Sports Games Where You Don’t Play the Sport

Sport is about drama. It’s about observing unique skills and strategies. It’s about tribal instincts. Your team against the enemy. And, if you enjoy all this, what can be more fun than putting yourself into the world of big-name, star athletes, where you do the moves, score the goals, or get the points? Just as people get engrossed in the fantastical worlds of RPG games, so do sports fans in a game of FIFA, Madden or NBA 2K. But what’s more fascinating to know is that in some of the most addictive sports games, you don’t even actually get to play the sport, yet they remain super-captivating. Here are a few.

Online Casino Games

In the mid-90s online gambling became legal, and the first online casino was born. Soon after, there were a few hundred of them, and they featured a wide selection of games, ones that would appeal to every player. Today, the estimated number of slot games is close to 5,000, and as you can imagine, a good chunk of these are sport-related. Of course, you will need to choose a payment method so that you can deposit and withdraw funds to your account. Trustly has become a commonly chosen method due to its efficiency and security, which is why many players are looking for a so-called Trustly casino (which is any online casino that accepts payments with Trustly) to enjoy these games.

Now, as you probably assume, you mainly watch reels spin and symbols land at random places. However, if you’ve ever played an online slot, you’d know that there are things such as free spins and bonus rounds that act like games within the game. These can even be skill-based and offer opportunities to land massive progressive jackpots. 

Manager Games

Who would have thought that one of the most unputdownable games of all time would be a text-based one? I didn’t and was caught off guard the first time I played Football Manager, the granddaddy of football-management simulators.

First released in 1992, this game blew up with the Season 01/02 release, as that was the first one to be ported onto a console. In essence, the game consists of just reading text, nothing more. You would make decisions, buy players, set strategies, and then, you would read how it all played out. It’s kind of similar to gambling, and it’s just as absorbing.

Fantasy Leagues

Fantasy sports have exploded in the past fifteen years, even though they’ve been around since the 1950s. With the invention of the internet, they’ve become so much easier to play, and, in turn, their popularity has sky-rocketed. They draw millions of people and the games have an impact that’s valued at over $1 billion on the sports industry.

To those who are unaware, these games are played in a way where you draft, assemble virtual teams of real players from a professional sport of your choosing, and then, your team competes against other teams based on their accumulated real-life statistics.