THE TALK SHOW
Host: Glenn Guzzo
You can submit your question or insight on any
Strat-O-Matic game to SOMTalkShow@aol.com.
When you do, kindly include your name and town. Other gamers like to see that.
And the display format below works better that way.
Reminder: Send us your “Great Moments in Strat”
– your playing experiences that you just have
to share.
Maybe
SOM Hockey Should be an AA Step
I have been an
avid reader of The Talk Show and Great Moments for years and now feel compelled
to write in to echo another fan’s sentiments last month on Strat
Hockey.
What a game! I
would have bet hockey couldn’t work as a board game. But once you get past the
line-change frequency compromise (essential), the flow and intensity (last-man-standing
multiple rebound shots!) is real-world.
I came to Strat Hockey looking for something to occupy time and keep
me from drinking all my per diem and going into the office with a headache
everyday while on an extended road assignment in
I make no
apologies for loving the board and dice I started this hobby with. But what a
great time-saver the 20-sided dice are and I’ve gradually adopted rules from
old STRAT FAN issues and some of my own for things like shot blocking, home-ice
advantage, zero offense and defense alignment options, etc. I found last month’s
Talk Show reference to a new-rules site had fine ideas for expanding the
breakaway-penetration and great passing rules.
But one item was mentioned there that troubled
me and that should have been glaring at me for the
last 22 years. The board doesn’t reflect real hockey defensive assignments. One
side (the visitor’s) should have both defensemen outside their wingers to
reflect defensive hockey assignments – generally wingers defend their points
and the offensive forwards are down low on the defending center and his
defensemen. Did Strat have a strong reason for the
board being configured as it is?
I also ignore the
suggested rules to alternate “any player rebound” and “any player shot” chances
for equally rated offensive players as, based on my years in street/floor
hockey leagues, it seems inevitable that the inside or rebound shot is always
on the stick of the best player of the other team.
Magnificent Hobby!
Jeff Fout,
For as long as I can remember, I have played
the hockey board-game match-ups the way you suggest. In the attacking and
defending zones, hockey is winger-vs.-defenseman. It’s basically only
neutral-zone hockey when wingers are back-checking other wingers. I also find
this change more fun, because I have my defensive-minded stay-at-home
defensemen covering high-scoring wingers, not low-threat defensemen. We all
have to remember, though, that ratings are computed based on the official
rules. Whenever we deviate to suit our interests, we should expect a ricochet
effect in the scores and stats our games produce.
Computers
Now Old Enough to be Nostalgic
Okay, this may
come off as the dumbest suggestion (and I may be the only person who would ever
desire this), but here goes: Would Strat ever
consider adding an option to the computer game that would allow the user to
have an interface like the old does version 2 game? No stadium pictures or path
of balls. I liked the basic layout of the classic board game with that
great dice and split-card sound effect. My problem with the current game
(and most of the past versions) is how far removed it seems from the dice and
card game. I just don’t need that much distraction when playing.
Assuming this is
impossible, how soon do you think the wait is for the 1980 football season and
the cardiac kids?
Kevin Hennessy,
I think the wait for the 1980 Browns will be shorter. We’ve got to
figure that, at the current rate of three historic seasons per year, there are
only six more years before we have all seasons
1960-present. We lack only 1960-61, 1970-71, 1974-76, 1980,
1982-83, 1987-89 and 1993-97. Of those, the main “gap-filler” is 1980, which
stands alone in a five-year period. Every season has its historic significance,
but I’m also looking forward to 1960 and 1961 to complete the AFL era. The ’60
season in particular is historic – the first AFL season, the
I’d never predict a retro approach to dated technology, but the strong
relationship between the Strat-O-Matic computer and board games have helped
each other. Tying the computer games to the board games has helped bring
veteran Strat gamers to the computer games. SOM’s “open system” that shows you what’s in there – the cards,
charts and more – has been a mark of integrity for Strat-O-Matic’s
computer products. Meanwhile, features designed to take advantage of the
computer’s potency have improved the board games. The computer’s speed has made
full-season replays widely achievable for the first time. And Hal Richman’s
decision to price cards cheaply for computer-game purchasers has kept the
card-printing volume up, and set prices lower.
For now, you can turn off the sounds and the flight of the ball, and
turn on the card image and board-game information.
One
Base at a Time
Why is it that each time there
is a wild pitch or passed ball, it is followed by an out. What about
allowing a WP or PB to advance runners and, in the event no one is on
base, it becomes a Roll Again. Also, is there a way to purchase a team that is
out of print? I’ve been looking for the 1998 Yankees but cannot find them.
Stuart
Use the Super-Advanced board-game rules and you’ll have your wish on
wild pitches and passed balls. It’s that way in the computer game, too. In the
basic game, you are free to adjust the rules as you see fit – as long as you
are playing solitaire or in a league of like-minded gamers. You wouldn’t be the
first to do it the way you suggest.
Out-of-print cards are marketed through online auction houses, and other
places gamers connect online. The ultimate Strat card
broker is Chris Rosen. You can find him here:
Baseball Hall of Fame Team Rosters
Regarding
the Strat Hall of Fame card set that came out in 2000,
did the Talk Show break the 192-card set into teams by eras? If so, can you
direct me to that article?
Barry A. Gross,
I don’t remember listing them in the Talk Show, but the 192
players are divided into eight era teams in the computer-game setup.
Here they are:
Old-Timers: Anson, Brouthers,
Clarkson, Comiskey, Connor, Cummings, Davis, Delahanty, Ewing, Galvin, Hamilton, Keefe, King Kelly,
McCarthy, McPhee, Radbourn,
Spalding, Thompson, Ward, Welch
Turn of the Century: Beckley, Bresnahan, Burkett, Clarke, Jimmy Collins, Crawford, Duffy,
Flick, Jennings, Joss, Keeler, Joe Kelley, Lajoie, Mathewson, Nichols, O'Rourke, Rusie,
Waddell, Wagner, Willis, Cy Young
Dead Ball: Baker, Bender, Brown, Carey, Chance, Chesbro, Cobb, Eddie Collins, Evers, Hooper, Joe Jackson,
Johnson, McGinnity, Plank, Roush, Schalk,
Sisler, Speaker, Tinker, Wallace, Walsh, Wheat
AL Pre-WWII: Appling,
Averill, Combs, Coveleski, Cronin, Dickey, DiMaggio, Doerr, Faber, Ferrell, Gehrig, Gehringer, Gomez, Greenberg, Grove, Hoyt, Lazzeri, Lyons, Manush, Carl
Mays, Rice, Ruffing, Ruth, Sewell, Simmons
AL Post-WWII: Aparicio, Berra, Brett, Carew, Doby, Feller, Fingers,
Fisk, Ford, Fox, Hunter, Reggie Jackson, Kaline, Kell, Killebrew, Mantle, Newhouser, Palmer, Rizzuto,
Brooks Robinson, Ryan, Wilhelm, Ted Williams, Yastrzemski,
Yount
NL Pre-WWII: Alexander,
Bancroft, Bottomley, Cuyler,
Dean, Frisch, Grimes, Haines, Hartnett, Hornsby, Hubbell, Travis Jackson,
George Kelly, Klein, Lindstrom, Lombardi, Maranville,
Marquard, Medwick, Mize, Ott, Rixey, Terry, Traynor, Vance, Lloyd Waner, Paul
Waner, Ross Youngs
NL Post-WWII: Aaron, Ashburn,
Banks, Bench, Brock, Bunning, Campanella, Cepeda, Clemente, Gibson, Koufax, Marichal, Mathews, Willie
Mays, Morgan, Musial, Niekro,
Perez, Perry, Reese, Rose, Schmidt, Schoendienst, Seaver, Spahn, Billy
Williams
Left Outs: Boudreau, Carlton, Cochrane, Drysdale, Foxx, Goslin, Hafey, Heilmann, Herman, Irvin,
Jenkins, Kiner, Lemon, McCovey,
Pennock, Roberts, Frank Robinson, Jackie
Robinson, Slaughter, Snider, Stargell, Sutton, Vaughan,
Wilson, Wynn