Hattrick is an online football (or soccer, for you North Americans) management game. Founded in 1997, it used to be the standard for most online football managements. At its peak in 2005, Hattrick had nearly 800 000 users and some GMs (Game Moderators) were so busy that it was almost a month before most users received their team. Since then, numbers have fallen, as recent rivals such as PowerChallenge's ManagerZone have become extremely popular and give Hattrick much competition. Hattrick now has around 750 000 users, and is in it's 43rd season.
I joined Hattrick in August 2010, midway through its 42nd season. As a beginner I found this game complicated and confusing, but help from the Hattrick Wiki and some experienced users helped my team avoid relegation (demotion to a lower league) and I came 3rd out of 8 teams.
From my perspective, Hattrick is a great game for patient people. For those people who want instant action or technical epicness, Hattrick is not the game for you. There is only one league match per week, on Sunday, and one cup/friendly game on Wednesday. The way Hattrick plays its games is by a system called HT-Live, which lets you follow your games minute-by-minute in text format. If you actually want to see your players kick the ball, I recommend the aforementioned ManagerZone, which lets you see your match in a 3d match engine. However, I had a bad feeling about games that PowerChallenge made, as I used to play a game, Power Soccer, by that company but that basically ended in frustration.
Hattrick is not a game for people looking for big exciting things. There is no booming crowd sounds when a goal is scored, no goal being scored and the ref calling offside. Hattrick is a game for people that give it a chance. I thought about quitting the first day I signed up, but I decided to actually wait a few days. The presentation is terrible, the forum looks like it was from the Stone Age, and overall the site basically begs for modernization.
However, Hattrick is an extremely fun game to play. It takes a lot of thinking putting your player in the perfect position and your team with the best tactic to counter your opponent's strengths and exploit his weaknesses. And it feels great when you see your tactics pay off and you get a win. It is always exciting when you enter a bidding war for a new world class goalie and feel as if you got the final bid until your bidding rival suddenly tops it. And it is tense when you and your opponent are tied late on for a crucial league match and satisfying to say the least when your star forward suddenly scores an 89th minute winner.
Hattrick is a great game. The site could use some modernization, the rules and laws of the game might give you headaches and sometimes the forum users are less-than-friendly but if you can handle all that, Hattrick is the game for you.
Here's the link: www.hattrick.org
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