The Resources section has been renamed and is now the X Files section. Only the name has been changed, the content remains the same.
Why the change? The new name fits the theme of the blog (X) and more accurately describes what is there (files). Oh, and X Files just sounds way cooler than Resources. 😎
The latest Solitaire Game Play Options document (version 02.09.23) is now available from the X Files section.
Greetings friends! Long time, no 'Stache Talk! I am here to rectify that.
Today I will discuss something that I find is important to making the game a little more realistic, shot location. I want players to take shots that they would take in real life, not just shots from the locations on the court where they are most accurate. Basically, whenever the NORMAL CONTROL section of the Action Card has a pass from a specfic player to a specific player, and the result is NOT a Dazzler, Steal or Turnover, I roll a 20-sided die, look at the SHOOTING TENDENCY section of the player card and consult a chart that I devised to see whether a player shoots from the Outside, Penetrates, or shoots an Inside shot.
The first step is when to do this and that is when the NORMAL CONTROL section of the Action Card contains a pass from a specfic player to a specific player such as "RF PASS TO C" or "LG PASS TO RG," and the result of the pass is not a Dazzler, Steal or Turnover, but is instead a shot attempt requiring a dice roll. So you don't do this when you are on the Fast Break, or when the NORMAL CONTROL section just lists the player that has the ball, or when the NORMAL CONTROL section has a pass that is NOT to a specific player such as "RG PASS TO ANY PLAYER FOR POSITION SHOT (Flip next Card)" (that last one of course invokes my Gerald Wilkins Rule, see earlier post here).
The second step is to see whether the player is positioned Outside or Inside. The reason for this is because the chart gives some deference to where you have positioned the player. For example, for all players that are positioned Inside, a dice roll of 1-14 will result in them taking an Inside shot. It is only on rolls of 15-20 that they MAY be required to take an Outside or Penetration shot. I say "MAY" because if the player does not have any asterisks in the SHOOTING TENDENCY section of his card, then he can only take Inside shots and will not take an Outside or Penetration shot under this rule, and you can stop right here and just take the Inside shot.
Next roll the 20-sided die.
The fourth step is to look at the SHOOTING TENDENCY section of the shooter's card. As stated above, a player with only an I, and without any asterisks, will not take an Outside or Penetration shot under my rule. Similarly, a player with only an asterisk or asterisks, and without an I, will not take an Inside shot under this rule, but he may be required to take an Outside shot, though he prefers penetrating, or a Penetration shot, though his tenendcy is to take jump shots.
Finally, consult the Shot Location Chart to determine where the shot will be taken. Here is the chart:
If the Shooter is positioned Inside, take the shot below depending on the number of asterisks
If *, 1-14 Inside, 15-20 Outside
If **, 1-14 Inside, 15-18 Outside, 19-20 Penetration
If ***, 1-14 Inside, 15-17 Outside, 18-20 Penetration
If ****, 1-14 Inside, 15-16 Outside, 17-20 Penetration
If *****, 1-14 Inside, 15-20 Penetration
If the Shooter is positioned Outside and has an I, take the shot below depending on the number of asterisks
If *, 7-14 Outside, 15-20 Inside, otherwise choice between Outside and Penetration
If **, 9-14 Outside, 15-16 Penetration, 17-20 Inside, otherwise choice between Outside and Penetration
If ***, 11-13 Outside, 14-16 Penetration, 17-20 Inside, otherwise choice between Outside and Penetration
If ****, 1-14 Penetration, 15-16 Outside, 17-20 Inside
If *****, 1-14 Penetration, 15-20 Inside
If the Shooter cannot be Inside, take the shot below depending on the number of asterisks
If *, 11-20 Outside, otherwise choice between Outside and Penetration
If **, 11-16 Outside, 17-20 Penetration, otherwise choice between Outside and Penetration
If ***, 11-15 Outside, 16-20 Penetration, otherwise choice between Outside and Penetration
If ****, 11-16 Penetration, 17-20 Outside, otherwise choice between Outside and Penetration
If *****, 11-20 Penetration, otherwise choice between Outside and Penetration
So, if a player is positioned Inside, a roll of 1-14 always results in an Inside shot, and rolls of 15-20 will result in either an Outside or Penetration shot, and not the other, depending on the number of asterisks in the SHOOTING TENDENCY section of the player card. This forces your big guy who is most accurate on the Inside, but in real life does take some Outside shots, to occasionally have to take an Outside shot in the game.
If the player is positioned Outside, but does take Inside shots in reality as reflected by an I in the SHOOTING TENDENCY section, then certain rolls result in an Inside shot, others in an Outside shot, others in Penetration, and if he has one to three asterisks, still others as options between Outside or Penetration. Note that this chart assumes that you are either playing an old season with no 3-Point shots or very limited ones, OR that you are using Chris's 3-point shot system. I say this because if you are using SOM's official system, then you would need to adjust this chart a little bit for players with four or five asterisks, the predominant penetrating players, who also take a decent number of 3-Point shots, as the "Outside shot only" readings on the Action Cards will result in 3-Point shots and not Outside shots and the players won't shoot enough Outside shots.
If a player cannot be Inside, rolls of 1-10 will result in a choice between an Outside or Penetration shot and rolls of 11-20 will specify whether the shot is Outside or Penetration, depending on the number of asterisks. This ensures that a player who is a better jump shooter than penetrator, but who occasionally takes the ball to the basket, is forced to do so once in a while in the game.
I hope my rule is understandable and that it brings you more enjoyment of this wonderful game. If I wasn't clear or you have any questions, please post a comment below. Keep rolling those X+s!
I have created five Player Availability Charts, which allows board gamers to randomly determine which players, if any, will be unavailable for any particular game. The chance that a player will be unavailable is based on the number of games a player appeared in, relative to the number games played by each team in the season. Thus five charts; one for 82 game seasons, one for the 72 game season of 2021, one for the 64-72 game season of 2020, one for the 66 game season of 2012, and one for the 50 game season of 1999.
The charts are great for use with just about any type of game; one-off games, tournament games, and even season replay games, when you want to randomly determine which players for each team might available on any given night. Using these charts, the lineups for teams in each game will be like a box of chocolates; you never know what you're gonna get.
The 3-Pt. Frequency Ratings for the newly released 2021 card set are now available for download from the X Files section. Enjoy!
In my solitaire game play, I like to use the various tactics available in the game as closely as possible to how actual NBA coaches employ them. To that end, I have put the following limitation on when I can have a player "play safe" in my solitaire games:
The Playing Safe rule may only be used in the fourth quarter or an overtime period.
Adding this limitation to the Playing Safe rule not only provides a more realistic feel to my solitaire games, but also results in more accurate minutes per game played for players, especially for those players who have few or no F(1) readings in their Defense column.
Most long-time players of the Advanced game probably already know this, but I figured I would post this for the newer or less experienced players of the Advanced board game.
There are three Advanced action deck cards that have incorrect or incomplete readings in the REBOUNDS section; cards 11, 47, and 55, and one Advanced action deck card that has an incorrect reading in the VISITOR section. These errors appear on both the original action deck cards (1981 - 2014) and the newer action deck cards (2015 - present). So, without further ado, here are the correct readings for the afore mentioned four action deck cards:
Action Card (11) - the REBOUNDS section incorrectly reads "Def. team Reb." | "DRF 3 - if not - ORF" The correct reading should be:
DRF 3 - if not - ORF | Def. team Reb.
Action Card (47) - the REBOUNDS section incorrectly reads "Def. team Reb." The correct reading should be:
Any Def. player 7 or more, if not - any Off. player 7 or more, if not - Def. team Reb. | Def. team Reb.
Action Card (55) - the REBOUNDS section incorrectly reads "DLG 2 - if not - OC" | "DRF - if not - ORF" The correct reading should be:
DLG 2 - if not - OC | DRF
Action Card (58) - The VISITOR section incorrectly reads "Switch - Defender LF (C)." The correct reading should be:
Switch - Defender LG (C)
Obviously, there isn't much room in the REBOUNDS section of the action cards for writing in these corrections. So, here is the method I use to make each correction:
Action Card (11) - I draw a curved arrow from the beginning of the bottom reading that ends pointing above the top reading, and draw a curved arrow from the end of the top reading that ends pointing below the bottom reading. This reminds me that the readings are reversed.
Action Card (47) - I shorthand D7+/O7+/DTR above "REBOUNDS" to remind me that the
Any Def. player 7 or more, if not - any Off. player 7 or more, if not - Def. team Reb. should be the reading above the lone Def. team Reb. reading.
Action Card (55) - I simply cross out the "- if not - ORF" part of the second reading to indicate that it is as DRF reading.
