Category Archives: APBA

Golf

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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!

The Big Guys

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I was going through some older table top sports games in my collection, like this APBA Football game from 1995, and it reminded me of why I’ve chosen to play games from companies other than APBA and Strat-O-Matic.

I went on both those sites to see how much a season set would cost, and for APBA Football they seemed to run between $50-$120 per season.  Strat-O-Matic seasons ran $32-$42, but the oldest complete season was 2002.

A printed season from Inside Sports Games for Inside Blitz Football can run $42-$58, but they also offer a PDF option for $15-$17.

Downey Games offers Grid Iron Wars for $30 for a complete game with 1 season, printed, or $7.95 for the game parts in PDF.  Printed seasons run for $8-$15 while PDF seasons run $8-11.

PLAAY Games has Second Season for $49, with seasons going for $25-$33 printed, and $19-$21 PDF.

The major difference between APBA/SOM and the other companies is that with the former you’re getting individual player cards per team, while the latter have team sheets with all the players on a sheet.  At the moment, I prefer the team sheets to individual cards.

One plus, had I stuck with the Big Two, would be that I would have bought less seasons (in all sports games) than I currently own because of availability and price.  I only own one complete season for SOM Baseball (2011), SOM Football (2009) and SOM Hockey (1993-94), for example.

And in the picture above, those are the only two *teams* that I own for APBA Football.

The Greatest Game Ever Played

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Dad was watching this movie when I got home tonight.

I checked History Maker Golf’s All-Time Great set, and neither golfer is in it.  Someone else did make a home brew card of Harry Vardon, though.  The golf course from the story is not available in any of the course sets.

The APBA Golf game came with both golfers in the ATG sets.  The included course is not the site of the 1913 US Open, however.

I suppose once I figure out how to make golfers and golf courses for History Maker Golf, I can recreate Francis Oumet and the Country Club golf course in Brookline, Massachusetts.  Unless someone beats me to it.

Stay tuned!