Customer Reviews

Strat-o-Matic Deluxe Baseball 2011 Revised Edition

5 star:		(18)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Years before "fantasy baseball" became a fad, Strat-O-Matic was giving youngsters the opportunity to manage their favorite major league baseball players. Only those who are baseball fans can appreciate how much fun it is to play a tabletop dice game that accurately re-creates major leaguers' performance so well on so many levels.

The original version of Strat-O-Matic Baseball, which is still around as the game's "basic" version, is pretty simplistic. But beginning in 1972, when the "advanced" version was born, the company has continually added rules and made improvements that make the game more challenging and realistic. The game today also has a "super advanced" version, which re-creates just about every variable that means anything in a baseball game.

You can still play the basic game if you want. But those who grew up with the game, or left it and returned, will find the super-advanced version a fun challenge. Alas, the "fantasy baseball" mentality has robbed the game of some of its innocence; many SOM draft leagues and their general managers take this game a wee bit too seriously.

All teams come with 27 players plus perhaps one to three optional "mixed players" who didn't finish the season with the team. (All 30 major league teams and the mixed players come with the game sold here.) In the bad old days, teams came with only 20 players each, or 24, if one bought the optional "additional players." And if a key player was traded from his original team to the other league, he may not have gotten a card at all. Fortunately, that's no longer the case; in the 2003-season set, for example, Ugueth Urbina has two cards, one each for the Texas Rangers and Florida Marlins.

Gripes about the game are minor. The perforated player cards come on giant sheets that you have to break apart yourself, and this is a real chore. The six-sided dice are small and cheap, and the super-advanced fielding charts are on flimsy, decidedly nondurable paper. (Cardboard charts are available from Strat-O-Matic.)

Despite these complaints, the game is well worth the money. This is all the more reason for baseball fans of virtually any age to give SOM a try.

I've been a "Strat Fan" for many years, and this game is unparalleled in its level of fun and enjoyment. I usually play full 162 game schedules with a hall of fame team vs other teams. Granted, the hall of famers usually spank the competition, but its still loads of fun to roll the dice and check the cards.

Each player card is double sided, with one side for the basic game and the other side for the advanced game. I recommend the basic side for new players, while experienced players will probably enjoy the more realistic advanced side. Unfortunately, the hall of famers (i.e. Ty Cobb, Babe Ruth, et. al.) can only be played in the basic mode. Additional eras and teams can be purchased for minimal cost.

One full season's worth of cards is included with the game, and you can re-create your own exciting season. Helpful charts and cards are included to help with rules questions and dice rolls.

Strat-O-Matic baseball has provided me hours of fun for many years, and the game continues to get better and better. Pick up a copy of this fine game and experience baseball when it was a game.

I've been playing this game since 1970 and have every team that has been issued since. You can't call yourself a true baseball fan without playing it. You get to be a big league manager, make out your lineups, choose your strategies: sacrifice, squeeze, hit and run, steal, position your infielders, hit the cutoff man, its all in there and more. Every player rated and simulated. Play any fantasy lineup you choose. Set up any matchup in history. Its all in there.

This game is not a fantasy. It is a Sim. It is made up of real player stats for the particular year you're playing with. It is the best baseball simulation game of all time. I'm not messing with you. I've played it for hours on end. Buy it, you'll see.

I've been playing Strat-o-matic baseball since 1964; I believe it was first advertised in the back of baseball magazines in 1963. Over the years the game has evolved into an internet game. The original board game has improved. For a baseball fan the world of statistics and probability is opened. It develops problem solving skills as the player acts as a baseball manager. Besides its educational value, the game is also a lot of inexpensive fun. Let's see, I was 12 when I first played Strat-o-matic, and now I'm an avid player at 50! Only now I don't have to "score" the games to compile statistics. The game is played by a computer, three games a night, and all I do is pick the players in a draft and adjust the lineups and strategy. If you love baseball, playing Strat-o-matic is like having your baseball cards come to life.

Probably the best board game ever. I recently heard a piece on NPR about Strat-O-Matic and my whole childhood flashed before my teary eyes. Somehow, I had forgotten while I was busy growing up, but my dad and I used to play this game all the time when I was a child in the 60s. I never got tired of it. Anyway, my dad's gone and so are my old Strat-O-Matic cards, but I just bought the new version and I'm ready to play ball again. Just a fantastic board game that, in my opinion, beats the heck out of computer games.

I first saw an ad for Strat-O-Matic baseball in a comic book. It was 1968 and I was 10. "Players will perform as they did in real life. Hank Aaron will be among your league leaders in homeruns. Bob Gibson will be a leader in ERA and strikeouts." And so on. I was mesmerized.

It took me a while to talk my mother into buying me the game (and I couldn't get her to spring for all of the teams), but I finally prevailed and the check went in the mail. Soon a brown package came. Santa Claus who? This was Christmas in July.

And for maybe the only time in my whole life, a product lived up to the hype of an advertisement. This was the COOLEST game that ever was. My buddy from next door and I played non-stop, sitting on the hardwood floor in our foyer (we had to devise a way to keep the dice from rocketing all the way across the room).

I usually took the old timers: Babe Ruth, Rogers Hornsby, Lou Gehrig. My friend took the modern guys--Reggie Jackson, Aaron, Tom Seaver. We didn't keep score; we just liked to play. We got to where we could play a game in 10 minutes. And we played and played and played and played. I will never forget it.

This game still brings back my childhood. And it's still as great as ever.

i loved this game. Especially being a very true baseball fan i was glad to see something other than a video game capture the real spirit of baseball.
in this game you get to call the shots like a major league manager. Cant wait for 2004 to come out.

Buyer beware!! Although this claims to be the "2011 Revised Edition", it is no such thing. It is a 2007 edition, and does not even include all 30 teams from 2007. (The one they shipped me had six teams, apparently randomly chosen). If you're expecting the latest version of the game, as the description would certainly suggest, you're in for a disappointment.

It may even be the best table-top game in history. No kidding. It's that good. You don't even have to like baseball to like it, though I suspect you'll come away with a much greater appreciation of the game.