How To Play – Baseball

How to Play Strat-O-Matic Baseball (board game)

Strat-O-Matic is the boss of sports board games, a memory-making experience. Ideal for playing solo or in friendship-bonding face-to-face play, Strat-O-Matic is easy to learn. Yet it is challenging enough to entertain for hours, as you make the player selections and the offensive and defensive decisions that decide the outcome. Make your lineup and in-game strategy decisions. Roll the dice that activate play (think of it as the pitch or swing). Then find the result on the statistically designed player card. Every player is unique, giving every dice roll drama.

It’s this easy: The first die tells you whether to consult the batter or pitcher card and which of his three columns to check. Two other six-sided dice are added to locate the result in the correct column. What a player does most (hit for average, hit for power, strike out, etc.) shows up on the most common dice combinations.

Because of Strat-O-Matic’s unmatched play value, a full nine innings can be played in less than 30 minutes. One dice roll ends most at-bats with the outcome right off the player card. Sometimes you’ll need a dramatic second roll to find out if your fielder is good enough to save a run or turn a double-play, or to find out if that long fly ball is outta here or caught at the warning track.

Three games in one, Strat-O-Matic will have you playing the Basic game within minutes of opening the box. Once you have a little experience, you may wish to adventure into the richly detailed Advanced and Super Advanced games, where lefty-righty advantages, ballpark effects, clutch hitting and much more practically put you in the dugout as a Major League manager!

How To Play – Football

How to Play Strat-O-Matic Pro Football (board game)

Three games in one, Strat-O-Matic Pro Football plays at the Basic, Advanced and Super-Advanced level. You’ll be playing the Basic game within minutes, because it’s as easy as this:

On offense, choose your ball-carrier for one of three runs (inside, off tackle or sweep) or your intended receiver for one of three passes (in the flat, a short-range pass downfield, or a deep throw). On defense, guess run or pass, knowing that being right or wrong can make all the difference. Then roll three six-sided dice.

The first die directs you either to the offensive player’s card or to the team-defense card. Then add the other two dice for results 2-12. If it’s offense, you’ll see that whatever most defines a player’s talent will show up on the most common dice combinations. Maybe he gains the tough yards or is a breakaway runner. Maybe he’s the high-catch possession receiver or the lower-catch deep threat. Maybe he’s the high-percentage passer, the mad bomber or the scrambling quarterback. Whatever, he’ll come to life before your eyes.

As you anticipate the roll that will bring fist-pumping success or head-shaking frustration, you’ll see how much it matters for the defense to guess right. It can be the difference between missing a tackle at the line of scrimmage that springs a back to take it to the house.

If the roll sent you to the defense card, you’ll see that team’s strength or vulnerability stuffing the run, sacking the passer, forcing turnovers or getting burned on the deep ball.

Strat-O-Matic’s most visual board game, Advanced Pro Football, will make you feel like the quarterback surveying the field ahead of you, or the middle linebacker staring into the eyes of the quarterback. You have all the usual plays, but this time you run right or left, perhaps behind your elite-blocking lineman or at a weaker defender or perhaps where the defense won’t expect it. You’ll have to more options on defense, moving linebackers and the free safety around to strengthen the defense in select running and passing zones while leaving other zones unattended. At this level, the football fan learns how players not even involved in the play can influence the play-calling and the performance of his teammates in sport’s ultimate team game.

In Super-Advanced play, there are additional formations, a dynamic new pass-rush system and other options that will make playing Strat-O-Matic as intense as coaching from an NFL sideline.

How To Play – Hockey

How to Play Strat-O-Matic Hockey (board game)

Player cards are the heart and soul of all Strat-O-Matic board games, with each hockey player uniquely rated to portray their on-ice styles, strengths and weaknesses. But to simulate the nearly nonstop flow of pro hockey, Strat-O-Matic uses another set of unique cards, an Action Deck, that dictates action and game time.

The Action Deck makes Strat-O-Matic Hockey easy to play. Just flip a card to start the action, and find the player and skill that will play the key role in the next 40 seconds of frenzy. Perhaps the center’s passing skill, the left winger’s defense or the right defenseman’s shot from the blue line will determine whether there’s a scoring chance, a turnover, or a game-changing penalty.

Two six-sided dice are reserved for the game’s most dramatic moments, when you literally hold the outcome in your hands. They are used on shots, and whenever the goalie’s skill is needed to determine if a dangerous chance will be a save, a rebound or a goal.

Because every player card is unique, the same roll that scores a goal for one shooter and can be a harmless shot for another. The defensive takeaway for one player can become a disastrous giveaway by another. It always matters what combination of players is on the ice when opportunity arrives.

Three games in one, Strat-O-Matic in Basic, Advanced and Super-Advanced form, either has a strategic challenge in face-to-face play or solitaire. In Advanced play, a more detailed Action Deck breaks down the action for the playing style you choose: An up-tempo, aggressive-forechecking game, a moderate attack or a conservative, defense-first approach. The smart choice will bring out the best in players who thrive on that style and the worst in those whose skills are ill-fit for it.

Super-Advanced Play offers the ultimate in penalty variety, power-play detail and more to make your Strat-O-Matic experience as life-like as possible. For gamers who want the strategy options in Advanced and Super-Advanced Play, we highly recommend the optional Additional Players (more than 200 men to complete your rosters).

You can begin Basic play within minutes of opening the game box. And, if you’re like most of our hockey customers, you’ll still be playing many years later.

How To Play – Basketball

How to Play Strat-O-Matic Basketball (board game)

Three games in one, Strat-O-Matic will have you playing the Basic game within minutes of opening the box and then entice you with the detailed player ratings and strategy options of the Advanced Game. For the fanatics who want the ultimate in pro-basketball realism, the Super-Advanced options offer a dozen additional strategies.

Each individually crafted player card, every one unique, will enliven your games. Feel the need for speed with a team built for the fast break. Tingle with anticipation when a superstar like LeBron James or Kobe Bryant goes one-on-one to the hoop. Sense the crowd jumping out of its seat when Steve Nash whips a dazzling pass or Dwight Howard throws down an alley-oop.

It starts with Strat-O-Matic’s unique Action Deck, which directs attention to the shooting, passing or defending skills of the key man on each possession. Because each player card is unique, one man’s perfect pass is another man’s turnover; one man’s defensive stop is another man’s ole´! Each team’s top guns will take more shots. Two six-sided dice are used for shots, when you literally hold the outcome in your hands. Then, a special six-sided black die will decide whether the shot comes from the offensive player’s card or the team defense card.

In the Advanced Game, the play results and strategy options expand rapidly. Now there are passes that find the open man and others “Dazzlers” that mean automatic baskets. The mental image of those plays are so strong, you’ll swear you can see them on the fast break! You’ll also position some players inside, others outside, depending on their ability. Choose wisely, because the defender who shuts down outside shooters often is vulnerable to a post-up player and vice versa. Advanced play also introduces blocked shots; some shot-blockers are so intimidating that you’ll want a big man who can hit an open jumper to draw this defender outside.

Strat-O-Matic’s hallmark ease of play means you’ll be able to do all this in half the time it takes to watch a real pro basketball game. Our signature statistical accuracy will amaze you as the NBA’s stars are your leading scorers, rebounders and assist men, too.

Now it’s your chance to join the thousands of Strat-O-Matic Fanatics who keeping come back for more of Strat-O-Matic Basketball.