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.

Highlight Maker Hoops

PLAAY Games came out with a basketball game called Highlight Maker Hoops.

I picked it up along with the fictional Basketball League of America (BLAM) 2021-22 season.

As usual I’ve started by creating a league.  It’s unnamed at the moment, but here are the teams:

Eastern Conferences:
New York Guard
Chicago Express
Cleveland Nets
Boston Commons
St Louis Bombers
Cincinnati Royals

Western Conference:
Denver Dynamos
Tulsa Bandits
San Francisco Pioneers
Phoenix Sunset
Kansas City Knights
Los Angeles Stars

I’m not sure if I’ll keep BLAM league name, but we’ll see.

Stay tuned!

New Year, New In Progress Chart

Sure, let’s add the 1947 49ers replay, and put the 1967 Warriors replay back on the schedule.

Stay tuned!

1991: NBA Finals, Game 1

So I finally pushed myself to learn how to play SSG Basketball, and play the first game of my alternate 1991 NBA Finals.

In this series, Golden State is facing off against Chicago.

6 minutes into the first quarter, the score is tied 21-21.  Tim Hardaway has 8 points for the Warriors while Scottie Pippen has 10 for the Bulls.

I really like how easily this game seems to flow.

Stay tuned!

Current

Around my workstation/table top play area are the following games, waiting to be played.

  • SSG Basketball
  • Net Results Soccer
  • Glory Days Boxing
  • Face to the Mat
  • B25 – Prince of the Skies

More hours in the day, or an extra day in the weekend.

I’ll get to all of them, along with the baseball and football and racing and hockey games.

Stay tuned!

In Progress, Revision to the Revised Revision of the Revision

The main change is putting the 1967 Warriors on hold, along with the 1988 Mets (revisited) replay.  I anticipate playing a soccer game with PSV soon, and hopefully starting basketball and hockey in the coming weeks.

Stay tuned!

Bah

While reading the rules for SSG Basketball I came to the realization that I didn’t want to have to print and cut out the game parts and FAC/timing deck.  I watched an unboxing video and saw that the printed/physical game came with the deck and plenty of other stuff, like additional dice for markers used during play.

So I went and ordered the physical game and 1990-91 season set, the same things I just bought as PDFs.

Call it a loss in the ‘try before you buy’ category.  The 1991 NBA Finals replay may turn into a full season replay with the Bulls or Warriors.

I’ve also decided that since I’m 2+ years out from my 50th birthday, my 1967 replays for basketball and (maybe) hockey are going to go on hold while I play other season replays that I’ve started.

Stay tuned!

1991: NBA Postseason?

Having read nothing but the first chart, I set up a Lakers-Warriors match up, rolled the dice (2d10 and 2d6, just like Payoff Pitch Baseball) to see who had control at tip off, rerolled for a shot, and Alton Lister missed a jumper.  Sam Perkins grabbed the rebound and that’s where I stopped.

It can’t be THAT easy to play, can it?

I’ll read the full rules later today.

Stay tuned!