Category Archives: History Maker Golf

Ready

Posted on by

As I start to make time for playing sports games again, I feel that it’s time to go back to some games that I’ve ignored for some time, specifically APBA Golf and APBA Soccer.

I remember trying APBA Soccer out something like 8 years ago, and while I was able to get through a complete game, I found that I liked the quicker play of other soccer games like Soccer Blast and later Dice United.

Same thing happened with golf, to a lesser degree.  I was a bit intimidated by APBA Golf, especially after playing a similar game, ASG golf, which led me to History Maker Golf, another quicker game than the others.

Fast forward to now, with more than a few dozen soccer games and a couple of golf games rolled, and I finally feel ‘ready’ to tackle what I consider the ‘big boys’ of the respective games.

That’s not to take away from anything that I’ve played, the PLAAY games are still my favorites, for example, but I just feel ‘ready’ to take on something a bit more complex.

I also feel that I have a richer appreciation for soccer now than I did 8 years ago, having watched 4 more World Cup tournaments (men’s and women’s), Olympic soccer, and of course living and dying through Tottenham Hotspur in the EPL.

As for golf, I’m still as interested in it as I was before, which was not total indifference, but rather an appreciation for it as one of my Dad’s favorite pastimes long before he passed on.  I still don’t watch it on TV as much as I did when Mom and Dad were both more interested.

For golf, I’ll probably still play History Maker more than APBA or ASG, simply because of the larger number of players and courses I have for HMG compared to the others.  I don’t intend to start a full season of golf, either.

Soccer, on the other hand, has me thinking that I can start Yet Another Season Replay™, so with APBA Soccer I’m going to replay Tottenham’s 2015-16 campaign, a season I don’t own in any other soccer game that I play.  This was the year Harry Kane first scored with the top team, and saw Spurs finish third behind Leicester City and Arsenal in the final standings.

Tottenham 5 - Sunderland 1: Black Cats stay bottom as Kane bags in league debut for Spurs | Football | Sport | Express.co.uk

All the reaction to Leicester City's title win - Eurosport

We’ll see if I can change history in my replay.

Stay tuned!

Golf

Posted on by

I’m either of or past the age when I should have taken up golf.  I suppose I still can, Dad had plenty of sets of clubs sitting around here.

In lieu of that I of course play on my tabletop, and lately the bug has bitten me, though I have yet to actually set up and play a game.

It started with PLAAY Games’ Binge Week Golf event in late April, where I picked up the new History Maker Golf play mat and Course Collection 20, along with Course Collection 19 and 2010s Golf Stars set.  CC20 contains 72 cards which allow you to create your own golf courses.  I finally did that last night, and have yet to play a round on my custom course, tentatively named TPC Delta Tioga Links.

The bug bit harder when I started looking up golf game videos and came across Dave Gardner’s unboxing video for APBA Golf, which I’ve had sitting on my unplayed shelf for about 8(!) years.  I dug it out and looked at it, and may give it a play through after reviewing a couple more of Dave’s videos.

The reason it sat around unplayed?  History Maker Golf and ASG Golf.  Both of which I’ve played a few times over those 8 years.  I played HMG more because it was a much simpler game to play, as much as I liked ASG.

One of the videos Dave posted was of these ball markers for ASG/APBA Golf, which he ordered from Shapeways.

I immediately thought, ‘3D printed?  Surely they’re available to print at home!’

And I found them.

$4 for the file instead of $9 + shipping.

These mark where your ball lands on the course.

APBA Golf:

ASG Golf

I’d been using ‘sign here’ flags in the past.

I also found myself on ASG’s website, and ended up ordering TPC Harding Park and the Men’s 1970s golfers set.

Now I just need to find the time to play the often postponed John Price Invitational, as soon as I get a foursome of golfers from him.

Stay tuned!

Golf: TPC Summerlin

Posted on by

I meant to play a round a couple of weeks back, as a quarantine distraction.

So here we are today:

2020 Quarantine Invitational, from TPC Summerlin, Las Vegas, Nevada.

I randomly chose 4 golfers from PLAAY’s fictional 2017 Pro National Golfers set.

Results:

Somers and Weber were tied after the 16th, still tied after the 17th, and a birdie on the 18th by Weber gave him the win.

Such excitement!

*golf clap*

Not sure when the next golf match will be, though next month is the second annual John Price Invitational.

Stay tuned!

The Inaugural John Price Invitational

Posted on by

A friend on Facebook posted a list of his top ranked golfers, so I asked him for a foursome of golfers that I could play a round with in History Maker Golf.

I decided to have them play at Augusta (of course) and called it the Inaugural John Price Invitational.

The results:

Amazingly, Bobby Jones birdie’d on the 18th to force a playoff with Ben Hogan.

Which I didn’t play until about a week later.

Jones’ game totally fell apart in the second half.

Congratulations, Ben Hogan, winner of the Inaugural John Price Invitational!

Have an idea for a foursome?  Or even a pair of golfers to have me play?  Let me know.

Stay tuned!

Plodding Through

Posted on by

My brother was right about the rules for Box Seat Baseball: they’re a bit much to get through after one read-through.

Plus I’m distracted by the arrival of other games (sport and non-sport), and I’m trying to fit in a round of golf as suggested by another friend on Facebook.

Hopefully all this will clear by the beginning of next week.

Stay tuned!

Addendum

Posted on by

I picked up a couple more items from the PLAAY.com Holiday sale:

  • Fury Football (concept game)
  • Tropical Tour courses for History Maker Golf
  • 1980 Pro Season for Bowl-O-Rama

I’ve played exactly one game of Bowl-O-Rama.  It’s fun, I just don’t pull it off the shelf when I have other replays to run.  Maybe an actual season, with a schedule, will get me to play this one more.

I should set up a golf tournament tour, maybe 10 courses?

Fury Football was developed around the same time as the game that became GridZone, as a quicker play football simulation.  It’s designed to be a quick play ‘concept game’, much like 1890s Fight Club from last year.

Stay tuned!

1909: On Hold

Posted on by

I came up with the rosters for the Deadball 1909 league, but then decided not to build it further for now, since I still have:

  • 1967 SF Giants season replay
  • 1917 MLB replay
  • 1921 NY Giants replay
  • 1967 Denver Broncos replay
  • 1958 NFL replay
  • 1979 Winston Cup replay
  • 2016 SCRAM season
  • 2016 SCRAM trucks season

on top of the Deadball 2018 SFBAL season.

That’s a lot of stuff. That list doesn’t even include the mini-replays (John D’Acquisto rookie season, Doc Gooden Cy Young season, various Giant-Dodgers replays, MLB Postseason replays, etc.).

And then there’s the occasional golf tournament, wrestling event and boxing match.

And the non-sports table top games.

So little time.

The Deadball 1909 season may or may not ever materialize.  At least not in the near future.

Stay tuned!

News Brief

Posted on by

Renovations Coming to PepsiCo Park: The rumored color change will happen soon.  A darker shade of (Pepsi) blue will be the official color of the stadium.  In addition, there will be a few more imaginary skyboxes and seats added to the stadium.  Ticket prices are expected to remain the same.

MGD Strikes Again: Not so much a new game (for Multiple Game Disorder), but the Silverado Golf Course has been ordered for ASG Golf, even though I have the course set in History Maker Golf.

SFBAL Schedule: It appears a 90-game schedule will be played, with the 10 teams playing each other twice.  Schedule particulars will be announced later.

Stay tuned!