How would you explain American football to an adult who isn’t familiar with it?

[Chronos]

@Bullitt

● If they can keep moving the ball down the field and into the end zone, they get a touchdown worth 6 points. They also get one more play to get an extra point, or an extra two points — the team chooses which method to try for, either 1 or 2 points.

I’d also mention here that the 1-extra-point method is very easy (for football players, at least) and almost always chosen, so in practice, a touchdown can usually be thought of as being worth 7 points.

But yeah, that’s a pretty good starter explanation, overall. More details would surely emerge during the game, like the different ways to move the ball.

[Horatius]

@Spoons

But the chess analogy helps a lot: move, respond, assess field position, make a decision; move, respond, assess field position again, make a decision, and so on.

I once said, “Hockey is blitzkrieg, Football is trench warfare.”

[Chronos]

@Horatius

I once said, “Hockey is blitzkrieg, Football is trench warfare.”

Yes, you did.

[Horatius]

Hey, memory problems run in my family!

[Hook]

Just as an aside, an explanation i recently heard of the difference between American football and Soccer:
American football is a game for coaches, soccer is a game for players.

[RickJay]

Any person from a country that enjoy a rugby style game should of course be directed to first think of rugby, which is a cousin of football.