Long before I discovered Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson's White Box, I discovered that I really liked games. Games of all kinds. Tabletop games, yard games and sports had become the central theme in my life even before I could read well enough to discover the worlds of adventure available through novels, short stories, comics and ultimately role-playing games. By junior high school, games were sharing time with reading as my chief hobby interests and I had added organized sports to the mix.
My family played cards and boardgames and like many, I have found memories of those times.
As the decades have gone by, I find my hobby interests tend to cycle. For several weeks I will read voraciously, staying up late and eagerly moving on to the next book as soon as I finish one. During these periods I often have three books going simultaneously. Then I will take a break and do very little reading for weeks, devoting my free time to working on and playing one game or another. As the years have advanced, I have played less and less at physical sport, but still enjoy the strategy side of sports as a hobby through tabletop games. As I write this I am entering into a sports strategy game interest cycle and thought I would share some thoughts on my favorites.
Strat-o-Matic Baseball is one of the first sport strategy games I recall playing and has remained a favorite for decades. It is a game based on player statistics converted into game terms, making some managerial decisions and rolling some dice. Each player has an individual card, so players can use the teams as they historically were or mix and match players via a draft or "all-star" game. The Strat-o-Matic company has been around since 1961 and produces sport strategy games for all the major sports. Their baseball and football games have been my favorite of their offerings.
APBA (American Professional Baseball Association) dates back to 1951 with its baseball strategy game. APBA also makes an excellent football game which is among my favorites. Like Strat-o-Matic, APBA uses individual player statistic cards to represent each player's performance during a single season of real-life play. I recently acquired the 1965 season AFL (American Football League) and NFL (National Football League) cards for their football strategy game.
The Games are set up for two players, each taking the role of team manager/head coach. Decisions involve setting the team roster, starting players, defensive stance and offensive plays to be run and rolling the dice, consulting the charts and moving the appropriate game pieces on the playing field. The APBA and Strat-o-Matic games are designed as simulations and strive to give realistic game results. There are rules for solo play and I have enjoyed playing solo as well as against a face-to-face opponent.
The sports strategy games I mention are all available for the personal computer as well as in their original tabletop format. There is something special to me about thumbing through the player cards, rolling dice and consulting the charts. Physically moving the pieces on the board gives me more joy than watching the animation of play on the screen. There is nothing that replaces the fun of interacting with a friend before, during and after play, talking about the player cards, working the charts together and discussing the game afterwards. It is the essence of the hobby and the gift of gaming.
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