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[Timpsi]

Anyone here playing Hattrick.org, by the way? It's a free online football (soccer for some) management game, and the only online game that has managed to keep me addicted for over 2,5 years.

This is not those dozens of fantasy football thingies where you pick your team for real players and get points from their actions in real matches. Oh, no. The Hattrick players exist only in the game, and that allows you to trade and train them as you wish. They've all got their own skills and characteristics that their performance on the field depends on.

The best thing is that all the other teams in the game are controlled by human players, which makes the game considerably more fun.

There are over half a million players and 94 leagues already (everyone's playing in the league of their own country, but you can also organise international matches and cups through friendlies). My own team, the notorious Kalliosuon Sisu (TeamID 22127) is currently playing in the 3rd division of Suomi (Finland), and has gone through a lot in the past 2,5 years.

I'm also a so-called Supporter. If you like the game so much that you wish to support the team behind the game, you can donate them money and you get some additional features, such as the ability to add a logo for your team or to write press announcements. None of the supporter features affect playing the game in any way - your team doesn't become any better or such like. I believe this is fair for everyone.

A few screenshots:
My team page - this is the main page through which everything concerning the team can be accessed.

A match presentation - the matches are presented in text form, and when the match is one it cannot be affected. This is simply because it's damn difficult for the managers ot be online at the same time. The lague games are played during the weekends, and friendlies usually on Tuesday or Wednesday. The whole game happens in real time, so the match really takes those 45+45 minutes.
(Oh, and The ratings of my team are so low because I fielded my reserve lineup so that they could get some training as well. )

The match setup screen - this is where you can edit the formation, decide who gets to play, and to give orders to the players.

The player screen - here's my #1 striker, Stuart Howson. As you can see, he's formidable in scoring, but has no clue how to do goaltending or pass the ball (!). No player has predefined positions, so it's up to the manager to assign them their best players.

Give the game a try, if you enjoy either football or management. Hattrick reguires only an hour of your time each week, but it can easily take up all the free time you've got if you're not careful.