Those numbers, in turn, match up with a situation booklet that determines walks, hits and outs.Īlong the way, the human players act like managers, deciding when to hit-and-run, when to pull the infield in, when to pinch-hit and when to bunt. The numbers of dots on the dice first red, then white correspond to numbers on the cards. Winning or losing is mostly determined by rolls of the dice one red, one white. Ratings and numbers have been assigned based on how pitchers and batters performed that season. “And this was the ultimate game for statistic freaks.”Įach player chooses a team, which comes with a set of cards for the entire roster.
“Baseball has always been a game for statistics freaks,” said John Cochrane, a veteran APBA player from Virginia. Players compete using a system built on the actual performance of professional players and teams from baseball’s distant or not-so-distant past. Video games have become increasingly sophisticated, and fantasy sports leagues have surged in popularity, but APBA, like its rival Strat-O-Matic, has stuck to the basic format that made it successful. One player was 7, and perhaps the most feared competitor was a teenager with spiky hair. Many of the players were middle-age men hoping to apply their math and managerial skills to something other than work. Not far from this building, 76 people recently converged on a hotel ballroom for the annual APBA tournament.
It is the headquarters of APBA, a company founded in 1951 and known most for making a dice baseball game that has nurtured a persistent following through the years. Amid the rolling hills of Amish country sits a small brick building obscured by shrubbery.
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