Interactive comic / narrative sports archive / football simulation-lite
Grit, rain, and roaring terraces — a 1970s football world you can read, play, and collect.
Poolhaven is an original interactive comic universe inspired by northern English football in the 1970s — a tribute to Hartlepool United and the clubs whose stories live on in match programmes, scarves, and memory. It combines a moody digital archive with playable match simulation, a full season campaign, and unlockable collectibles.
The world is built to feel like something you can hold: rain-soaked terraces, programme covers, and the slow rhythm of a season. Episode 1 unfolds as a 36-page comic with a page-flip viewer, while a searchable archive of vintage-style match programmes and posters deepens the sense of place.
Beyond reading, Poolhaven lets you play. A top-down match simulation brings tactics and player attributes into short, readable contests, and season mode carries the campaign through league and cup fixtures, standings, and a flipbook season book that captures how the year unfolded.
Collectible card packs and stickers unlock through play, giving the North Division’s 21 fictional clubs a lasting presence beyond any single match. Poolhaven is still in development — a football world meant to be read, played, and collected.
Articles
Design notes, updates, and deep dives from the Funatic Games archive.
Interactive comic / narrative sports archive / football simulation-lite · 3 min
We’ve started building Poolhaven — an interactive comic universe inspired by northern English football in the 1970s. Episode 1 is live, the archive is growing, and you can already simulate matches, play through a season, and unlock collectible cards.
Read →