The Table Top Sports Games of Chris Saguisag
I randomly chose 2 coaches and 2 dozen players from PLAAY’s 75 All-Time Great Set and played a game.
The Teams:
Team Popovich (Gregg Popovich, Coach)
Starters:
Steph Curry
Michael Jordan
Scottie Pippen
Lebron James
Nate Thurmond
Bench:
Nate Archibald
Oscar Robertson
Paul Arizin
Rick Barry
Paul Pierce
Moses Malone
Willis Reed
Team Daly (Chuck Daly, Coach)
Starters:
Gary Payton
Ray Allen
Giannis Antetokounmpo
Elgin Baylor
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
Bench:
Bob Cousy
Jason Kidd
Sam Jones
Dave Debusschere
Dolph Schayes
Bob McAdoo
Robert Parish
Final Score:
Team Popovich 163
Team Daly 108
Team Daly started off leading the game early, but then a switch was flipped and Team Popovich dominated both offensively and defensively, leading by as much as 70+ at one point.
This is the first basketball game that I really enjoy playing, mostly due to the way the PLAAY engine works.
I may keep these two teams intact, and randomly assign the rest of the set to teams and run a round robin tournament.
As if I didn’t have more than enough sports replays running.
Stay tuned!
After watching a play-through video, I see a lot of mistakes I made during that first game of Highlight Maker Hoops Prime Time.
So I’ll have to replay that one game I played between Cleveland and Boston. I’ll call the first one a practice game.
In the meantime, I’m going to run another practice game using the NBA 75th anniversary set, two teams of randomly picked players and coaches.
Stay tuned!
Last game played with basic Highlight Maker Hoops:
New York Guard @ Chicago Express
Express 118
Guard 103
First game played with Highlight Maker Hoops Prime Time:
Cleveland Nets @ Boston Commons
Commons 94
Nets 86
I’m sure I made some mistakes while learning how to play the new game, like inbounds after a time out and when to award free throws.
I’ll figure it out.
Upcoming Games:
St. Louis Bombers @ Cincinnati Royals
Denver Dynamos @ Tulsa Bandits
San Francisco Pioneers @ Phoenix Sunset
Kansas City Knights @ Los Angeles Stars
Stay tuned!
Soon.
I could never get my head wrapped around any tabletop basketball game, until PLAAY Games came out with Highlight Maker Hoops in 2022. It’s a quick-play basket ball game, akin to their Express series of games, which are scaled down versions of their full-play games.
From right out of the box I was able to play a couple of games, eventually replaying the Warriors-Celtics 2022 Finals series, where the Warriors won in 6 games, I think. For some reason I don’t think I documented that series on this site.
Earlier last week I played a game using their fictional basketball league, BLAM (Basketball League of America), which I have renamed the NBL (National Basketball League). The Chicago Express defeated the visiting New York Guard 118-103.
PLAAY has released a full-play version of Highlight Maker Hoops called Prime Time. It arrived yesterday and I plan to continue the NBL season with the new expansion.
On tap for tonight: the Cleveland Nets visit the Boston Commons.
I should do what I’ve seen other tabletop gamers have done, use AI to create logos for my fictional sports teams.
Stay tuned!
As a side note, I seriously have to curb the number of ‘active’ projects I have going, and stick with games (and sports) that I like to play.
Baseball and racing will always have a spot in my rotation. Soccer and hockey take the next tier, with football and basketball lower on my list.
I also have golf, tennis, boxing, wrestling and lacrosse in various forms. Of those, I have to be in the right mood/mindset to play any of those. None of those games are ones I consider playing with a long-term ‘season’ or replay.
And then there’s the least played games: bowling, roller derby, demolition derby, and some interesting fictional sports. Someday, I keep telling myself.
I just started the 2013 SCRAM season, and the 2024 SCRAM/SCRAM-B sets arrived in the mail today. Yikes.
So yeah, I need to curb my habit, considering the vast amount of other hobbies I have and would like to pursue as well.
Stay tuned, I guess…
I plan on continuing the following ongoing replays:
Baseball
1921 NY Giants (Payoff Pitch Baseball)
1971 SF Giants (Ball Park Baseball)
Soccer
2015-16 Tottenham Hotspur (APBA Soccer)
2020-21 AFC Richmond (Dice United)
Racing
1984 Winston Cup (Red White & Blue Racin’)
2012 SCRAM (Red White & Blue Racin’)
Football
1960 Denver Broncos (Fast Drive Football)
1967 Denver Broncos (Second Season/Second Season Express/Inside Blitz/Grid Iron Wars)
At some point I plan on adding hockey and basketball into the mix, as time permits. I just have to decide which replays to include:
Hockey
1966-67 NHL (Hockey Blast)
1969-70 Oakland Seals (Hockey Blast)
1991-92 San Jose Sharks (APBA)
2013-14 IHL (Hockey Blast, fictional)
2022-23 Central Cities League (Stone Cold Hockey, fictional)
Basketball
1960-61 Syracuse Nationals (Bank Shot Basketball)
1966-67 San Francisco Warriors (Inside the Paint)
2022-23 Basketball League of America (Highlight Maker Hoops, fictional)
And of course I’ll be tracking all the games right here.
Stay tuned!
“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.
Soon…
As if I had time to start another replay that I’ll never finish, right?
Stay tuned!