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Blood Bowl is a Fantasy Football game created by Jervis Johnson for the British games company Games Workshop (but now under the aegis of their Specialist Games division) as a parody of American Football.[1] The game was first released in 1987 and has been re-released in new editions since. Blood Bowl is set in an alternate version of the Warhammer Fantasy setting, populated by traditional fantasy elements such as human warriors, goblins, dwarves, elves, orcs and trolls.

The most recent purchasable edition of the game contains a printed copy of Living Rulebook 1.0. However, the most up-to-date version of the game's rules is the Competition Rules Pack, or CRP, which is available as a downloadable file from Games Workshop's website (formerly known as LRB6 or Living Rule Book 6.0).

Blood Bowl is a two-player, turn-based board game that typically uses 28 mm miniatures to represent a contest between two teams on a playing field. A board containing a grid overlay represents the field. Using dice, cards, and counters, the players attempt to score higher than each other by entering the opponent's end zone with a player who possesses the ball.

The "Blood" in Blood Bowl is represented by the violent actions available to players. Game play is based on a hybrid of American Football and Rugby. Players may attempt to injure or maim the opposition in order to make scoring easier by reducing the number of enemy players on the field.

The player races are drawn from the ranks of fantasy races and have characteristics that reflect the abilities of those races. Elves tend to be agile and good at scoring, while Dwarfs and Orcs are more suited to a grinding, physical style of play. Players are also divided up into positions suited to their role on the field, including Throwers, Catchers, and Linemen, although many teams field different creatures entirely for different positions.

In league play, players gain additional skills and abilities based on their accumulation of experience points. Players face potential injury or even death on the field throughout their careers. Teams improve by the purchase of off-field staff such as cheerleaders, assistant coaches, and apothecaries.

Teams consist of eleven to sixteen players, of which eleven are allowed on the pitch at any one time. Each player is represented by an appropriate miniature and has statistics and skills that dictate his or her effect on play. There are four player statistics:
MA (Move Allowance) indicates how fast the player is.
ST (Strength) indicates the player's basic fighting ability.
AG (Agility) indicates how well the player handles the ball and evades opposing players.
AV (Armor Value) indicates how difficult it is to injure the player.

In addition, players may have special skills that affect any number of circumstances in play. Some of the more commonly used skills are Block (for fighting), Dodge (for dodging out of an opponents tackle zone), Sure Hands (for picking up the ball), Pass (for throwing the ball), and Catch (for catching the ball). These skills are not necessary to perform their corresponding actions, but will give the player an advantage.
In his or her turn, a coach may have each player take one of the following actions:
Move - Move the player through empty squares (opposing players may try to trip the moving player if he or she moves close to them).
Block - Fight an adjacent opposing player who is standing.
In addition, the following four actions may be taken by one player per team turn:
Blitz - Move and then Block an adjacent opposing player who is standing (or Block and then Move).
Foul - Move and then foul an adjacent opposing player who is prone (or just foul an adjacent player who is prone).
Pass - Move and then throw the ball (or just throw the ball).
Hand-Off - Move and then give the ball to an adjacent player (or just give the ball to an adjacent player).

Some skills also allow for special player actions.

If a player action fails, the team turn ends immediately (with some minor exceptions). This defining game mechanic is called the turnover rule. The turnover rule makes every action tense for the coaches, and together with the four-minute rule (a team turn must be completed within four minutes) it can make the game very fast-paced. Some rules such as the eleven player limit may be broken as long as the opposing coach does not notice; other rules are strictly off-limits. (For example: Failing to move the re-roll counter in order to get a free re-roll), however this idea is often only used with the agreement of both players (known as coaches).