All 22 Turns Pokémon Battles Into a Free Browser Football Game

A new fan-made browser game is putting a distinctly unusual spin on Pokémon battles: American football. All 22, created by Cole Thereum, is a free-to-play project in which players assemble a team of Pokémon and compete on the gridiron against Gym Leaders. Rather than centering on the familiar turn-based formula, the game reframes Pokémon matchups around advancing the ball, managing a play, and ultimately chasing a touchdown.

The concept may sound like a novelty at first, but All 22 appears built around the details that make both team-building games and football games compelling. Players can select Pokémon drawn from all nine generations, creating plenty of room for surprising lineups. A Nidoking facing Gengar is already a memorable matchup in a conventional battle, but placing those creatures into a fast-moving football setting gives the contest a completely different character.

All 22 is playable directly through a web browser. That low barrier to entry is an important part of its appeal: there is no stated need to set up an emulator, apply patches, or install a traditional game client before getting started. Players can simply open the game and begin putting together a roster.

Two views for two different football feels

All 22 offers two game modes, called Pro and Bowl. Both are built around the same basic objective--use a Pokémon team to overcome Gym Leader opposition on the football field--but they present that action from very different perspectives.

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Pro uses the "All 22" camera angle associated with American football analysis. In football, that view shows every player on the field at once, making positioning, formations, routes, and overall tactical shape easier to read. It is a fitting name for a game that wants players to think about an entire team rather than focus only on a single creature at a time.

Bowl, meanwhile, adopts a top-down viewpoint intended to evoke the style of older 16-bit football games. That perspective gives the game a more retro sporting presentation, allowing players to read the field from above instead of through a broadcast-style angle. The choice between modes is therefore more than a visual preference: it can change how a player interprets movement and follows the flow of a match.

The two options also help make the project approachable from different directions. Fans of modern football broadcasts may prefer the tactical, full-field framing of Pro. Players with fond memories of Super Nintendo-era sports games may be more immediately at home with Bowl's overhead angle. Either way, the core challenge remains centered on moving the ball effectively and winning games.

Building a roster from nine generations

The scope of the Pokémon selection is one of All 22's biggest hooks. Drawing from nine generations means the potential pool is enormous, and that in turn makes roster construction a major part of the experience. Longtime Pokémon players will have favorites spread across decades of games, while newer fans can mix recent creatures with familiar Kanto staples.

With so many options available, All 22 includes a randomizer for team selection. That tool can be useful for anyone who does not want to spend too long weighing every possible pick, and it can also make repeat runs less predictable. A randomized team may force players to work with Pokémon they would normally overlook, creating unusual combinations that would never emerge from a carefully optimized roster.

That approach fits the spirit of a browser-based fan game particularly well. It encourages experimentation instead of making every match feel like a fixed exercise in selecting only the most recognizable or powerful Pokémon. One player may want to create a team entirely around personal favorites; another may choose to let the randomizer decide and see whether an unexpected lineup can deliver a winning drive.

The opposition comes in the form of Gym Leaders, bringing a recognizable Pokémon progression structure into this sports-inspired format. Gym Leaders have long served as milestone opponents across the series, so facing them on a football field is an inventive way to preserve the idea of rising through challenging encounters while changing nearly everything about how those encounters play out.

A crossover that asks players to learn the field

All 22 is not simply a Pokémon skin placed over a minimal sports game. Its controls may take time to learn, particularly because there is a lot to keep in mind during play. Familiarity with the rules and rhythms of American football will likely be helpful as well. For players who understand how downs, field position, and football strategy work, the premise should be easier to parse from the outset.

For those less familiar with the sport, the initial experience may be more demanding. American football has its own vocabulary and a set of tactical conventions that can be intimidating when viewed from an overhead or all-field angle. The game's appeal is likely strongest for players who enjoy the idea of combining Pokémon collecting and team selection with the structure of a football match, rather than for those expecting a standard monster-battling RPG.

Still, the unusual nature of the project is precisely what makes it stand out. Pokémon fan creations frequently explore alternate genres, from fighting games to tactics games. Recent fan projects have also imagined Pokémon through real-time arena combat and grid-based tactical battles. All 22 follows that same creative impulse, except its inspiration comes from the playbook rather than the battlefield.

There is something naturally entertaining about translating monster matchups into a team sport. Pokémon already have distinct silhouettes, personalities, elemental identities, and fan communities built around preferred picks. Football adds formation-based decision-making, movement across a shared space, and the tension of a drive that can swing on a single successful play. Combining those ingredients gives All 22 a premise that is easy to understand even before players have mastered its controls.

Free to play, with no stated monetization

Cole Thereum has emphasized that All 22 is intended to remain free to play. The project does not include fantasy-football betting or other stated monetization tied to the game. That is notable in a sports-adjacent game, where seasonal modes, card packs, wagering features, and recurring purchases are common in many commercial releases.

Instead, All 22 presents itself as an accessible fan project built for people who want to try its unusual mixture of Pokémon and football without a purchase requirement. Its browser format supports that goal. A player can check it out without dedicating storage space to a download or committing to a longer installation process.

As with many independent browser projects, ease of access may be one of its most important strengths. A quick session can be enough to test a team concept, use the randomizer, or learn how the two camera modes differ. At the same time, the breadth of the available Pokémon roster leaves room for players to return and build entirely different squads.

A playful new use for Pokémon fan-game creativity

All 22 is a reminder of how flexible the Pokémon formula can be in the hands of fan creators. The official games have explored many genres over the years, but community-made projects regularly push the creatures into even more unexpected settings. A football game may not be the first genre most people associate with Gym Leaders and Pokémon teams, yet the pairing has enough shared emphasis on strategy and lineup choices to make sense.

The game's two viewpoints give it an additional identity beyond the crossover itself. Pro aims for a complete tactical view of the field, while Bowl calls back to retro sports-game presentation. Combined with a roster spanning nine generations and Gym Leaders as opponents, those features make All 22 more than a single visual joke about Pokémon scoring touchdowns.

Players should expect a learning curve, especially if they are not already comfortable with American football. But for fans interested in trying a different kind of Pokémon-inspired game, All 22 offers a free and immediately accessible experiment. Whether players carefully craft a dream roster or hand control over to the randomizer, the goal is simple: take the field, outplay the opposition, and reach the end zone.