Strat-O-Matic

[Sports Stadium Replicas]

I have never personally played Strato-o-Matic, but a friend of mine is a devoted player of both the live and online versions. I was more of a Statis-Pro guy growing up and loved it. My friend is from Philly and loves Strato, so I thought I had better give him the ultimate Strato gift. I built him Connie Mack Strat-o-Matic Stadium.

The photos are available on Flickr:

Connie Mack Strat-o-Matic Stadium

Enjoy!

[Brad]

Strat-O-Matic still is the number baseball sim, board OR computer. DMB is nice, but a little on the 'blah' side. It also has a hidden game engine which is a little troublesome. Strat has the cards right there on the screen so you can see for yourself where the result came from, and the ball flight keeps the game from being boring like APBA's Baseball For Windows, Diamond Mind, and so many other computer baseball sims.

[NJYankeeFan]

Strat-O-Matic still is the number baseball sim, board OR computer. DMB is nice, but a little on the 'blah' side. It also has a hidden game engine which is a little troublesome. Strat has the cards right there on the screen so you can see for yourself where the result came from, and the ball flight keeps the game from being boring like APBA's Baseball For Windows, Diamond Mind, and so many other computer baseball sims.

I used to love Strat O Matic. Wish they made it for android. Would make my commute so much more fun.

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[Ben Grimm]

The only version of SOM I played was a few years back online via Sporting News. They ran different leagues via decades and such and had a historic fantasy league as well - which I mostly played.

I grew up on APBA back in the 70s. My uncle, who was and still is a huge baseball fan, had it and we used to relive the '27 WS over and over as I was fairly new to older players and any team with Babe Ruth was fine by me.

Around '78 or so, I got the Avalon Hill game. That was the best IMO. No dice involved just seemed to me to eliminate the "chance" factor of the game a bit - perception becomes reality. I remember getting the 1980 team sets for Christmas when they came out and looking in my closet... yep, I still have everything in tact along with all of the box score sheets that I put together while playing complete seasons.

A few years ago, I purchased Out of the Park and enjoy that. But there's something missing from those days of putting pen to paper.

[DrJoe]

I agree with you, Ben. Every time I try a computer simulation or a computer version of one of the board games, it's just not the same as the magic of the dice. I played a lot of Strat and APBA in the late 60s, but then life (girls, school, house, kids – the usual progression) got in the way. But I went back to rolling dice just like I did 50 years ago. Bast part is, right now there are so many good baseball simulations out there. Brooklyn Baseball Bill talked about one I really like, Ball Park, but other games like Playball, Replay, History Maker Baseball, Inside Pitch, Payoff Pitch, Box Seat, Skeetersoft NP3 (a development from the original game that led to APBA), and Dynasty League. Of course, APBA and Strat-O-Matic are still around.

[bluesky5]

John Thorn, Strat-O-Matic

I saw on Olbermann last night that in 1871 a young Woodrow Wilson made a 17 page newspaper all about a day in the NA season that year complete with box scores. However the box scores don't match with the real ones. Obermann posited Wilson may have been playing a game with dice to determine the outcomes. He even mentioned strat-o-matic by name. I'm not sure if that was just Olbermann blowing smoke or if Thorn really said something to that effect.

[DrJoe]

Thorn did. You can subscribe to his blog.