"Unguarded" Three-Point Shots (Advanced Game)

I have always found it odd that the Strat-O-Matic basketball game has rules that increase the FG% for Outside and Inside shots taken by players who are left unguarded (when a shooter's defender is participating in a double-team against another offensive player) but does not increase the FG% for three-point shots attempted by players who are left unguarded. 😕 Well, I decided to rectify that, and then some, with the following suggested rule adjustments:

If a player is left unguarded due to his defender participating in a double-team against another player OR whose defender is the designated inside block man, an X roll on the special black die does not result in an automatic missed three-point shot. Instead, treat the X roll the same as a Blank roll instead, reading the result of the shot attempt from the shooter’s 3-Pt. Shooting section.

Using this rule adjustment, one can no longer ignore the three-point shooting ability of players when making decisions on who to leave unguarded when employing a double-team or when choosing which player to be the defensive inside block man.

Offensive Foul Adjustment (Advanced Game)

As you know, whenever a player attempts a penetration or inside shot in the advanced/super-advanced game and a D9 or D11 roll occurs, the result is an automatic offensive foul against the player attempting the shot. This has never sat right with me for several reasons. First, too many offensive fouls occur in the game. Second, too few defensive fouls occur in the game (at least for seasons from 1995 to present), contributing to the below average free throw attempts that generally occur in games from the aforementioned seasons. Finally, it seems intuitive to me that the chance of an offensive foul occurring from a penetration or inside shot attempt should be directly affected by the type of defense that is being played by a team. If a team is playing a Sag defense, it makes sense to me that players on defense have more time to get in position to take a charge. Conversely, if a team is playing a Close defense, players on defense would have less time to get in position to take a charge.

If you think as I do, you can use the following rule adjustment to somewhat mitigate the aforementioned issues:

Offensive Foul Adjustment

Whenever an offensive foul reading occurs from the team defense card, roll a 20-sided die and apply the result to the chart below, based on the team defense being employed, to determine whether an offensive foul or defensive foul has occurred.

Close: 1-5 Offensive Foul, 6-20 Defensive Foul.

Normal: 1-10 Offensive Foul, 11-20 Defensive Foul.

Sag: 1-15 Offensive Foul, 16-20 Defensive Foul.

Protecting your Cards

If you're still using those cheap rubber bands, that Strat-O-Matic has been shipping with card sets since the early 80s, to separate your teams, for Heaven's sake STOP doing that! Over the years, those rubber bands will cause your cards to warp, and worse yet, the rubber bands will degrade over time and eventually "melt" and harden to the top and bottom cards for each set of teams, damaging your cards.

So, how should you separate your teams in each set to better protect your cards? Resealable 4" x 6" 2-mil plastic bags! I've seen some people separate teams using 4" x 6" manila envelopes, which is fine if you are storing your cards where they are subject to direct sunlight (not a good idea), or if you are 100% sure that you will never experience a flood or fire (also not a good idea, which is why you probably have home/renter's insurance).

So why do I recommend resealable 4" x 6" 2-mil plastic bags? Well, for a few reasons. First, they eliminate the possibility of damage from using rubber bands. Second, they protect your cards from water and/or smoke damage in case of a flood or fire (well, assuming that the area you store your cards in isn't actually on fire, or a flood isn't so massive that your card sets get washed away), and finally, there is no need to label your teams (as opposed to using manila envelopes), as the team and season are clearly visible through the plastic bag.

So, where can you find these resealable 4" x 6" 2-mil plastic bags? Right here: 4 x 6" 2 Mil Reclosable Bags S-1294 - Uline

Tournaments

If you have tired of single team full season replays, replaying the playoffs, or playing random games between two teams from your collection of season card sets, then setting up and playing small (or large) tournaments can be a fun alternative. I recently started playing seeded tournaments using the top 10 teams from each season I own (based on regular season wins). The #7 - #10 teams participate in an NBA-style play-in for the #7 and #8 spot in an 8-team single elimination tournament. I've been having a blast playing these tournaments!

One of the best things about tournaments, besides the how much fun they are to play, is the plethora of options you have when setting them up. From the number of teams that will participate to the format of the tournament, there are literally hundreds of combinations that will allow you to setup the perfect tournament for yourself.

For myself, I like to limit the total number of games it takes to complete my tournaments to a maximum of 9 or 10 games, with every team having a fighting chance of making it to the Championship game, which is why I prefer the combination of 10-teams in seeded single elimination tournaments. I also like to play a variety of teams in my tournaments, so the 10 teams participating may come from the top third, middle third, or bottom third of teams from a particular season set. For example, I'm currently playing with the latest 2022 season set. I want to see all 30 teams from the set in action, so I'm playing three 10-team single elimination tournaments: one with the bottom 10 teams (Division 3), one with the middle 10 teams (Division 2), and one with the top 10 teams (Division 1). I will have three champions, one from each "division," with all three tournaments completed in just a span of 27 total games played.

There is one big downside when setting up a tournament though. Creating the bracket! Depending on the format and number of teams you want to have for your tournament, it can be a real headache to figure out how to setup your bracket correctly. Fortunately, when I first started looking into playing tournaments, I did a little research and found an awesome website with a ton of fillable (and non-fillable) PDF brackets for just about any format and number of teams you could possibly imagine for a tournament. The site is PrintYourBrackets.com and here is the link to their page where you can access all of their pre-made brackets: https://www.printyourbrackets.com/fillable-tournament-brackets.html

If you've never setup and played a Strat-O-Matic basketball tournament, or found it too hard to come up with a bracket for the tournament format that you have envisioned, I highly recommend visiting the above website and giving tournament play a go!

2022 Season 3-Pt. Frequency Ratings Now Available

The 3-Pt. Frequency Ratings for the 2022 card set are now available for download from the X Files section. Enjoy!

Resources Section Name Change

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. 😎

Solitaire Game Play Options

The latest Solitaire Game Play Options document (version 02.09.23) is now available from the X Files section.