NFL Showdown 2002 is the first sports card game endorsed by the National Football League Coaches Association, and is the most recent addition to the Wizards of the Coast Showdown Sports line, which also includes MLB (Major League Baseball) Showdown and the forthcoming NBA Showdown.

"NFL Showdown 2002 provides a realistic and authentic football experience," said Larry Kennan, executive director of the National Football League Coaches Association. "It's a great strategic game that really puts you on the sidelines as an NFL coach."

NFL Showdown 2002 simulates an actual football game, allowing players to act as owners and coaches of their own NFL teams by drafting and building teams, calling plays and developing overall game strategy.

This game is the first sports card game to incorporate an electronic reader. The PlayGrid card reader, manufactured by Tiger Electronics (also a division of Hasbro), is a handheld scanning device used specifically in NFL Showdown 2002, allowing football fans to play a strategic and statistically accurate football game without sacrificing the fast-paced action of an actual NFL game.

The PlayGrid reads, decodes and stores information from cards that are swiped through its electronic scanner. The PlayGrid card reader will be available only in the NFL Showdown 2002 two-player Starter Set.

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