Punt Return Penalty – Innovation

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The game company’s “punt return-penalty” rules outlined in the Basic or Master Game doesn’t account for any return yardage associated with the following penalties: clipping, offensive holding, personal foul, or an illegal block. APBA specifies to enforce from spot of possession resulting in “zero return yardage for applicable returner and the 10 or 15-yard penalty being enforced from spot of possession.”

If I roll a Play Result (PR) 31 (Master – 7TQ or RP16/Basic 7TQ), PR 35 (Master – 18TQ or 26 TQ/ Basic 22TQ) or PR 36 (Master 5TQ or 3TQ/Basic 4TQ) during a punt return it triggers an additional dice roll to determine if the infraction occurred beyond or before the return gain.

Example for PR 31:

  • I’m using the Basic booklet and the PR is 31 resulting in 7TQ. I need to determine if the penalty occurred prior to the returner gaining 7 yards or did the infraction occur downfield past 7-yards. Once I roll, I look at the red die and if it’s an even number (2, 4, or 6), the penalty occurred downfield, so if the punt returner fielded the punt at his own 31-yard line and advanced it 7-yards to the 38-yard line, the 10 or 15-yard penalty would be enforced from the 38-yard line.
  • If the red die was an odd number (1, 3, or 5), the penalty occurred prior to the returner gaining 7 yards and the white die indicates the spot of the infraction. If white die was 3, I would award the punt returner a 3-yard gain and enforce the 10 or 15-yard penalty from the return team’s 34-yard line.

Example of PR 35:

  • I’m using the Basic booklet and the PR is 35 resulting in 22TQ. I need to determine if the penalty occurred prior to the returner gaining 22 yards or did the infraction occur downfield past 22-yards? Once I roll, I look at the red die and if it’s an even number (2, 4, or 6), the penalty occurred downfield, so if the punt returner fielded the punt at the punt return team’s 31-yard line and advanced it 22-yards to the opponents 47-yard line, the 10 or 15-yard penalty would be enforced from the 47-yard line.
  • If the red die was an odd number (1, 3, or 5), the penalty occurred prior to the returner gaining 22 yards, add both the red and white dice to determine spot of the infraction. If dice roll was 65, I would award the punt returner a 11-yard gain and enforce the 10 or 15-yard penalty from the punt return team’s 42-yard line.  

Example of PR 36:

  • I’m using the Master booklet during the first quarter and PR 36 results in 5TQ. I need to determine if the penalty occurred prior to the returner gaining 5 yards or did the infraction occur downfield past 5-yards? Once I roll, I look at the red die and if it’s an even number (2, 4, or 6), the penalty occurred downfield, so if the punt returner fielded the punt at the punt return team’s 31-yard line and advanced it 5-yards to the punt return team’s 36-yard line, the 10 or 15-yard penalty would be enforced from the 36-yard line.
  • If the red die was an odd number (1, 3, or 5), the penalty occurred prior to the returner gaining 5 yards and the white die indicates the spot of the infraction. If white die was 3, I would award the punt returner a 3-yard gain and enforce the 10 or 15-yard penalty from the punt return team’s 34-yard line. Note: the return always is less than the gain, so if the white die is a 5 or 6, just treat as a 4-yard return.

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