Madden NFL Social Walkthrough

Madden NFL Social is a sports simulation game developed by EA. Throughout the game, players get to take to the field with their favorite NFL football team and make plays with their favorite players against their friends. Gamezebo’s quick start strategy guide will provide you with detailed images, tips, information, and hints on how to play your best game.

Game Introduction – Madden NFL Social

Quick Start Guide

Getting Started

Madden NFL Social is free-to-play, and can be accessed by clicking the “Play Now!” option at the top of this page.
You will be asked to register with the game’s developer. When you have created a username and a password, you will be taken to the log-in screen. Log in to get started playing some fantasy football.
When you start Madden NFL Social, you will be asked to choose your favorite team and you will be taken through a tutorial to explain the basics of play.

Madden NFL Social Basics

On the left of your main screen, you can see your active games. Games that are under the “your turn” tab are games you can pick up now and continue. Games that are under “opponent’s turn” are games that await your opponent to make their move – use the time to check out the game status and evaluate strategy!

If you want to start a new game, simply click the ‘Create Game’ button. In game setup, you see both yours and your opponent’s team and rating so you can judge whether you have a fair chance of winning.

Madden NFL Social is a turn-based game, which means that you take a turn, and then your opponent takes a turn asynchronously. You only play the offensive game, so your turn lasts as long as your drive down the field: as long as you gain 10 yards within 4 attempts, you can keep trying. When you’ve either scored a point, or turned over the ball to the other team after an unsuccessful set of plays, your drive ends and becomes the other player’s turn.

When it’s your turn once again in a game with an opponent, you will get a short recap of what happened on his or her drive, before you’re able to mount your next offensive drive.

Basic Football Strategy

Just to be safe, I will assume you know the basic rules of American football, shall I? If not, bone up! In brief, you have 4 attempts to position your players and execute plays in order to gain another 10 yards, while your opponent defens the field with their players. If you fail, the other team will start their offensive drive at the place on the field where your drive stopped.
Which plays you choose? That is up to you. I will go into a little more detail later about which are your team’s stronger and weaker plays.
On your first play, you can basically choose whatever play you like. Runs, long passes, short passes; go crazy!
With your second down, it depends on how your first play went. If you gained a few yards, you can choose whatever play you want again, but if you lost yards due to a sack, you will need to make the right decissions. If you lost yards, you will want to try for some long passes to get back near the 10-yard gain level.

Now: the all-important third down. While it’s true you have 4 plays to gain 10 yards, most teams use the 4th play to kick the ball rather than risk having the team start closer to your endzone. So, how far are you up the field? Do you have less than 5 yards left to go, with a strong running game? Send your best runningback, as they are your most certain chance of gaining yards. If you have a great set of receivers or more yards left to go, passing is a little more risky but generally gains you more yards if the ball is caught.
Uh-oh! You didn’t make it to 10 yards, so it’s 4th down and the last chance before possession switches. Whatever play you choose now, it comes down to weighing your chances. If you are just 1 or 2 yards from the 10-yard line, and you are deep down the other team’s field, it might be worth the chance to make a run for it. Of course, if you’re close enough you can also attempt a field goal kick (found under “special teams”). However, if you’re anywhere near or past the middle line, don’t risk it and just kick the ball away (again, found under “special teams”).
Can you make it to the end zone? Choose wisely.

Choosing the Plays

After you’ve chosen which type of play you want to run (short pass, long pass or special team plays), select it from the playbook. There are a few things to consider when picking your play:
The better the player stats, the better the result from this play. For instance, if you have the same play executed by a level 60 QB and a level 55 receiver, they will generally run it further than a level 59 QB and a level 53 receiver respectively
However, the ‘primary matchup’ stat is also very important. If the level 60 QB and the level 55 receiver have a worse matchup than the other two players, it means there is a smaller chance that the receiver will catch the ball.

Changing your roster can increase your ‘primary matchup’ effectiveness for certain plays, so try and see what works best for you.
Tip 1: Make sure you vary it up a little. Always playing your best play available means your oponnent gets better at understanding and defending against it, increasing the chances of an interception.
Tip 2: The higher your level, the more plays you will unlock in your playbook.

Player Roster

You start the game with a random set of players, whose average player rating decides your team rating. If you want to upgrade your player roster, visit the shop to buy player packs, or go to the auction to find the really rare player cards!

For the easiest way to improve your player roster after getting new cards, click the ‘best line-up’ button on the bottom left to move your best player cards to your active roster.

From there, fine tune your roster to fit your style, your overall team and of course your favorites.

Predict the Real Thing

In the predictions tab, you can make your predictions on the outcome of the actual NFL games. Making the right predictions will earn you extra coins, which you can of course use to buy the best players from the league for your own team.

Congratulations!

You have completed the quick start guide for Madden NFL Social by EA. Be sure to check back often for game updates, staff and user reviews, user tips, forum comments, and much more here at Gamezebo.