Gridiron! received generally positive reviews from critics. Writing for Computer Gaming World, Wyatt Lee wrote that the game's custom playbooks and teams provided the potential for "tremendous constructability" and the "statistics critical" design was not often observed in football simulation games.[6] John Harrington of Games International considered the game to be an impressive mixture of strategy and arcade play.[2] Atari Explorer's Andy Eddy found the Atari title to be challenging and enjoyable with a "strategically accurate" design, commenting that while the minimal graphics assisted with seeing how formations and plays evolve, the graphics were not of a high standard.[16] Ervin Bobo of Compute! noted the game's customisation abilities presented "options never before seen" in a football simulation, finding the simplified graphics was "no handicap" to the gameplay.[5] Amiga World Magazine reviewer Bob Ryan commended the title as an "excellent physical simulation" and the "best game" played on the Amiga, although acknowledging the "simple but not crude" graphics.[19] Uwe Rönitz for Amiga Joker considered the Amiga version to be appealing and playable, although noting the game took time to get used to with the difficulty "high demands" on the user.[18] However, Torsten Blum for Aktueller Software Markt dismissed the Amiga version of the game as a "failed sports-strategy hybrid" and "lousy simulator", citing the lack of game options, the "spartan" graphics and "monotonous" gameplay.[20]
The game sold well[21] and was voted as one of the 40 Best Games of All Time by Amiga World.[22] Weaver later said in 1994 that Gridiron! "put Bethesda on the map,"[23] and in 1995 Weaver said that the game was the best-selling sports game ever published for Atari ST and Amiga.[24] By 1989, the game sold nearly 20,000 units.[25]
Several critics have retrospectively praised Gridiron for its technical innovation and subsequent influence upon the Madden Football series. Rick Maese of The Washington Post described the game as "unremarkable for its stone-age graphics but ahead of its time for the physics and coding that laid the technical groundwork for sports titles to follow".[14] Tyler Wilde of PC Gamer described the simulation mechanics as an "unheard of feat" for its time.[26] Luke Plunkett of Kotaku similarly noted the game's simulation mechanics were "unheard of" and the first time "true physics" were integrated into sports gaming, whilst assessing the visuals as "ugly" even by the standards of the time.[11]
