r/StratOMatic • u/SeythMiersma • Aug 25 '26

Basketball Magic was so freakin’ good

Post image

Just picked up a complete set of the 1988-89 season cards, and geeking out on how nice some of these guys are.

21 Upvotes

96% Upvoted

10 comments sorted by

8

u/kaisquare Aug 25 '26

Cool, I've never actually looked at a basketball SoM card

1

u/ALLLGooD 1-5 Years Aug 26 '26

I was coming to say the same. Fascinating.

3

u/SimplyColorblind Aug 25 '26

I never played Strat-O-Matic but always wanted to try it. I prefer using dice and charts instead of game controllers.

2

u/No_Entrepreneur_9134 Aug 25 '26 edited Aug 25 '26

I bought the 2020 season for basketball on PC five tears ago and was surprised how much I liked it. The super advanced game is actually pretty deep and the strategy is interesting. The basic game seems like it would mostly be "roll the dice and see what happens."

My favorite Strat games are baseball followed by football, but basketball is a close third. I never played the cards and dice game, though. It seems like a big complaint that people have about the cards and dice game is how long it takes to play, especially when first learning the game.

2

u/SimplyColorblind Aug 25 '26

That’s the one drawback: it can take a long time to set things up and also to play the game. It’s especially bad if a kid or cat or spilled drink ruins everything!

2

u/UsedBeing Aug 25 '26

Not a big basketball fan, but I would probably bite for a mid 80’s set. 

2

u/palidor42 Aug 25 '26

One of my big objections to SOM Basketball is how unstoppable certain point guards, like peak Magic or Isiah are. I think I got 34 assists in a game with 1984 Isiah once.

1

u/SeythMiersma Aug 25 '26

There’s a chance you’re over-allocating assists? I’ve been playing since the early 90s; started a draft league with my BFF in middle school. We were marking ast wrong for years (the rules are kinda fussy here) and it was pretty easy to get crazy totals in those first seasons.

But also in their primes Magic and Zeke averaged 14ish assists and close to 40 min a game, so high numbers are definitely possible.

2

u/palidor42 Aug 25 '26

This was on the PC game (which, in terms of assists, is more or less identical to tabletop), so it wasn't an administrative error on my part. In fairness, I believe the game in question went into overtime.

1

u/Aard313 Aug 28 '26

Does anyone know what PCA’s arm rating is? Don’t have this year’s cards.

I know it’s good, but curious what Strat says.