The Talk Show – January 2014

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.
 
Strat-Oh-Canada
 
            I’m a huge Strat-O-Matic fan from Ontario. My favorite Strat-O-Matic game would have to be hockey. I play cards and dice. I have been playing for about 9 years and I currently own over 10 card sets. My question to the good folks at Strat-O-Matic is this:  Could we ever see Canadian Hockey League (OHL, WHL, QMJHL) Strat-O-Matic cards? What about European Leagues such as the KHL and the Czech League?
 
            I would love to see leagues such as the OHL printed on Strat-O-Matic cards. What are the realistic chances of having leagues like this printed on Strat cards?
                                                                                                                                                            
                                                                                                                      Kyle Mifflin, Belleville, ON
 
            As someone who grew up watching Toronto Marlboros games while living in suburban Detroit, near enough to Canada to get the CBC station, I have affection for those Juniors leagues you mention. Also arguing in favor of the leagues you’d like to see carded are the many NHL players who are developed in these leagues.
            Strat-O-Matic is doing so many new things these days with secondary leagues in baseball, football and basketball that nothing is impossible, but I’d rate the chances of your suggested leagues this way:
  • Full-league card sets? No chance.
  • A six-pack of carded teams from a league never produced by SOM? Only if the community provided the research and more, as the community has done for USFL football. Even then, no guarantee, since hockey does not sell as well as football.
  • A computer-only roster of teams? More likely, and, again, only with the enterprise of the gamer community, as the community has done for pre-1900s baseball, Japanese baseball and the forthcoming Cuban Stars release.
           
Technology Can Keep This League Together
 
            I heard that there was a web “real-time” version of Strat-O-Matic baseball. Is this correct? We have a face-to-face league that has been going on for more than 30 years. A couple of players have to move out of the area – too far for them to drive weekly – but want to be part of the league in some capacity.
 
Mike Godard, Saginaw, MI
 
            Strat-O-Matic’s Windows game can be played in real-time over the Internet using the NetPlay option and/or the Game Lobby. I have done both with a lot of enjoyment, against gamers in different time zones.
 
 
Mac & Please
 
            I love Strat-o, played as a kid and even as an adult and I always wanted to play online. Is there any chance the game will be playable on a Mac, particularly hockey? I tried using Windows simulators but I’m not at all a tech guy.
 
Dean
 
            There has been only sporadic demand for Mac versions of SOM. I’d suggest that you connect with other Mac users via online forums – they probably can help you use the Windows simulators that some gamers use successfully to play Strat-O-Matic.
 
            Otherwise, check out playing Strat-O-Matic’s Baseball Online at http://onlinegames.strat-o-matic.com/.