The dawn of the internet age has catapulted fantasy football into a global phenomenon with millions of people watching the weekend’s results coming in and simultaneously trying to calculate how the events unfolding will affect their team.

With the internet the ease of use, graphics and statistics have revolutionised the industry that started in the back of British newspapers such as the Telegraph and the Sun. Originally these games ran for the whole season, but now games can be weekly, monthly or now even match by match.

This week I signed up for and played a new fantasy football game called Picklive, a fantasy football game that uses an innovative game engine to provide a real time fantasy football experience for game being shown live on British TV.

ABOUT PICKLIVE

The way it works is simple, you pick three or five players (depending on the game) and these players score points depending on their actions during the game in real time. Should one of your players be underperforming substitutions can be made in real time (30 second delay before implementation).

There are two types of game both of which can be played in free of charge or for cash against other players across the world.

The Big Game

  • Pick 5 players before kick off
  • Game lasts for whole match
  • Unlimited number of players to compete against
  • Unlimited substitutes available

The Live Game

  • Pick 3 players before kick off
  • Game lasts for 7.5 minutes
  • 6 -25 players to play against
  • Unlimited substitutes available

PLAYING THE GAME

Signing up was easy and I was instantly given a free £3 credit as an introduction and having got to the game after kick off, I chose to enter the cash ‘Live’ game using my free credit during the Arsenal v Tottenham thriller on Saturday.

I chose Arshavin, Gallas and Fabregas to start the game with the score 1-0 and with the ball being passed regularly against the back line of both sides I sat in the middle of the table and quickly used two or my three substitutions to bring in Kaboul and Koscienly for Fabregas and Arshavin and take advantage of this.

With five of the seven and a half minutes elapsed I was not in second place, two points off top spot and in the money (the top three get paid). Therefore I decided to make my final substitution in an attempt to add to my 15 points and try and take the top spot.

I elected to change William Gallas for Alan Hutton and this was the masterstroke that won the day with just 15 seconds left in the game he made a tackle to send me into top spot and £16.43 richer, not bad at all and I must admit I was now immersed in the world of 450 second fantasy football.

The game was fast paced and exhilarating and added an extra aspect watching a thrilling London derby as every pass, tackle, shot and goal mattered more than ever.

Offsides, misplaced passes and bookings took on new significance, a poorly timed booking could cost you the game and with only seven and a half minutes to play recovering from this is nigh on impossible, but a goal from an unlikely source can make you invincible.

All in all I played six ‘live’ games on Picklive and enjoyed them thoroughly without matching my winning debut again.

OVERVIEW

With a simple and easy to use game engine, a unique concept and ability to play and chat with real people, playing PICKLIVE was a thoroughly enjoyable experience. Whether playing for fun or for cash it adds a totally new aspect to watching football and I will certainly be playing again.

PICKLIVE can be found here

Editor’s note: Unfortunately Picklive is currently not available for readers in the United States.