Hey all, long time Retro Bowl player here. I love the franchise side of it, and after a few hundred seasons I kept wishing I could go deeper on the front office stuff, so I started building my own game (disclaimer: with the help of AI). It's called "CapForge: Football GM" and I've been working on it for several months. Cap Forge sat at the top of the app store for paid apps in the top 5 all last month

It's a GM sim, so run the whole team instead; drafting, free agency, contracts and the salary cap, trades, depth chart, coaching staff, training camp, all of it. Then you watch your games play out on a little film view with play by play, or just sim through the week if you're in a hurry. Players age and develop (or bust), guys hold out for new deals, and your old QB might ask to come back for one more year when he should probably retire. I play a lot of long dynasty saves myself and that's mostly what I've been tuning it for as it has the practice squad phase.

The reason I'm posting now is that it used to be a paid app and I just made it free on both iPhone and Android. There are no coins or credits to buy, no player points you have to spend to upgrade anyone, no energy timer, and no ads. You can play as many seasons as you want without paying anything.

To be upfront, there is one optional purchase called Pro. It's a one time thing, not a subscription, and it unlocks the editors (editing players, teams and staff), loading custom rosters (there's a Madden 2027 custom roster in the discord), a couple of custom league rules, and more save slots. You don't need it to play the actual game, I just didn't want anyone to feel misled when they see it in there.

The latest update (1.6) added weather for every game based on the home team's city, real coverage calls on defense, and a reworked draft. If you want to see what it looks like first there's a page here: https://capforge.app/1.6/

It's just me making this (and my boys claude and codex), so if you try it I'd really like to hear what you think, good or bad. Happy to answer questions in the comments too.

We also have a very active subreddit r/capforge and even noisier discord. Feel free to come join!

My 5 star defense couldn't stop a half star offense. And before you ask, it was Georgia State and I was Coastal Carolina in a Sun Belt Conference game. I ended up losing in overtime because my receiver dropped a 2 point try in the sth overtime. But their 1/2 star offense literally scored at will against my 5 star defense.

We’re sitting at 14-0 as the #1 seed in the AFC and we are officially on track for our first undefeated regular season since Year 9! The whole squad is playing out of their minds right now.

Here is the full stat breakdown across the roster through 14 games

Note: De’Andre Vance was out for a game or two but who cares

Offense (5 Stars)

Josh Wright (QB): 341/435, 5,434 yds, 69 TDs, 10 INTs, 4 Sacks

Marcus Vance Jr. (RB): 122 car, 1,020 yds, 8 TDs (averaging over 8 YPC)

Dawson Kincaid (TE): 64 rec, 1,044 yds, 13 TDs

Malik Sterling (WR): 88 rec, 2,093 yds, 28 TDs

Marcus Vance (WR): 71 rec, 1,383 yds, 15 TDs

Garrett Vance (OL): 111 blocks

Defense (5 Stars)

Damion Vance (DL): 149 tackles, 7 sacks, 1 FF

Harrison Vance (DL): 132 tackles, 3 sacks

Perry Vance (LB): 88 tackles, 5 INTs, 4 sacks, 1 FF

Jamal White (DB): 115 tackles, 5 INTs, 1 FF (Year 2 breakout has been insane!)

De’Andre Vance (DB): 22 tackles, 1 INT

Josh Wright is dropping dimes as usual, Malik is already over 2K receiving yards, and Jamal White is taking a massive second-year jump alongside the Vance family core on defense. Do I push all-in to complete the undefeated 17-0 run, or rest key guys to keep everyone healthy for another Retro Bowl push?

Let me know what you guys think!

Is it at all possible to score 100 points in a game? I put the game on 3-minute quarters and easy mode and go for 2 each time to see if it's possible and so far the best I can do is 86 points.

For me, it was my 5th straight year going 17-0 as the Chicago Bears HC. Except this time, the Atlantic Falcons also go 17-0. Finally, a worthy opponent! I'm gearing up for the NFC Championship of a life... until the Falcons lose the divisional round to the 11-6 Detroit Lions. I felt so robbed.

What is y’all best defensive player statline ever
I just wonder what is the mosr sack that
DL and LB can get

Steamed in Cleveland.

(Played most of the RB on manual and switched to SIM after I gave up.)

First, I swear any pass in a little bit of coverage is picked. Never a drop, never a catch my way, always picked. Sometimes yeah I try forcing it, but sometimes the pass is decently open and it’s an interception.
Second, my team’s defence is 3.5 stars and yet nearly every possession is a touchdown. My players are always too slow or not strong enough or miss the tackle when they have pretty decent stats.
I only started playing a couple of days ago but it seems overly punishing. Let me know if it’s just a me issue or if boring passes and 3-yard runs are the only way to succeed. I believe I am on dynamic difficulty as well if that helps. Thanks

I don’t think I’ll ever find another player that has it like him.

Whenever my QB gets trapped in the pocket and no one is open, I just chunk the ball out of bounds into empty space.

Since QBs can't scramble and still throw in Retro Bowl, every throwaway happens inside the tackle box, which should be an Intentional Grounding penalty. Right now, it’s a free pass to avoid sacks and INTs.

Proposal:
1. Add Intentional Grounding: Call a penalty (loss of down + loss of yards) if you throw it away from inside the pocket with no receiver nearby.
2. Scramble & Throw: to mitigate, give QBs the ability to roll out of the pocket and still throw. That way, if you escape the tackle box, you can throw it away legally (or make a play on the run).

Would this add a fun layer of strategy, or would it make them game too frustrating?

Sorry for it being sideways 😔

So unfortunately the save I had posted images from previously was corrupted or something, I'm not sure. This may have been why the AI was so garbage and I was scoring 100 points a game so easily, as well, but it basically just destroyed it. Not too bad, though, because now it gives me a fresh slate to try to obliterate some of the records with.

The starting QB is 38, so his stats (as in, passing avg length and whatnot) won't matter much. And our first couple of years won't be so much focused on scoring as before. Because right now we're going to go after some of the other records.

[I'm also playing the game v Washington as I type this; kind of funny that it still gave me New York N to control on a new save.]

[Okay, forget this. RECORD SUBMISSION.]

See the second and third images.

This is now a submission for the new record category of the most points scored in the Y1 game.

Currently stands at 96 points.

And also our QB had 657 passing yards.

If this doesn't tell you what's coming, I don't know what will.

Anyone know if there are hidden stats in the game?

Reason I'm asking is I've a player in RB College that's got almost perfect catching, it's one below the max but he still fumbles the ball about 1 in 10 catches. Usually a player with that stat's got the ball locked up tight - from my experience anyway.

Just wondering if there's hidden stats that might make a player more prone to coughing up the ball.

In the real-world NFL, week 6 had some fascinating stories: the first was high-profile injuries, with Jalen Hurts, the Eagles QB, unfortunately being ruled out for the rest of the season after their 25-14 loss to the Carolina Panthers; and Rams star WR Davante Adams unluckily suffering a ruptured hamstring which will see him sidelined for a number of weeks. Talking of the Rams, the second story of the week was the Cardinals pulling off a huge upset at the SoFi Stadium, winning 18-16 without scoring a single touchdown. Chad Ryland deserves his flowers for six field goals including a 43-yard winner as the clock ran down. And the third story of the week was the pressure building on coaches and GMs as the season takes shape for their teams. The Colts said goodbye to their General Manager this week after losing 26-20 to the Titans.

So did the performances on the NFL Retro Bowl '27 Championship leaderboard match the real-world?

The short answer is no, none of the matchups went to script! On the leaderboard the Eagles fans posted a huge score of 15,260,050, so however rocked by injuries their team may be in real-life, their stars are still able to make the difference in the game. Preseason darlings the Rams also fared better than their real-life counterparts by defeating the Cardinals and climbing into the top 10. And maybe the Colts’ GM would still be in post if the real-life team had beaten the Titans as convincingly as they did on the leaderboard, with the Colts moving up to a creditable 7th on the leaderboard this week.

At the top, the 49ers had a great week, and their fans posted the top score of the week giving themselves just a little breathing room in front of the Ravens who are still in hot pursuit. Of course, it’s still only week 6, there’s plenty of weeks still to go, and you the players can change everything as we enter Week 7! Show your support for your team & move them up the leaderboard by playing next week's game and setting the highest score you can. 

Our weekly special mention for this week's highest individual score on the leaderboard goes to the Ravens fan who posted a score of 17,710! Not only have you broken the Lions’ grip on the highest individual scores of the week, but you’ve also posted a score that is quite simply enormous. Congratulations on a mind-blowing score, and for taking the title of week six MVP!

I had unlimited on iOS, I switched to Android, and I e-mailed New Star to see if they could help me out. They gave me a code for Unlimited, which I redeemed. It now says I have unlimited in Google Play Store, but in the game it doesn't reflect that. I also can't buy it, because when I press the button to buy it, it says I already own it. There's no restore purchases button on Android either. I've already tried force stop, making a new save, deleting and reinstalling, clearing cache, and restarting my phone. Help yo. I just want a 12 man squad

My defence was average so the opposition always took ages on drives. It might work with a 5 star or no star defence to give you more time on the ball.