How to Understand the Rules of American Football

American football is a complex game that dates back to the 1890s with major changes in the 20th century--the most notable change was the merger of the National Football League and the American Football League, which led to the Super Bowl.

Instructions

1. Find a football field--it will be 100 yards from goal to goal. The field is marked off every 10 yards with a marker.

2. Form a team. In order to play football you need two teams with 11 players on each. Ideally, you want to have more than 11 players so you can put different players in for different plays or in case of injuries.

3. Start the play. Each team has four downs to move 10 yards. If your team does this then they will have four downs again to move 10 yards. This continues until the team doesn't make the 10 yards in the four downs, they elect to kick the ball to the other team, they lose the ball to the other team, they get to the other team's goal line and score or they kick for a field goal and score.

4. Score a touchdown by moving the ball to the opponent's goal. This will count as six points. You can then kick the ball through the goal posts for an extra point or run it in and get two points. Your total is six, seven or eight depending on the play after the touchdown.

5. Kick the ball through the goal post for a field goal, which counts as three points. This is another way to score in American football.

6. Win the game by scoring the most points in the time allotted for the game.