APBA Soccer

“Captain’s log, Star date 1312.4. The impossible has happened.”

I’ve found a game that, to me, replicates what I see on TV in a soccer match as much as most tabletop baseball games do for me.

I do still like playing Dice United and Soccer Blast, it’s just that to me APBA Soccer simulates the build up that usually results in a goal more accurately than the other two do.

The other games do one thing better, and that’s give you the amount of stoppage time to add at the end of a half.

With APBA, they have maybe a couple of instances listed on the ‘special play’ chart for injury, but that may not even come into play.

Checking the APBA Delphi Forums, there’s no definite answer either, though there are some suggestions that I may consider adapting.

The fact that I can play a game of this level in a little under 2 hours, even with distractions, is surprising to me.

It takes almost twice as long with or without distractions to play a non-quick play game of American football or basketball or hockey, though like most PLAAY games I can get a game of Hockey Blast finished in maybe an hour.

Golf is it’s own thing and can take as long as it needs to on any given course.

Same with racing, depending on the type of track I’m running on.

Perhaps I should revisit some of the APBA and Strat-O-Matic football and hockey games to see if the time to play has changed for me.

1-2 hours for a sports game seems to be the sweet spot for me nowadays.  It allows me to set up in the morning or when I get home from work, and play before I go to bed, with time to compile a post game report that I can post here.

1959: Giants Replay

Oh, who am I kidding?  The 1959 replay will focus primarily on the 2nd season of baseball in San Francisco.

One difference will be the addition of a random game here and there between teams of which neither are the Giants.

I may start doing that in my other replays as well, while maintaining focus on the Giants (or the Mets, if I ever restart the 1986 or 1988 replays).

Not sure how I’ll decide which other teams to play, but I may try to dip into the American League more than the National League for these random games.

Stay tuned!