Strat-O-Matic Baseball Games and Features

Around the SOM community, players often advocate for their favorite of the baseball game's three rule sets: Basic, Advanced (ADV), and Super Advanced (SADV). In addition, there are people who prefer the computer game and only knows some of the SOM rules. There seems to be an equal number of players who refuse to touch the computer game. So just for fun, I wanted to make a chart that covers all the possible ways to play SOM and what those games and rule sets have. So if you are a Basic player wondering if you are missing out on anything, or a SADV player wondering if your season replays would be faster with less rules... wonder no more. First let's review the five current ways to play the game. I am not including Baseball 365 as the teams cannot be managed in the middle of a played game.

The Games

Here is a brief history lesson. Some of the information here came from the Strat-O-Matic Fanatics book by Glen Guzzo. It is recommended reading if you are interested in the game's history or the rationale behind SOM Baseball's gameplay.

• Baseball Express - This was introduced in 2011 during SOM's 50th anniversary. It is the simplest way to play Strat-O-Matic Baseball. It was designed to be able to fit into a 8-year-old's backpack and be played in the back seat of a car. See my review for further information. The second edition came out in 2014 and the current third edition came out in 2017. The gameplay remained unchanged with new editions - only the players were updated.
• Basic - This was the original version of SOM Baseball, which debuted in 1961.
• Advanced - This was created in 1972 in response to Sports Illustrated's baseball game. S.I. debuted lefty-righty matchups. SOM evolved with Advanced rules, which includes different results on both sides of a player's card depending on the lefty-righty matchup. Fortunately they kept Basic cards on the other side of those players' card to maintain compatibility with previous seasons and also to give their players options.
• Super Advanced - This was created in 1990 in response to Pursue the Pennant, now known as Dynasty League Baseball. PTP attempted to compete with SOM head-on with a similar game format but more features and better marketing. SOM countered with its most complex card-and-dice game, which is still enjoyed today.
• Computer game - The SOM computer game as we know in (that did not require physical cards to play) debuted in 1992 in response to competitors with graphics such as Earl Weaver Baseball, which was Electronic Arts (EA)'s first of many successful sport franchises. The current 2020 game can play using ADV or SADV rules. In addition the SOM team added many options to address some the C&D game's limitations or simply to make the computer game an even more realistic representation of baseball.

The Chart

The numbers in the chart represent the sections of the SOM Baseball rule book the rules or features came from. For the computer game, Misc stands for Miscellaneous Rules. It is a single option that turns on and off all those rules all at once. Max means it is a Maximum Rule. Unlike Miscellaneous Rules, a Max Rule is a stand-alone rule or feature that can be turned on or off on its own. I assume programming limitations are why Miscellaneous Rules cannot be toggled individually.

How I Play

I hope you find the above table interesting and helpful! If you would like to know how I play the C&D game, I use all the SADV rules. However, like many players, I do not use Defensive Shifts, as I find its implementation to be too situational and unnecessary. The results are already in the cards. As for the computer game, you are welcome to take a look at my settings. In the end of the day, as long as you are not in a league or tournament, you can always remove the rules and features you do not like or agree with. In addition, you can do your own research on a variety of homebrew rules or even create your own. At the end of the day we all play Strat-O-Matic Baseball to have fun!

Go back to my Strat-O-Matic Baseball page.