SADV Challenge Games

I'm now playing 15 games using all of the SADV rules from the Strat-O-Matic rules booklet, to compare statistics against games played using all of my BASIC+ and SADV+ rules. You will find the link on the Projects page.

After the SADV games have been completed, I will then start on 15 games using just the Advanced game rules. Though those games will come a little slower than the SADV games, as the 2024 season will have arrived by then and I will be beginning other projects at that time.

I've already completed two games using all of the SADV rules and had forgotten just how horribly rule 14.6 AUTOMATIC THREE-POINT SHOTS has aged since its inception. While rule 14.7 ADDITIONAL THREE-POINT SHOTS ALLOWED just throws gasoline on the dumpster fire that is rule 14.6 is. I'm going to soldier on though and try not to lose my mind while playing games using those two rules. 😣

BASIC+ vs. SADV+ Challenge Completed

Finally! After 30 games over the course of 96 days, the BASIC+ vs. SADV+ Challenge has wrapped up. You can view the results here: BASIC+ vs. SADV+

I thought that the statistics came out pretty close to actual, for the most part. Three-point attempts or the BASIC+ games would have been closer to actual, as I realized after five games in that I needed to make an adjustment to F(2) results from three-point attempt rolls.

While the BASIC+ vs. SADV+ games have been completed; I'm going to expand upon that project by playing 15 games using the stock Strat-O-Matic SADV game rules. The only way to know if my home-brewed rules are any good is to compare them to games played with the SADV rules as written.

I'll be starting those games next week. Once those 15 games have been completed and the stats compiled, I'll post my thoughts on BASIC+ vs. SADV+ vs. SADV, though I imagine you will be able to draw your own conclusions as to the worth of one over the other for solitaire game play.

Virtual Scoreboard

Well, I've finally done it. I've moved into the 21st century for keeping score in my games. I gave up the scoreboard and pegs from the game board (which I had cut off from the board, since I've never used the board for solitaire play) for an app on my Android phone. The app is called Virtual Scoreboard and is available from the Google Play Store.

After installing the app and firing it up for the first time, you will go down the list of sports that you can choose a scoreboard for and, obviously, select Basketball. On the next screen, select the "NBA - 12" option. Fortunately, you'll only have to peruse the list once, as the app will put always put your last choice at the top of the list. The app does contain ads, but they're not too annoying. The worst is having to wait 5 seconds to skip an add, and most times you just get an add you can bypass right away by clicking on the X icon or a "continue to the app" link.

The scoreboard screen looks like this:

Then, I hit the 'EDIT' button and replace "Team 1" and "Team 2" with the three letter abbreviations for the two teams that I'm playing with, though you could also punch in the team names if you prefer. After hitting the 'DONE' button, you're taken back to the scoreboard screen. Now you're ready to go. The only thing that I use are the +1, +2, and +3 buttons to keep the running score for each team each time a basket or free throw is made.

The three things that I really like about keeping score on my phone with this app is that one, it's a smaller footprint than the scoreboard from the game board, two, it's a little quicker to press the + button to advance the score than to move the pegs, and three, it eliminates those times when a stray die would escape from my dice tray and wipe out the pegs on the cardboard scoreboard, causing me to have to spend a minute having to add up the scores manually from the scoresheet to reset the score (since I can never remember what the score was before the die wiped it out). 😖

If you keep score with a different Android app, or with an iOS app, let us know in the comments section, along with your perceived pros and cons of the app you're using.

Projects Page

I have created a new page named "Projects," which can be accessed via the link bar under the site logo. The current BASIC+ vs. SADV+ 2023 project can now be viewed there. Obviously, future projects will be found in this section as well.

Solitaire BASIC+ vs. SADV+ 2023 Season

 

Here are the statistics, through 6 games each, from my BASIC+ vs. SADV+ project.

First, let me know if the image is too small to read well (zooming your browser to 125% may help). Uploading an image file is the quickest and easiest way to get the per game stats up, but if it's too hard to read, I may put them in a PDF file and supply a link, instead of posting in a page.

Second, I was planning on updating after every 5 games each, but I will most likely update after every one or two games, just because it is easier for me to do so. Now that I think about it, I will probably create a dedicated page to the project, with a link to it in the bar below the logo.

Finally, and I don't know why I didn't think about this sooner (probably because it would have made this a four-month project instead of a two-month project), but I should probably also have been playing straight-up BASIC and SADV games as well, to see how my rules stack up against the rules as written. Well, I'm 12 games behind now, so that will have to be a future project.

Rules I'm Using for BASIC+ Solitaire Games

I'm five games in so far (five BASIC+ and five SADV+) in my BASIC+ vs. SADV+ solitaire challenge. I'll post results and per game statistics for each shortly. So here is a quick rundown of the SADV+ solitaire rules that I have ported over to the Basic game, to make the BASIC+ solitaire rules:

DOUBLE-TEAMING
Not using double-teaming in BASIC+ either.

POSSIBLE INJURY/TECHNICAL FOUL
Definitely needed to add my injury and technical foul rule to the Basic game. It makes the game feel more like how these things occur in an actual NBA game. Since the Injury/Technical Foul chart also has the Foul Assignment chart on it, I'll mention here that I also incorporated that chart into BASIC+ as well. I refer the left-most white die to determine which column to use (1-2 Outside, 3-4 Penetration, and 5-6 Inside) and the total of the colored D6 to determine who committed the foul.

THREE-POINT SHOT ATTEMPTS
I had to adjust the rule slightly for the Basic game, adding the checking of the player's shot column if an X is rolled on the black die, in addition to the blank result. I also had to account for X+(F1) results on each player's shot column, since that result doesn't occur in the Outside shooting column on the Advanced game cards. I've been treating the X+(F1) result on a three-point shot attempt as an (F2) result instead. Also, the "Unguarded" Three-Point Shot Attempts part of the rule was eliminated, since there is no block man in the Basic game (and the double-teaming rules are not being used).

BLOCKING/CHARGING FOULS
I brought this rule in, even though there are only 8 chances for an offensive foul in the Basic game, compared to 12 chances in the Advanced game. After the completion of all 15 BASIC+ games, I may discard using this rule, based on FTA and offensive foul totals.

OFFENSIVE REBOUND SHOTS
This is what I refer to as a "reality rule," but the extra replays also give better total possessions, so it's a win-win, so this had to be ported over.

PASS TARGET DETERMINATION
Obviously, only using the Pass to any 1+ part of the rule, since the other passing options for that rule don't exist in the Basic game.

INTENTIONAL FOULS
I felt that intentional fouls needed to be added to the Basic game, but that my SADV+ rule was a little bit too complicated to add to the Basic game; I still want some Basic game feeling, and my rule is a little too "crunchy" for Basic. Instead, it is simply looking at the CONTROL section to determined who was fouled and assigning the foul to that player's defender.

PLAYING TIME/FATIGUE
I'm using the playing time part of the rule, but not the fatigue part. A player simply cannot exceed his maximum allowable number of minutes in regulation (but can if a game goes into OT).

SUBSTITUTIONS
Using this rule, as written for the SADV+ game, in the BASIC+ game.

Obviously, I'm not using any SADV+ rules that can't apply to the Basic game, such as Team Defense, Press Defense, Pace of Play, Determining Shot Type, and Blocked Shots. I did drop a couple of rules that could have worked, if retooled, such as the "Half-Court" Three-Point Shots and Holding for the Last Shot rules, but it's Basic, so I didn't want to get too carried away.

BASIC+ vs. SADV+

I've spent the past few weeks playing several SADV+ games and several BASIC+ games. After comparing the per game stats between the two sets of games, it appears that the BASIC+ game may be able to give the SADV+ game a run for its money in statistical accuracy.

For the BASIC+ games, I used all of the SADV+ game rules (formerly known as the Super-Advance Solitaire Game Play Options - I'll be updating that document in the near future) that would work with the Basic game without adjustment, adjusted rules to work that I could, and dropped those that would not work at all.

So, what I'm going to do now is play 15 random games each, using all of the teams from the 2023 season set, with BASIC+ and SADV+ rules. I will plan on posting stats and thoughts after every set of five game of each.

I'll post the BASIC+ rules that are being used, in the next week or so.

Revisiting the Basic Game

After wrapping up my latest tournament, I was starting to feel a little burned out on Strat-O-Matic Basketball. I'd been playing nothing but modified super-advanced for quite some time now and it just seemed like I was getting into a rut recently. What to do? 🤔

Ah ha!  I decided that I would go back to where it all began and play a game of basic Strat-O-Matic basketball. Now, I can't remember when the last time was that I had played the basic game, but it must have been long, long, ago.

The first thing I had to do was go to my parts game box and find my basic action deck. Then, I hate to admit this, but I had to grab my rules booklet and do a quick once over of the basic game rules. 😳 Though, as it turned out, the only thing that I would not have remembered is that there is a double-team rule in the basic game, and how it works. So, after 15 minutes of prep time, I was ready to roll (literally and figuratively).

I chose the current 2023 season and selected the Philadelphia 76ers to face off against my Boston Celtics and man did I have a blast! The basic game was not only fun to play, but the statistics for my game were quite reasonable as well. Boston ended up winning 115-103.

Playing the basic game was so much fun, and such a refreshing break from my modified super-advanced game play, that I think going forward I will be playing the basic game on a regular basis, in addition to my regular game play.

If you're currently an advanced or super-advanced player only, who hasn't played the basic game since you were first introduced to the Strat-O-Matic basketball game, I highly recommend that you revisit the basic game. I'm sure glad that I did!

2023 Division III Tournament Updates

I'm just finally now getting around to posting the results from the 2023 Division III tournament. I'll be updating the tournament page each day with results. It was a wild tournament, so be sure to check back daily to see how it all played out.

Delusional ebay Seller - February 6th Edition

2008-09 Strat-O-Matic Basketball Card Set + Extras In Original Shrink Wrap 🤣

What in the world would make this person think that somebody would pay $901.00 for this Strat-O-Matic basketball board game season?!?!