March 18, 2002
8:33 PM Subscribe
If you were a reader of Who's Who in Baseball or The Sporting News back in the late '70's and early '80's you probably recall seeing ads for the amazingly intricate APBA Sports games, arguably the forerunner of Fantasy Baseball and the like.I was always fascinated by themyet I never ordered a set. I imagined that in the age of the GameCube, they had gone the way of many outdated amusements. I couldn't have been more wrong, apparently.Judging by the number of fan sites and league sites,(not to mention APBA shareware)the hobby seems to be alive and well. Makes me wanna go buy a set and start a league.
I actually did a science fair project on this in sixth grade! I compared the accuracy of the APBA board game with the APBA computer game. I took some of their historical teams and pitted them against each other for several games. It was quite time-consuming and not my brightest idea in retrospect. In the end, I compared the statistics I recorded from my simulated games with the actual statistics of the historical players. Surprisingly, the card game gave more accurate results, but that's about all I remember. Oh, and the APBA board game is really some good fun. I think we also had an APBA football computer game, but I'm not sure about that.
posted by stopgap at 11:00 PM on March 18, 2002
posted by stopgap at 11:00 PM on March 18, 2002
It was absolutely the best game I ever had as a kid (and hey, I even had one of those metal vibrating football games with the little felt football that Mr. Spring Loaded Leg could boot gracefully through the plastic goal posts).
posted by fold_and_mutilate at 11:40 PM on March 18, 2002
posted by fold_and_mutilate at 11:40 PM on March 18, 2002
metal vibrating football games
Electronic Strat-o-matic! Brings back great memories, mostly of me kicking my older brother's butt.
That catholic shopper link is great. Jesus must have gotten some nasty blisters after running track in his sandals.
posted by iconomy at 3:29 AM on March 19, 2002
Electronic Strat-o-matic! Brings back great memories, mostly of me kicking my older brother's butt.
That catholic shopper link is great. Jesus must have gotten some nasty blisters after running track in his sandals.
posted by iconomy at 3:29 AM on March 19, 2002
My Electronic Strat-O-Matic (inherited from my older brother) pitted the New York Jets vs. the Baltimore Colts on a "field" painted to look like the Orange Bowl during Super Bowl III. I am sure there were other teams available, though.
Personally, I used Avalon-Hill's card based baseball game, my brother used APBA. Our major beef was having to buy a new series of player cards each year. On the other hand, my 1979 Pittsburgh Pirates team are still under contract and playing championship caliber baseball!
posted by Wildcat3 at 8:46 AM on March 19, 2002
Personally, I used Avalon-Hill's card based baseball game, my brother used APBA. Our major beef was having to buy a new series of player cards each year. On the other hand, my 1979 Pittsburgh Pirates team are still under contract and playing championship caliber baseball!
posted by Wildcat3 at 8:46 AM on March 19, 2002
most of my junior high school years were devoted to this game.
somehow i felt superior to my classmates who were into dungeons and dragons, even though they eventually got over their nerdy hobby.
posted by tsarfan at 4:50 PM on March 19, 2002
somehow i felt superior to my classmates who were into dungeons and dragons, even though they eventually got over their nerdy hobby.
posted by tsarfan at 4:50 PM on March 19, 2002
APBA is a wonderful, wonderful game. So much better than Strat-O-Matic!
posted by djacobs at 5:42 PM on March 19, 2002
posted by djacobs at 5:42 PM on March 19, 2002
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posted by specialk420 at 9:23 PM on March 18, 2002