Strat-O-Matic and APBA Keep On Ticking 29
An anonymous reader writes "USA Today has a great story about the classic baseball games Strat-O-Matic and APBA, enduring in the modern age amid all of the Xbox glitz. Quoting: 'While there are numerous other statistics-based games (such as Diamond Mind, whose creator now works for the Boston Red Sox,) APBA and Strat-O-Matic are by far the oldest and most recognized. And there is something amazing about how these two games have survived for so long. APBA estimates it has sold over 600,000 units of its board game; Strat-O-Matic, over 1 million. Both companies describe their customers as getting older — age 35 and up, a sign of how the electronic era is pushing kids away from board games. In the 1960s and '70s, teenagers were a big part of the customer base. "We have a niche group," says Hal Richman, the 72-year-old founder of Strat-O-Matic, based in Glen Head, NY. "We cannot compete with the Xboxes and the John Maddens and EA Sports and all their graphics. We do it another way. We want the ballplayer to be realistic."'"
INTERESTING NEWS (Score:0, Insightful)
Oh yes, this is completely interesting. so interesting it belongs on the slashdot main page.
Oh wait, I meant idle.slashdot.org.
Beware the DRM (Score:4, Insightful)
My dad has spent thousands of dollars on both the Strat-O-Matic cards and in the last few years, the electronic versions of the cards. We sold some of his classic stat cards to fund him buying the electronic versions. However, he's had tons of problems with them. Whenever you buy cards, you have to authorize them with your Strat-O-Matic software. Each card can only be authorized to one machine at a time. If your computer unexpectedly crashes (which his seems to do often), you have to call Strat-O-Matic up and ask them to de-authorize so you can authorize them again to the exact same machine.
It's pretty evil DRM that has made it more difficult for my dad to enjoy his hobbies.