Games - Hattrick

	Games - Hattrick

: This article is about the browser game. For the generic term, see hat-trick.

Hattrick (also known internally simply as HT) is an online, browser-based, football management game (MMOG) developed and based in Sweden. Currently the game supports 106 different countries, each with its own league pyramid, and 36 different languages. As of March 2006, the game had over 775,000 users, each with his own team. Hattrick is in its 28th season and has been running since August 30th, 1997. Most users cite Season 11, which began October 15th, 2000, as the beginning of Hattrick as it is today.

The game is completely free to play, though there is an optional Supporter Service as well as a Mobile Service, both available by in-game purchase. The normal service includes the ability to change the training type, hire and fire your staff, buy and sell players, set your lineup for the match, invest in a youth squad, and run the club as an owner of a football club would. As with any manager game, the player must assign positions to the players and some basic tactical and strategic options. Hattrick is always under development, and the game developers are constantly adding new features to the game and enhancing the current ones. These additions, and proposed ideas, are usually accompanied by heated debate in the game's conferences.

This game can be found at .

Basics

Every user in Hattrick has a team of their own. The user has almost unlimited control over their team, as long as they play within the economic and tactical restrictions. As a result, many different types of teams in Hattrick exist. The team's type is generally shaped by the training program set up by the user, as well as the formations played.

Registration

Hattrick is unique in that all registrations must be validated by a non-automated Hattrick GM (one of four types of administrators within Hattrick). This validation period generally lasts a few days after the user has requested a team, but may last as long as a month if the user's country is filled to capacity and has a long waiting list. Once users have submitted a request, they may see their position in the country's waiting list by logging in to their newly created name. After the administrator has validated that the user does not already have a team and is indeed a resident of their requested country, the user receives a team. Nearly always, the newbie takes over someone's old, defunct team and the team's position in the league structure with an initial set of players, a weak coach, a small stadium, fanclub, and staff; once in a while, and much more common in smaller countries, the owner will take over a "bot team," or a team in control by the computer. There is no advantage or disadvantage to what type of team a player takes over; every team begins with roughly the same skill level of players. The player is then free to manage his or her squad, sell and purchase the players, define a training scheme, and so forth.

Gameplay

Hattrick combines elements of economic management, tactical options, and community interaction. To consistently win, it is necessary for a manager to utilize all three of these elements. The basic idea of Hattrick is to manage a football team wisely, whether it be in buying and selling players, setting the team's lineup, or expanding the arena to the perfect size. The main tasks of a manager every week include:

choosing a friendly (if the team is not in the national cup)
setting the optimal lineups for both the league game and cup/friendly game
"pulling" a player from the team's youth squad and either selling, keeping, or firing that player as needed
monitoring the team's training program to track the progress of the trainees
tracking the economic progress of the team from week to week to make sure the club is making a profit over time

During almost every hattrick week, a good manager completes all of these tasks. In addition, teams have a number of tasks that must be completed, including transferring players as needed, expanding the arena if necessary, and hiring the best staff for the team's needs. Hattrick is neverending, but the vast majority of teams play to win games; therefore, when a team consistently wins games at every level, that team has "won" the game. Managing a Hattrick team to success takes patience and skill.

Structure of the Game

The League Pyramid

Each country has its own league pyramid. Abandoned teams in high levels of the league pyramid are generally not given to new players until the team demotes toward the bottom of the pyramid over time. As a result, new users begin at the bottom of their country's pyramid and have to work their way up by winning their division at each level. Each division has eight teams competing for the league title. When new players join, their division is randomly selected by the administrator who handles their registration. If a player is successful enough to win their division, he or she has the opportunity to promote to the next level the following season; depending on the division level of the team and the team's relative performance when compared with other winners from their level, the league winner either auto-promotes to the next level or plays a qualifier against a team from the higher division.

[ Visit the complete Wikipedia entry for Hattrick ]

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