Strat-o-Matic or General Tabletop Baseball Q

[Calis]

Ok, so I've recently gone on a baseball craze, and I think I'd like to try out the world of tabletop baseball. Something that doesn't involve me staring at a computer screen or a TV screen, and something that I could maybe play with a friend and down some beers. I'd also like a game with a decent solo play ability though in case I get that urge.

So what are the options? Is Strat far and away the best thing going? I actually don't care about historical accuracy or even having real players. I'd almost prefer fictional, but I want it to play a good game of baseball and not be to brain numbing to try and figure out. Any options? I searched through some old posts here and saw some mention of When the Grass was Green, which some people thought was good, but needlessly complicated. Has that been fixed? Or is it dead?

Furthermore, if Strat is the way to go. What do I need exactly for it? Their website is God awful, and incredibly confusing. I look through their online store and it gives me absolutely no idea what I need. Is there a basic starter pack? Or does buying a Season get me everything I need?

Any help would be appreciated.

[sooner333]

I have a Strat game from 1991 and the player cards and the dice are really all you need. It comes with a little board to track your runners with pegs. Oh, and you'll also need the cards or 20-sided die. But really, there's not too much equipment.

[panerd]

APBA baseball must have taken about 3 actual years of my life when I was younger. There was a basic game and an advanced version. I am sure the advanced was most statistically accurate, but the basic version was a red die and a white die and 4 boards and it was the most engrossing game I have ever played. They may have gone more towards computers, but I am guessing they still sell the board game also.

[CraigSca]

The game you're speaking of is When the Grass Was Real. It's free, and can be obtained for free from this website - http://www.tabletop-sports.com/ - (check their downloads section, under "baseball games"). If you're looking for a purchase game, you can't go wrong with Replay Baseball (www.replaybb.com (http://www.replaybb.com)) - but that's a standard baseball replay game. If you're looking for fictional, the only one I know of is WTGWR.

[Calis]

The game you're speaking of is When the Grass Was Real. It's free, and can be obtained for free from this website - http://www.tabletop-sports.com/ - (check their downloads section, under "baseball games"). If you're looking for a purchase game, you can't go wrong with Replay Baseball (www.replaybb.com (http://www.replaybb.com)) - but that's a standard baseball replay game. If you're looking for fictional, the only one I know of is WTGWR.

Ah great, yeah thanks a bunch that was the one.

This BB replay looks good, at least I can actually SEE something of the game from their site which is helpful. Looks like a good game.

[Calis]

Standard time for a Replay Baseball game reasonable? Roughly 30-45 minutes?

[CraigSca]

Yeah, it's not quite as fast as APBA basic, but you can play 30-45 mins easy. It's nice to have pitcher/batter interaction in every atbat.

[RendeR]

When I was young I spent hours upon hours playing strat-o-matic baseball and football. They were the best games. I'd actually keep score in real basebal scorebooks for my leagues! It was the next best thing to wiffle ball =)

[Oilers9911]

Strat-o-Matic was my first baseball board game and is still my game of choice. I also own Replay and APBA. Replay is an excellent game as is APBA. You can't go wrong with any of the three however some find the basic pitching system for APBA a little lacking. Right now I am doing a 1920 short season with my Strat-o-Matic board game and a Negro Leagues tournament with APBA.

If you are looking at getting started with last season's cards for Strat-o-Matic, go to this page hxxp://strat-o-matic.com/eShop/10Browse.asp and scroll right to the bottom of the page. You would want the 2006 Baseball Game Product Code: B2006G. I believe it comes with 24 players per team but i'm not certain. To get even more players you'd need to order the 2006 Baseball Game With Additional Players. Product Code: B2006GA.

Hope this helps.

[RendeR]

I'm looking forward to my kids getting a little bigger so I can get SoM games again for us to play when its nasty outside. They'll be excellent time spenders!

[Fouts]

I played so much APBA when I was a kid that I had most of the results boards memorized. It was doing the stats by hand that was the killer.

[Calis]

Strat-o-Matic was my first baseball board game and is still my game of choice. I also own Replay and APBA. Replay is an excellent game as is APBA. You can't go wrong with any of the three however some find the basic pitching system for APBA a little lacking. Right now I am doing a 1920 short season with my Strat-o-Matic board game and a Negro Leagues tournament with APBA.

If you are looking at getting started with last season's cards for Strat-o-Matic, go to this page hxxp://strat-o-matic.com/eShop/10Browse.asp and scroll right to the bottom of the page. You would want the 2006 Baseball Game Product Code: B2006G. I believe it comes with 24 players per team but i'm not certain. To get even more players you'd need to order the 2006 Baseball Game With Additional Players. Product Code: B2006GA.

Hope this helps.

Great, thanks a bunch. I'm not real interested in playing last years, I'd like to go back in time a bit and play a season back when it was a little more "pure". I was looking at '64 because there's quite a few books I could read and would be easy to research and get into. Any suggestions for a good year would be helpful. I've always been more interested in low-scoring pitcher dominated games.

Just want to clarify before I make the plunge, all I need to buy for the '64 game for instance is the '64 game box right? That comes with the cards or do I buy the separate card pack? I'm assuming the box contains everything I need to play, but man is it obtuse.

[Oilers9911]

Great, thanks a bunch. I'm not real interested in playing last years, I'd like to go back in time a bit and play a season back when it was a little more "pure". I was looking at '64 because there's quite a few books I could read and would be easy to research and get into. Any suggestions for a good year would be helpful. I've always been more interested in low-scoring pitcher dominated games.

Just want to clarify before I make the plunge, all I need to buy for the '64 game for instance is the '64 game box right? That comes with the cards or do I buy the separate card pack? I'm assuming the box contains everything I need to play, but man is it obtuse.

Yeah man, I agree the website is terrible. There is a rumour of Strat being sold so I hope the first thing the new owners do is create a new website. To order the game with the 1964 cards you would go to that same page I gave you and order Item B1964G: 1964 Baseball Game. Make sure you don't accidentally order the 1964 Baseball Cards because then you would only get the cards.

Let me know how it goes.

[OldGiants]

Here's the best place for advice on Strat and comparisons to other tabletop games.

http://forums.delphiforums.com/tabletopsports/start

[Calis]

Ok, decision made.

Baseball Game Setup (B0000 GS)

and went with

1988 Baseball cards with Additional Players

This was in the prime of my childhood baseball watching days. Might try my hand at replaying the Royals season and see what I can do. Should bring back some fond memories.

[rowech]

Replay tabletop and Strat computer.

[Calis]

Replay tabletop and Strat computer.

Yeah, I ended up going with Strat to start out with over Replay, just because it seemed to have a few more years available, for the simple history of it..I mean, I've always heard about Strat just never played it, and then moreso for the fact that it ended up being about $25 bucks cheaper to get the set and a season. :) I'll definitely try out Replay sometime though if I find I enjoy this, it looks like a slick game.

[st.cronin]

This thread is crying out for JonInMiddleGa.

[Desmond]

I am baffled that there is still not a cheap and viable PC Version of these games. It's simple numbers and text, it can't be that difficult to make or that pricey to charge the exorbonant prices DM and Strat charge to get past seasons and the such.

I'd probably be willing to pay $70-$80 to get a career sim modeled on Strat. Now i'm gettin angry.

[JonInMiddleGA]

This thread is crying out for JonInMiddleGa.

{hands the thread a tissue}

Actually OldGiants already covered the #1 advice I would have given - the Delphi forum has more stuff about the various baseball options than you can shake a stick at.

Then again, the other thing I would suggest is being careful about making an new inquiry on a tabletop forum about the pros & cons of the various baseball games. Without hesitation I'd say that is THE most contentious issue I've ever seen in those communities, closest FOFC thing to the subject might be the politics of the left & right. Baseball on the tabletop comparison threads are most often a great time to break out the phrase "this won't end well".

And, oddly enough, I haven't played any real amount of baseball with a serious tabletop game in probably 30 years. Pro wrestling, tennis, golf, hockey, bullriding, even Rollerball, but not baseball. The best options are usually several times pricier than I'm comfortable with, the lesser options I've sampled I really couldn't get all that fired up about.

[Wolfpack]

Then again, the other thing I would suggest is being careful about making an new inquiry on a tabletop forum about the pros & cons of the various baseball games. Without hesitation I'd say that is THE most contentious issue I've ever seen in those communities, closest FOFC thing to the subject might be the politics of the left & right. Baseball on the tabletop comparison threads are most often a great time to break out the phrase "this won't end well".

Not to mention the recent (and apparently re-kindled) flame war that has been raging over how exactly games should be reviewed at all....

[JonInMiddleGA]

Not to mention the recent (and apparently re-kindled) flame war that has been raging over how exactly games should be reviewed at all....

There's some hypersensitive bitches in the world (or raging pricks who like to pretend to be sensitive) and that subject apparently draws them out on tabletop forums.

Never has a topic nor a few threads needed the phrase "cowboy up" more.

[Calis]

Arrived in the mail today, that didn't take long.

My god, lots and lots of cards to separate..I'm trying to convince the gf to do them all for me, and surprisingly it's working so far.

Kind of daunting at first, just bunches of numbers but I went through a large part of the rules online and it all seems pretty straightforward once you get the hang of it.

I'm thinking about some sort of dynasty to get me started on this, I'm thinking about doing maybe just a simple double elimination tournament with 12 or so teams to get to see several different teams or maybe we could do some sort of team draft on here with a couple people and I could play out the games? Any interest in this?

[Galaril]

I am still in search of a good replay baseball sim and after trying ACTION PC BASEBALL along with strat-o-matics pc baseball have continued to look. I have in facted given up on computer baseball games and am looking at to tabletop board games. One game Replay Baseball seems really good but one thing is it seems REALLY complex as far the number crunching and numerous dice rolls you need to do for one play result. Also they only seem to have a few seasons available at this time for the newer version of the game..........But, my question is more to the second game called "Baseball Classics" I came across it here:
http://playbaseballclassics.com/html/faq.html

and they have every season available since 1901. The game is quite afforadle compared to it's competition. The 2007 game and season is either $35 or $40 depending whether you get the basic or deluxe version. Also, individuals season are available for only $16. Plus, they sell individual teams and also sell all seasons or teasm as downloads as well so if you chosse you can buy them for 50% less...........
Has any of the old board gamers here like Oilers9911, OldGiants,JIMG,CraigS, etc hears of this one or played it. I haven't been able to find anymention of it on the tabletop games forum at Delphi which is strange?

[JonInMiddleGA]

I haven't been able to find anymention of it on the tabletop games forum at Delphi which is strange?

LOL, "strange" only in the sense of the best-way-to-start-a-flame-war comments from last year. This particular game set off a spectacular forum brawl there on at least a couple of occasions.

As a game, it is what it is - simple, relatively fun, easy to learn & play. And since I bought it & played with it briefly I believe there's a been a couple of additions (stealing, fielding) that should have added a couple of things that were uncomfortably absent from the original.

But there was a great deal of controversy about the methodology behind the numbers on the cards. Seems that the system didn't take into account the 50% of the results coming from the pitcher's cards and so fails to "overpower" the hitter's cards to account for that ... meaning that above-average (or better) players aren't likely to be as productive as they were in real life. Questions & discussion about that didn't go so well with the developer, and then it turned into some pretty nasty attacks on the guy which went even less well and so on it digressed.

FWIW, here's the most recent thread about the game (http://forums.delphiforums.com/tabletopsports/messages?msg=11559.1) I could find. It kind of recaps some of the pros & cons. For me, I think a quote in that thread from the Delphi site operator kind of sums up my own take on the game I'm not upset that I bought a season of Baseball Classics, but I also don't see myself running out to get more seasons any time soon.

[CraigSca]

Ooh - if you're looking for a playable and accurate game that uses DIPS, try Inside Pitch. It's quickly become my game of choice in the short time it's been around. Only a few seasons available right now - '65, '69, '78, '80, '85, '95 and '07 - but they've all come out in the past 4 months.

Available here: insidesportsgames.org

[Galaril]

LOL, "strange" only in the sense of the best-way-to-start-a-flame-war comments from last year. This particular game set off a spectacular forum brawl there on at least a couple of occasions.

As a game, it is what it is - simple, relatively fun, easy to learn & play. And since I bought it & played with it briefly I believe there's a been a couple of additions (stealing, fielding) that should have added a couple of things that were uncomfortably absent from the original.

But there was a great deal of controversy about the methodology behind the numbers on the cards. Seems that the system didn't take into account the 50% of the results coming from the pitcher's cards and so fails to "overpower" the hitter's cards to account for that ... meaning that above-average (or better) players aren't likely to be as productive as they were in real life. Questions & discussion about that didn't go so well with the developer, and then it turned into some pretty nasty attacks on the guy which went even less well and so on it digressed.

FWIW, here's the most recent thread about the game (http://forums.delphiforums.com/tabletopsports/messages?msg=11559.1) I could find. It kind of recaps some of the pros & cons. For me, I think a quote in that thread from the Delphi site operator kind of sums up my own take on the game I'm not upset that I bought a season of Baseball Classics, but I also don't see myself running out to get more seasons any time soon.

Wow, that ain't good. Thanks for the info on that one and sure am glad I didn't post this question the board over there. Too bad the guy's game site is pretty good at least compared to SOMs.

[Galaril]

Ooh - if you're looking for a playable and accurate game that uses DIPS, try Inside Pitch. It's quickly become my game of choice in the short time it's been around. Only a few seasons available right now - '65, '69, '78, '80, '85, '95 and '07 - but they've all come out in the past 4 months.

Available here: insidesportsgames.org


CraigSca,

I couldn't find this one on google search , do you have a link on it?

[Galaril]

Sorry, disregard I found inside pitchs site and it looks promising but a bit on the expensive side for a new game but I guess that is on par for this genre these days. ..................Craig one question how many players per team. One thing is alot of the other games like replay only come with 24 players , 15 batters and 9 pitchers which can be a real problem if there are injuries.

[Galaril]

Here is a new replay game that is getting great reviews and is pretty affordable 29.99 game plus 2007 season plus it's made by a good guy it appears Jeff Downey:

Hardball Wars-Downey Games is proud to announce the release of HardBall Wars.
Link:http://www.downeygames.com/catalog/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=1_58_90&products_id=1060

and game info:http://www.tabletop-sports.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=360&mode=thread&order=0&thold=0

[CraigSca]

What I love about Inside Pitch is the interaction between pitcher and batter for every atbat. Every atbat begins on the pitcher side - the pitcher can call up a strikeout, walk, homerun or "no" check (there are a few others, like ballpark factors, too, but those are the important ones). If it calls for a check you re-roll and look at the batters strikeout, walk or homerun range. If they don't qualify, the atbat falls to the batter and he has a chance of an out, or a hit (simulating his BABIP).

I have never had a game simulate pitchers who have the ability to get by via keeping the ball in the park, and not walking batters (a Bob Tewksbury type) without artificially lowering their hits against rate, or living at the whim of a 50/50 game. This game just gets so many things right.

It might be pricey if you buy an entire card set off the bat - but it includes shipping in the price. The 1985 set I bought I think was $45 total. If you want, you can buy the game parts and purchase a PDF version of a set. The PDFs are < $20. I know of one guy who buys the PDF version and then takes it to Kinkos to print on card stock - he doesn't do that to save money, only so he can get the set faster. Not sure how much, if any, he really saves.

The top 23 hitters and top 12 pitchers are carded per team. However, if a pitcher threw 20+ innings or a batter had 20+ atbats, they are automatically carded.

[QuikSand]

CAN WE PLEASE GET A SEPARATE FORUM FOR ALL THIS TABLETOP BASEBALL CRAZINESS?

[tarcone]

This thread bring back memories. I owned about 10 Statis Pro/Avalon Hill sports games.
The 1st I bought in 1980 was Statis Pro Baseball. I played and played. I condensed the players into 8 teams and 2 divisions. I planned on playing a 162 game schedule. Then the playoffs and WS. I kept stats by hand.
This thread has inspired me to dig it out (still have it). I am on game 157. I may dig it out an start playing again.
I love statis pro. I bought a strat o matic but never got into it.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Here is a new replay game that is getting great reviews and is pretty affordable 29.99 game plus 2007 season plus it's made by a good guy it appears Jeff Downey:

I haven't played his new baseball product but I can vouch for the "good guy" portion.

Jeff is the owner of www.tabletop-sports.com (as well as his Downey Games line of products, several of which I've played quite a bit). It's probably the number one resource for free downloads, add-ons, user mods, etc. for tabletop sports gaming & is a big part of how I got back into the hobby several years ago. He did the website out of pocket for years before launching a line of his own for sale, in no small part (I think, based on his comments at the time) to help offset the cost of maintaining the site chock full o' free goodness.

[Galaril]

This thread bring back memories. I owned about 10 Statis Pro/Avalon Hill sports games.
The 1st I bought in 1980 was Statis Pro Baseball. I played and played. I condensed the players into 8 teams and 2 divisions. I planned on playing a 162 game schedule. Then the playoffs and WS. I kept stats by hand.
This thread has inspired me to dig it out (still have it). I am on game 157. I may dig it out an start playing again.
I love statis pro. I bought a strat o matic but never got into it.

I remember that one fondly too.

[Galaril]

So anyone play hardball wars yet?

[Galaril]

So, not that anyone is asking but I went ahead and jumped back into table top dice and cards board game sports. My first game I got was the afroementioned Downey Games "Hardball Wars" My first game was a good one the 2004 season Red Sox loses 4-3 to the Orioles with Pedro giving up a 2 run go ahead HR in the 8th inning. The game is pretty good not to tedious as some board games can be and the materials are pretty good also. Two things I wished was one they had a better scoresheet the one that comes with the game isn't very good IMHO.The second thing it would have been nice to have abaseball diamond card or baord with small tokens or chips so you can more easily keep track of inning outs and base runners.

Anyone who likes this type of game might want to check it out I got the entire game, and the 2007 and 1983 seaosn for 55 dollars deliverd by priority mail included so quite reasonably priced. I might try a football like Inside Blitz by Inside Sports or Downey games Gridiron Wars next.

[Philliesfan980]

The thing that keeps me back from these tabletop games is a way of keeping stats using some type of automated program (maybe a complicated Excel workbook). Does anyone know if these types of things exist?

[Galaril]

The thing that keeps me back from these tabletop games is a way of keeping stats using some type of automated program (maybe a complicated Excel workbook). Does anyone know if these types of things exist?

I agree that is one thing that is a pain in the ass tallying everything up. There are programs out there usually based in Excel with macros built in. I think I saw one on Baseball Almanac.com.

[Flasch186]

DL Legends of Boxing today just for Shits and giggles....not good. I bout WMMA today for my trip to Alaska and so far just dipping a toe in I havnt been turned off and thats a good thing since I had issues with the TEW I bought at one time.

[Philliesfan980]

I agree that is one thing that is a pain in the ass tallying everything up. There are programs out there usually based in Excel with macros built in. I think I saw one on Baseball Almanac.com.

Thanks for the info. Do you know if there are any that are taylored to a particular game?

[tarcone]

I picked up a baseball game this week. It is tim. A replica of an antique. Its called "The Great American Game:Vintage tim baseball game"
It has a button you push that spins a wheel inside the back of the game. Below is listed no one on, man on 1st, etc.
I havent played yet. But will tonight

[Galaril]

Thanks for the info. Do you know if there are any that are taylored to a particular game?

I don't but if I do I will post here.

[Galaril]

Thanks for the info. Do you know if there are any that are taylored to a particular game?

I don't but if I do I will post here.

Ok I found some excel spreadsheet stuff and also a team stats calculator. It is call the baseball stats scorecard.
http://www.baseball-almanac.com/scoreit/baseball_scorebook.shtml

[Philliesfan980]

Ok I found some excel spreadsheet stuff and also a team stats calculator. It is call the baseball stats scorecard.
http://www.baseball-almanac.com/scoreit/baseball_scorebook.shtml

Thanks for the link, looks very impressive. Are you planning on using this?

[Galaril]

Thanks for the link, looks very impressive. Are you planning on using this?

For at least Hardball wars I will try it out with my Red Sox 2004 replay.

[DanGarion]

Anyone have and good Strat strategy sites? I'm playing for the first time and joined a long time league and I'm looking for some pointers along with long team strategy. Figured the board is my best first asset before I look around the interwebs.

[JetsIn06]

Anyone have and good Strat strategy sites? I'm playing for the first time and joined a long time league and I'm looking for some pointers along with long team strategy. Figured the board is my best first asset before I look around the interwebs.

I'll try and find it...but while I'm looking, try finding the "Strat-O-Sphere" site. I think that's what it's called anyway...but I think it was on their old site so it may no longer exist!

They had a lot of cool strategy articles.

Anyone know if the 2009 set is out?

Edit: It came out Feb 12.

[JetsIn06]

http://www.stratostrategy.com/index.php

Baseball Stratogists (http://www.stratogists.com/)

Strat-O-Matic Fan Forum (http://www.stratfanforum.com/forums/)

[JetsIn06]

Anyone have and good Strat strategy sites? I'm playing for the first time and joined a long time league and I'm looking for some pointers along with long team strategy. Figured the board is my best first asset before I look around the interwebs.

How does the league work? Do you draft new players each season or something? I've never been in a league, only played individual games or series with my dad growing up.

[DanGarion]

How does the league work? Do you draft new players each season or something? I've never been in a league, only played individual games or series with my dad growing up.

Basically you keep your team year over year, but you draft the new cards that come out. Then you have to cut your roster down to 40. Or something like that.

[DanGarion]

So in my 12 team Strat-o-Matic Baseball league, I'm basically the 2nd worst team in the league with barely any pitching. I traded my #1 for 2011 and Luke Gregerson (this year) for Clayton Kershaw, Dan Haren, and a 3rd for 2012. Most of you probably have no idea what I'm talking about but those that do, what do you think? (I could have taken Greinke and not got the #3 for 2012 if I had wanted to)