Biff Steals Sports Almanac

Lore & Background

By handing the book to his younger self, Old Biff ensures that his past self can place bets on every major sporting event for decades. This accumulation of wealth allows the Tannen family to amass immense power, buying out businesses and silencing political opposition. The resulting timeline is a grim reflection where Biff owns Hill Valley, George McFly is dead or missing, Lorraine has been forced into marriage with him, and Marty's father is essentially erased from existence.

In Their Own Story

Rain lashed against the cobblestones of 1955 Hill Valley as Old Biff watched his younger counterpart stumble from the alley, clutching a bruised jaw and nursing an ego shattered by George McFly. Instead of delivering another blow, the elder Tannen stepped from the shadows with a cackle that cut through the storm. He thrust a thick, glossy volume into young Biff's trembling hands. 'Here,' he hissed, eyes gleaming with predatory greed. 'Everything you need to know about the next forty years of sports.' The younger bully stared at the cover, then up at the mysterious stranger, oblivious that this single exchange was about to unravel the fabric of time.

Reader's Guide

The dominoes fell in 2015 when Old Biff spotted Doc Brown's DeLorean parked outside the courthouse. Realizing the car was a time machine and spotting the Grays Sports Almanac left carelessly inside, he waited for the vehicle to depart before stealing both. Setting the coordinates for November 12, 1955, he arrived just moments after young George McFly had been knocked unconscious. Locating young Biff in an alleyway, Old Biff handed over the almanac, explaining how to leverage future sports scores for unimaginable wealth, before returning to his own time. Upon arrival in 2015, however, he found a nightmarish reality: Hill Valley was a dystopian fiefdom ruled by his younger self. George McFly was dead, Lorraine was trapped as Biff's unwilling wife, and Marty lived in squalor. When Marty traveled back from the original 1985 to this dark timeline, he uncovered the truth of the almanac. Racing against time through a stormy 1955 night, Marty intercepted Old Biff just as he was about to hand over the book. The ensuing struggle sent the elderly Tannen tumbling into the DeLorean's trunk; the car crashed and burned, consuming the timeline-altering vehicle but leaving the almanac intact for a fleeting second before it vanished from existence.

Did You Know?

• The concept of using sports betting to alter history was inspired by real-world discussions about the ethics of knowing future events.
• In the alternate timeline, Biff's mansion is filled with memorabilia celebrating his own supposed greatness rather than historical artifacts.
• The DeLorean DMC-12 used in this sequence is the same vehicle Doc Brown modified to reach 88 mph, now repurposed for a criminal enterprise.
• This event marks the only time a character travels back in time specifically to give an object to their younger self, creating a causal loop.