YOUR HOME FOR IOWA STATE CYCLONES RETRO GAMES
Two free browser games built around the Iowa State Cyclones and the Cy-Hawk rivalry, drawn in the chunky pixel art of a mid-eighties cartridge. There is nothing to download, nothing to install and no account to make — both games run in this tab, on a phone or a desktop, and start the moment you tap.
Neither is a reflex test dressed up as a sport. Each one is built on a real model — a probability table in the football game, a moving target with genuine physics in the basketball game — and each has a full manual that documents it, down to the odds on every play call.
You call the plays, the defence answers, and the scoreboard tells you whether it worked. Four quarters, four downs a possession, and the whole playbook: run left or right, throw short or deep, punt it away, or send on the kicker. Every call has published odds — a deep pass completes 34% of the time and is intercepted 7% — so fourth and short is a decision you make with the numbers in front of you rather than a guess.
Sixty seconds, a hoop that swings the whole time, and a streak bonus that turns every basket into three points once you have made three in a row. The catch is that the ball is launched at wherever the rim was when you released it, and it takes about half a second to get there — so you are always shooting at a spot the hoop has already left, and hoping it comes back.
Timed well, that is a 98% shot. Timed on reflex, it is closer to 23%. The manual has the measured odds for every release point.
Is a 45-yard field goal worth taking? Why doesn’t a completed short pass always save fourth down? Our Bowl Game strategy guide and kicking calculator explain the tradeoffs using the game’s own rules.
New here? Read about the project for how the games work and where to report a problem.