing at a nearby 7-11 store. Allen Poehl, amusement game coordinator for Austin's 7-11 stores, said company policy rules out any game-playing by school-age youth during school hours. Fulmore Junior High principal Bill Armentrout said he is working closely with operators of a nearby 7-1 1 store to make sure their policy is enforced.
The convenience store itself, and not necessarily the video games, is a drawing card for older students and drop-outs, Armentrout said. Porter Junior High principal Marjorie Ball said that while video games aren't a big cause of truancy, "the money (spent on the games) is a big factor." Ball said she has made arrangements with nearby businesses to call the school it students are playing the games during school hours. "My concern is that kids are basically unsupervised, especially at the 24-hour grocery stores. That's a late hour for kids to be out. I would like to see them (games) unplugged at 10 p.m.," adds Joslin Elementary principal Wayne Rider.
Several proprietors of video game hot-spots say they sympathize with the concerns of parents and school officials. No one under 18 is admitted without a parent to Chuck E. Cheese's Pizza Time Theatre at 4211 S. Lamar. That rule, says night manager David Dunagan, "keeps it from being a high school hangout. This is a family place." Jerry Zollar, owner of J.J. Subs in West Wood Shopping Center on Bee Cave Road, rewards the A's on the report cards of Eanes school district students with free video games. "It's kind of a community thing we do in a different way. I've heard from both teachers and parents . . . they thought this was a good idea," said Zollar.
Electronic Encounters in Southwood Mall last year was renovated into a brightly lit arcade. "We're trying to get away from the dark, barroom-type place. We want this to be a place for family entertainment We won't let kids stay here during school hours without a written note from their parents, and we're pretty strict about that," said manager Kelly Roberts. Joyce Houston, who manages The Outer Limits amusements center at 1409 W. Oltorf St. along with her husband, said, "I wouldn't let my children go into some of the arcades I've visited. I'm a concerned parent, too. We wanted a place where the whole family could come and enjoy themselves."

Well you can see which way the tone of all these articles is going. There were some crimes committed at some arcades but all of them tended to have a negative reputation for various reasons. Parents and teachers were very skeptical of the arcades being in the neighborhoods to the point of petitioning the City Government to restrict them. Three arcades are mentioned besides Chuck-E-Cheese. Electronic Encounters in Southwood Mall, The Outer Limits amusements center at 1409 W. Oltorf, and Computer Madness, a "video game and foosball arcade" at 2414 S. Lamar Blvd.
Forgotten Arcade #8
Smitty's Galaxy of Games - Lake Creek Parkway
February 25, 1982

Arcades fighting negative image
Video games have swept across America, and Williamson and Travis counties have not been immune. In a two-part series, Neighbor examines the effects the coin-operated machines have had on suburban and small-town life.
Cities have outlawed them, religious leaders have denounced them and distraught mothers have lost countless children to their voracious appetites. And still they march on, stronger and more numerous than before. A new disease? Maybe. A wave of invading aliens from outer space? On occasion. A new type of addiction? Certainly. The culprit? Video games. Although the electronic game explosion has been mushrooming throughout the nation's urban areas for the past few years, its rippling effects have just recently been felt in the suburban fringes of North Austin and Williamson County.
In the past year, at least seven arcades armed with dozens of neon quarter-snatchers have sprung up to lure teens with thundering noises and thousands of flashing seek-and-destroy commands. Critics say arcades are dens of iniquity where children fall prey to the evils of gambling. But arcade owners say something entirely different. "Everybody fights them (arcades), they think they are a haven for drug addicts. It's just not true," said Larry Grant of Austin, who opened Eagle's Nest Fun and Games on North Austin Avenue in Georgetown last September. "These kids are great" Grant said the gameroom "gives teenagers a place to come. Some only play the games and some only talk.
In Georgetown, if you're from the high school, this is it." He said he's had very few disturbances, and asks "undesirables" to leave. "We've had a couple of rowdies. That's why I don't have any pool tables they tend to attract that type of crowd," Grant said.
Providing a place for teens to congregate was also the reason behind Ron and Carol Smith's decision to open Smitty's Galaxy of Games on Lake Creek Parkway at the entrance to Anderson Mill. "We have three teenage sons, and as soon as the oldest could drive, it became immediately apparent that there was no place to go around here," said Ron, an IBM employee who lives in Spicewood at Balcones. "This prompted us to want to open something." The business, which opened in August, has been a huge success with both parents and youngsters. "Hundreds of parents have come to check out our establishment before allowing their children to come, and what they see is a clean, safe environment managed by adults and parents," Ron said. "We've developed an outstanding rapport with the community." Video arcades "have a reputation that we have to fight," said Carol.
Kathy McCoy of Georgetown, who last October opened Krazy Korner on Willis Street in Leander, agrees. "We've got a real good group of kids," she said. "There's no violence, no nothing. Parents can always find their kids at Krazy Korner."
While all the arcade owners contacted reported that business is healthy, if not necessarily lucrative, it's not as easy for video entrepreneurs to turn a profit as one might imagine. A sizeable investment is required. Ron Smith paid between $2,800 and $5,000 for each of the 30 electronic diversions at his gameroom.
Grant said his average video game grosses about $50 a week, and his "absolute worst" game, Armor Attack, only $20 a week. The top machines (Defender and Pac-Man) can suck in an easy $125 a week. That's a lot of quarters, 500 to be exact but the Eagle's Nest and Krazy Korner pass half of them on to Neelley Vending Company of Austin which rents them their machines. "At 25 cents a shot, it takes an awful lot of people to pay the bills," said Tom Hatfield, district manager for Neelley.
He added that an owner's personality and the arcade's location can make or break the venture. The game parlor must be run "by an understanding person, someone with patience," Hatfield said. "They cannot be too demanding on the kids, yet they can't let them run all over them." And they must be located in a spot "with lots of foot traffic," such as a shopping center or near a good restaurant, he said. "And being close to a school really helps." "Video games are going to be here permanently, but we're going to see some operations not going because of the competition," which includes machines in virtually every convenience store and supermarket, Hatfield said.

This article talks about three arcades. One in Georgetown called Eagles Nest, another in Leander called Krazy Korner, and a third called Smitty's Galaxy of Games on Lake Creek Parkway "on the fringes of North Austin". This is the one I remember the older kids talking about when I was a little kid. There was once a movie theater across the street from the Westwood High School football stadium and behind that was Smitty's. Today I think the building was bulldozed long ago and the space is part of the expanded onramp to 183 today. Eventually another unrelated arcade was built next to the theater that became Alamo Lakeline. It was another site of some unrecorded epic Street Fighter 2 and Mortal Kombat tournaments in the 90s.
But the article written before the end of the Golden Era tell us much about the pushback I was talking about earlier. Early arcades were seen as "dirty" places in some circles, and the owners of the arcades in Williamson County had to stress how "clean" their establishments were. This other article from a couple of weeks later tells of how area school officials weren't worried about video games and tells us more arcades in Round Rock and Cedar Park. Apparently the end of the golden age lasted a bit longer than usual in this area.
At some point in the next few years the bubble burst, and places like Smitty's were gone by the late 80s. But the distributors quoted earlier were right that arcade games weren't going completely away. In the mid 1980s LeFun opened up next in the Scientology building at 2200 Guadalupe on the drag. Down a few doors past what used be a coffee shop and a CVS was Einsteins Arcade. Both of those survived into the 21st century. I remember the last time I was at Einsteins I got my ass beat in Tekken by a kid half my age. heheh
That's all for today. There were no Bonus Pics in the UT archive of arcades (other than the classical architectural definition). I wanted to pass on some Bonus newspaper articles (remember to click and zoom in with the buttons on the right to read) about Austin arcades anyway but first a small story.
I mentioned earlier the secret of the UT Student Union. I have no idea what it looks like now but in the 90s there was a sizable arcade in with the bowling alley in the basement. Back in 1994 when I used to sneak in, they featured this bizarre early attempt at virtual reality games. I found an old Michael Barnes Statesman article about it dated February 11, 1994. Some highlights:

Hundreds of students and curiosity-seekers lined up at the University of Texas Union to play three to five minutes of Dactyl Nightmare, Flying Aces or V-Tol, three-dimensional games from Kramer Entertainment. Nasty weather delayed the unloading of four huge trunks containing the machines, which resemble low pulpits. Still, players waited intently for a chance to shoot down a fighter jet, operate a tilt-wing Harrier or tangle with a pterodactyl. Today, tickets will go on sale in the Texas Union lobby at 11:30 a.m. for playing slots between noon and 6 p.m.
Players, fitted with full helmets, throttles and power packs, stood on shiny gray and yellow platforms surrounded by a circular guard rail. Seen behind the helmet's goggles were computer simulated landscapes, not unlike the most sophisticated video games, with controls and enemies viewed in deep space. "You're on a platform waiting to fight a human figure," said Jeff Vaughn, 19, of Dactyl Nightmare. "A pterodactyl swoops down and tries to pick you up. You have to fight it off. You are in the space and can see your own body and all around you. But if you try to walk, you have to use that joy stick to get around."
"I let the pterodactyl carry me away so I could look down and scan the board," said Tom Bowen of the same game. "That was the way I found out where the other player was." "Yeah, it's cool just to stand there and not do anything," Vaughn said. The mostly young, mostly male crowd included the usual gaming fanatics, looking haggard and tense behind glasses and beards. A smattering of women and children also pressed forward in a line that snaked past the lobby and into the Union's retail shops.
"I don't know why more women don't play. Maybe because the games are so violent," said Jennifer Webb, 24, a psychology major whose poor eyesight kept her from becoming a fighter pilot in real life. "If the Air Force won't take me, virtual reality will." "They use stereo optics moving at something like 60 frames a second," said computer science major Alex Aquila, 19. "The images are still pretty blocky. But once you play it, you'll want to play it again and again." With such demand for virtual reality, some gamesters wondered why an Austin video arcade has not invested in at least one machine.

The gameplay looked like this.
Bonus Article #1 - "Video fans play for own reasons" (Malibu Grand Prix) - March 11, 1982
Bonus Article #2 - "Pac-Man Cartridge Piques Interest" - April 13, 1982
Bonus Article #3 - "Video Games Fail Consumer" - January 29, 1984
Bonus Article #4 - "Nintendoholics/Modems Unite" - January 25, 1989
Bonus Article #5 and pt 2 "Two girls missing for a night found at arcade" (truly dedicated young gamers) - August 7, 2003

Intro:
(I want to start by saying I was inspired to do this by u/quixotikdylusion)
What a year 2020 was for this team, it had plenty of bad but there was a lot of good and a lot of progress that was made. I think the biggest thing is that we have a good coaching staff, especially on defense, that can cover up some of the flaws on this team. Besides that, we have a good core and some good depth as well. However, there are still areas that need to be addressed and fixed for this team to take the next step.
Offense:
First, the most important position: the QB position. When it comes to QB I view it as either you have a top 12 QB or you have no QB. This is why losing out on Stafford changes things. In my opinion, the only guys left that are worth going for are Dak, Carr, and Watson. I would much rather start the year with Heinicke and Allen than:

1. Trade a first or second for Mariota/ Wentz/Darnold (if you want a reclamation project you already have two in Heinicke and Allen and you don't have to give up any high picks for them)
   
2. Overdraft Jones/Trask (there are too many good players at 19 and you have too many holes besides QB)
   

If we can't get one of those guys I would rather go into the year with Heinicke, Allen, Montez, and a veteran QB. If Heinicke turns into a star you have your QB of the future, if he burns out then
Second, this team needs WR help. Terry McLaurin is a star and is a great X receiver but besides him, there is no one on this team that scares you. This team could use a Z receiver and a Slot receiver. Cam Sims was the Z last year but I view him as a WR4 rather than a WR2. Steven Sims was the Slot last year and I would be annoyed if he's the starting Slot in 2021; I would either cut him or have him as a WR6 behind Harmon and Cam Sims.
Third, this team needs a TE #2. Logan Thomas had a good year and looked to be a good starting TE option for the next couple of years. However, there is no depth at the position. Jeremy Sprinkle is a terrible TE and every time he is on the field bad things happen, Baugh and Hemingway would be out of the league if WFT didn't pick them up. This team desperately needs someone to backup Thomas.
Lastly, the team could use some depth at OL and RB. At OL, we could use a backup guard because Wes Martin is terrible. At the tackle spots, we could pick up a developmental player since both Moses and Lucas are going into their age 30 seasons next year. At RB you don't really need anyone but I would look to upgrade over Peyton Barber and to do so I would add a young bowling ball style power back who can help you in those short-yardage situations.
Defense:
On defense, the priority should be to bring in two new LBs. In the 4-3, you need three LBs (WILL, MIKE, and SAM) and right now you only have one in Cole Holcomb. Holcomb is more of a WILL backer but because of how poorly the others played he was asked to play the SAM. This offseason you need to get a MIKE and preferably a SAM because Bostic and KPL are not good enough.
The second priority should be to add a true centerfielder FS. Del Rio likes to run cover 1 and cover 3 and in both of those coverages, you need to have a deep middle safety. Apke last year was the first one who played this role and he was terrible at it, Reaves was next and he played better but you can still upgrade the position.
Lastly, you can get depth at positions like CB and Edge. If you let Darby go you have a real need at corner and it becomes your main priority but he likes the staff and the staff likes him so he probably gets resigned. However you still need depth at the position, Moreau is not going to get resigned and Stroman/Johnson as your CB 4 and 5 is a recipe for disaster if a starter gets hurt.
When it comes to Edge you need replacements for Kerrigan and Anderson. To replace Kerrigan, you should bring in a rotational pass rusher. When it comes to Anderson, the loss might be shrugged off as who cares but it’s lowkey a bigger deal because you lose a rotational run defender and the guys on this team that are supposed to replace him, like Toohill, are not good enough.
Offseason
I used OverTheCap for Free Agency and The Draft Network for the Draft
Before Free Agency
Cut Alex Smith: It was a great story and is an inspiration but you cannot pay $23 Mil for below-average QB play. I hope he retires and we don't have to cut him but he probably won't retire so I would cut him and save $14.7 Mil.
Free Agency
Each player will be listed in this format:
Name, Position, Contract Length Full Salary (includes signing bonus), Signing Bonus, Total Guarantees
2021: Cap Hit, Guaranteed Money for that season. 2022: Cap Hit, Guaranteed Money for that season. (So on if applicable)
Description about the signing.
Resigned
Brandon Scherff, OG, 4 years $60 Mil, $15 Mil, $35 Mil
2021: $12.75 Mil, $8.75 Mil. 2022: $14.75 Mil, Fully Guaranteed. 2023: $14.75, $7.75 Mil. 2024 $17.75 Mil, $3.75 Mil
This is a really tough decision because Scherff is often injured and he is a guard. However, this team has been devoid of top talent so when you have a guy that's as talented as Scherff you should look to keep him. Also, he did just make 1st team all pro and this OL looked way better when he was in the lineup. So all in all I think you have to pay him and this contract is a 3 year deal with an out in 2024 and that isn’t a bad deal for either side.
Ronald Darby, CB, 4 Years $40 Mil, $10 Mil, $20 Mil
2021: $9.5 Mil, $7.5 Mil. 2022: $8.5 Mil, $7.5 Mil. 2023: $10.5 Mil, $2.5 Mil. 2024 $11.5 Mil, $2.5 Mil
Darby played solid last year and so he gets rewarded with a new contract. Good corners are really hard to find so if you find one it's best practice to keep them in town. This contract is about the same as the Kendall Fuller contract and I think that is what Darby’s market value will be. Now there are injury concerns with Darby and so that's why this deal is structured to give you an out in 2023, so if he regresses/gets injured all the time you can easily cut him.
Taylor Heinicke, QB, 2 Years $13 Mil, $2 Mil, $6 Mil
2021: $5 Mil, Fully Guaranteed. 2022: $7 Mil, $1 Mil.
The legend of Heinicke is coming back. As I said above, in my opinion, the best realistic option is to bring back Heinicke and see if he's the real deal or not. If he is, you just got yourself a franchise QB but if he is not you move on after this year. This contract is structured to give you 3 options:

1. If he is good, you have your QB and a bonus is that you don't have to pay him a lot in 2022, that is important because A. That buys you time to negotiate the deal so you don't have to do a Kirk Cousins 2.0 with the franchise tag B. Gives you plenty of flexibility to make a splash in Free Agency
   
2. If he is decent but not good enough to be the starter, you can still keep him around since the contract is relatively cheap for a backup QB. (Go after Dak)
   
3. If he is terrible, you can easily release him and save $6 mil. Then either you draft a QB or you go after Dak Prescott who would inevitably be coming off the second franchise tag
   

(Edit: As I was writing this, Taylor got signed by the team for 2 years $8.75 Mil. However, I will still be counting the contract I gave him instead of his IRL contract when it comes to the salary cap)
Nick Sundberg, LS, 4 years $5.57 Mil, $1 Mil, $1 Mil
2021: $1.325 Mil, $250k. 2022: $1.370 Mil, $250k. 2023: $1.415 Mil, $250k. 2024: $1.460 Mil, $250k
Yeah, Sundberg is not leaving Ashburn. He has been great on the field and off the field in the community. (Should've won WPMOY last year) He gets a nice pay raise and the team is set at LS for the next 4 years.
Dustin Hopkins, K, 1 year $1.07 Mil, $0 Mil, $500k
This is a one year prove-it deal for Hopkins. He was terrible last year and cost the team many wins so I thought about letting him walk. However, it was just one year, and he’s been good every other year so I would try and see if he can get back to old Hop. That being said there is no chance I would pay him more than $1 mil, if he wants anything more I am happy letting him walk out of the building
Kevin Pierre Louis, 1 year $2 Mil, $500k, $1 Mil
KPL is coming back but in a reduced role. I don't think you should be actively starting him but he is an above-average backup and I would bring him back at $2 Mil.
Cam Sims, WR, 1 year $2.24 Mil RFA Tender, 0, $2.24 mil
Kyle Allen, QB, 1 year $850k RFA Tender, 0, $850k
I would pick up both options, both are cheap and both are above average for a WR4 and a QB2.
Free Agency
Corey Davis, WR, 4 years $47 Mil, $12 Mil, $25 Mil
2021: $11 Mil, Fully Guaranteed. 2022: $11.5 Mil, $8 Mil. 2023: $12 Mil, $3 Mil. 2024 $12.5 Mil, $3 Mil.
The big splash in Free Agency is to bring in the former Titans receiver. Davis is a former top 5 pick who had a breakout year in 2020 and is just entering his prime (he is 26 years old). I think Davis is a great option in free agency cause I think you are getting a guy who is going to get even better over the next couple of years for relatively cheap. He also is a guy who fits the profile of what you need at WR, this team desperately needs a big body Z receiver and Davis fits that since he A. played the Z in Tennessee and B. is 6’3. Now if Davis doesn't live up to expectations, you can cut him at the end of 2022.
Denzel Perryman, ILB, 2 years $13 Mil, $4 Mil, $6 Mil
2021: $6.5 Mil, $4 Mil. 2022: $6.5 Mil, $2 Mil.
At times last year, this team's run defense was poor and that was mainly because of how bad the LBs were in run defense. Enter Denzel Perryman to change that. Perryman got an 86.3 grade against the run by PFF, now PFF isn't always the greatest site but the grade shows that he is really good against the run. Perryman is also a true MIKE and that is also something this team desperately needs. You cannot have Jon Bostic be your MIKE if you want to have a good LB core. The best part about this deal is that Perryman fills the needs of this team at a cheap price.
Trey Burton, TE, 2 years $8 Mil, $2 Mil, $4 Mil
2021: $4 Mil, $3 Mil. 2022: $4 Mil, $1 Mil.
As I talked about above, you needed to get depth at TE and that's exactly what you get in Trey Burton. Immediate upgrade at the TE 2 spot and a guy who can do everything you want from a TE 2. Burton was graded as the best blocking TE in 2018 by PFF and in 2020 he was an above average blocker. Burton can also be a decent pass-catching option if you need to start him.
Demarcus Walker, Edge, 2 years $5 Mil, $2 Mil, $3.5 Mil
2021: $2.5 Mil, $2 Mil. 2022: $2.5 Mil, $1.5 Mil.
Demarcus Walker came into the league as a second-round Edge rusher who was picked by the Broncos, but he did not live up to expectations in Denver. However, that is because he was playing as a 3-4 outside LB and that was not his natural position. Once the Broncos moved him down from outside LB to the DL he started producing. In Washington, he could be a good rotational Edge rusher in the 4-3. He is still a guy with untapped potential so some growth could happen.
Jourdan Lewis, CB, 1 year $2 Mil, $500k, $1 Mil
This team needs depth at CB, especially NCB, and Lewis gives you depth. Lewis gives you depth because of his versatility, he can play both slot and boundary corner. Lewis is coming off of a really bad year but it is only 1 year and from 2017 to 2019, he was a solid corner. Because of this I would be willing to take a chance on Lewis, after all, he would be your CB4 at best and it's only a 1-year deal.
Blake Bortles, QB, 1 Year $1.075 Mil, 0, $500k
Backup QB who should be your QB 3 at best. I decided to bring Blake in instead of a guy like Alex Smith because Bortles doesn't have the injury concerns Smith has. Bortles is a decent option if both Heinicke and Allen get injured.
Alex Redmond, OG, 1 year $1.090 Mil, $0, $900k
Starting OG for the Bengals who wasn't anything special so you bring him in on a cheap deal to be a backup guard. He is better than Wes Martin and that's all that matters when it comes to this signing.
NFL Draft
Each player will be listed in this format:
Name, Position, College, Height, and Weight
Description about player
Round 1: Zaven Collins, LB, Tulsa, 6’4 260 lbs
The Bronko Nagurski Trophy winner is coming to DC. Zaven Collins is a great pick in many ways. First, as a player he is instinctive and that allows him to be good in both run and pass defense. In run defense, he will fill gaps nicely and in pass defense, he has great ball skills that allow him to cover most running back/tight ends. Second, he fills a position of need since he is a SAM LB and this team does not have one, right now Holcomb plays the SAM but this move allows him to move to his natural WILL position. The main concern with Collins is that he has mediocre speed, however, he has other tools that can make up for his speed and besides speed, he has good athleticism.
Round 2: Alex Leatherwood, OT, Alabama, 6’5 312 lbs
As discussed above, you have two good tackles on this team but they are both turning 30. So here in the second round, you take a good tackle prospect who with development could turn into your franchise LT. Alex Leatherwood is a tackle who is good against first moves in pass protection and he is also good as a run blocker. His main weakness is that he tends to get beat when guys use counter moves on him in pass pro. The good news is that good coaching can clean that up. This is a pick that may not help you this year but will help you in a couple of years.
Round 3: Andre Cisco, S, Syracuse, 6’0 203 lbs
This team desperately needs a center fielder FS and that's the guy you're getting in Andre Cisco. I talked about how JDR likes to call cover 1 and cover 3 and how there is no one on this team to play that deep center safety role, well Cisco thrives in the deep center role. Cisco is a ballhawk who plays really good coverage. Now you might be wondering how he fell, well he fell for two reasons: 1. He is a bad tackler and 2. He freelances sometimes. Now problem number one isn't a big deal for this team, you have 10 other guys who are good tacklers especially if you bring in Zaven Collins and Denzel Perryman. Number two is concerning but I trust JDR to reel him in and teach him how to play within the confines of the defense. While there are some problems to his game, the talent is there and it is just too good to pass up.
Round 3: Brevin Jordan, TE, Miami, 6’3 245 lbs
Now I know I have the team signing Trey Burton in free agency and I know that this team doesn't need 3 TEs but Brevin Jordan is just too good to pass up. Jordan is a player that can play all over the field and is a dynamic weapon that can be used creatively on this team. Jordan is an athletic player with good size and speed. He has good ball skills and hands as well. When it comes to route running, he is solid but still needs some development. The same can be said about his blocking. Sitting behind both Logan Thomas and Trey Burton would be beneficial for a guy who in the (near) future could become your TE1.
Round 4: Dazz Newsome, WR, North Carolina, 5’11 190 lbs
Dazz Newsome, starting slot receiver for the Washington Football Team in 2021. You finally find a good slot receiver. Newsome is the final piece to this top 10 receiver core of Mclaurin, Davis, and Newsome. Newsome is fast and shifty, when it comes to route running he runs crisp routes, and most importantly he has good hands. Newsome could add more routes to his game but besides that, there are no major weaknesses in his game. Newsome is also a punt returner so next year you don't have to worry about Steven Sims muffing any punts.
Round 5: Rashad Weaver, Edge, Pittsburg, 6’4 265 lbs
This may seem strange to take an edge rusher but you do need a couple of guys there to make up for the loss of Kerrigan and Anderson. The Kerrigan replacement was signed and Rashad Weaver is your Anderson replacement. Weaver is a good run stuffer and is a guy that you could rotate in on 1st and 2nd down. When it comes to pass rush, Weaver has all the rushes and tools in the bag but he lacks the bend and athleticism that you need. Weaver may not have the upside when it comes to pass rush but that's not what you are drafting him for, you're drafting him so that he can occasionally stop the run and that is something he can do.
Round 7: Thomas Graham Jr, CB, Oregon, 5’11 197 lbs
You always need depth at corner and that is what this pick is about. Thomas Graham Jr can come in and be a decent CB5 on this team. Graham Jr is a guy that has good technique, good timing, and good ball skills but he is not fast or agile. His athleticism lowers his ceiling but his traits raise his floor. A high floor player is what you should look for in a CB5 and Graham Jr offers you that.
Round 7: Spencer Brown, RB, UAB, 6’0 235 lbs
This man is built like a bowling ball and that's exactly why I am drafting him. Brown isn’t athletic and he can't catch. However, he has good vision, he is big and he can run between the tackles. Brown sounds exactly like a prototypical short-yardage back because he is one. Brown would be a younger, bigger version of Peyton Barber in this offense.
Post Draft Cuts:
Geron Christian, Peyton Barber, Jon Bostic, and Wes Martin were cut to save $2 mil. These players were expendable because replacements for them were either signed or drafted. Plus, $2 mil was needed to sign draft picks and leave some money over for UDFAs.
Final Salary Cap Numbers (Before signing draft picks and UDFAs but after all the cuts)
2021: $9,422,545
2022: $72,777,075
2023: $138,468,706
2024: $181,130,000
That concludes my offseason. Thank you for reading this post, I really appreciate it.
TL;DR
(Main guys)
Resigned: Scherff, Darby and Heinicke
Signed: Corey Davis and Denzel Perryman
Drafted: Zaven Collins, Alex Leatherwood, and Brevin Jordan

Anyone has permission to post this story on their channel for others to hear.
Backstory: Most theater if you didnt know has a glass barrier and you talk to the box office worker through a microphone and then they slide your tickets to you from the open slot underneath, well not all people or kids understand that you dont need to scream into the microphone for us to hear you.
Cast: Me/Dragon_Crystal= myself, EK 1-4= 9-11 year old Hobgoblins that I wanted to punch in the face, Respectful Sis= the EKs 13 year old sister, Careless Dad: EK's dad who let them run wild and River: my general manager.
It's a quiet day and but since I was still new at working in the box office, I'm just scanning the parking lot for customers and just filling in the open space for the letters/numbers from discarded ticket, it's an old habit I do when I'm bored out if my mind.
When a kid comes into the lobby and started tapping on the microphone screaming "THIS THING ON!!!!" Luckily it wasnt on cause I had turned it off, cause nobody was coming in until than, being professional "hi what movie would you like to watch?"
Kid screams out random movies that were playing and others that weren't showing anymore (Frozen was among them), before his Careless Dad and siblings enter.
Careless Dad: what movie you guys want to watch?
EK: loud screaming of random movies
Careless Dad: ok we'll get (random kid's movie, cant remember the name).
Me: ok total will be X.XX amount.
He pays and they head inside, I'm relived and go back to what I was doing, for the most part I was pretty bored and was just standing around for most of the shift also yes the microphone was turned off. Only time I had it on was whenever the customer wanted to watch a movie, other than that it was turned off to save my sanity.
Every once and a while a customer would leave to have a swig of their cigarette or take a phone call, which was no harm and go back in, it was until EK's movie ended.
He and his hobgoblin siblings were waiting for their ride and were standing in front of the box office, screaming, running around, touching the ticket printer off to the side and yes poking the microphone again. Luckily as soon as I heard them, I switch the microphone off, but I'd give them the "stop poking the microphone" glare from through the glass. Which usually made them back off a bit.
As they were waiting a few people would talk in to watch a movie and as they were talking, the EKs screaming would fill up my booth and I'll end up switching off the microphone when I'm printing off the tickets before flipping it back on to tell the customers their price, the customers themselves would gave the EKs annoyed glances but not say anything before walking away.
Final straw was when one of the EK decided to unscrew one of the closed slot on the other side of the booth, where I had to run over and close if again before glaring that the little goblin to back off, he showed me his little bird and I slammed the wooden slot blocker back into places and screwed it tightly back in place.
Respectful Sister notice this happened and dragged EK away, while apologizing to me, but the rest of the EKs now decided that would become their new game to play, until I made sure they couldnt unscrew it off anymore and started kicking the ticket machine. Which River cames out and tells everyone to go and wait outside in the warm weather, she was watching everything unfold through the cameras, before she had enough and jumped in to handle things.
The job was fun, but the entitled customers and their hobgoblins were the many terrible things about it, those respectful customers were always the best. The entitled customers would always end up leading me to take a few headache pills after my shifts, either way I still count it as my favorite job so far.