Board or CD-ROM Game?

[JMP1]

Looking to buy either the Stratomatic board or CD ROM game to play with my teenager. Any recommendations?

[voovits]

I'm going to assume you've never played either the board game or CDROM game before. Please forgive me if I'm wrong.

To get a true, authentic strat-o-matic experience, nothing beats the board game.
However, if you've never played the board game before, reading the charts, and understanding/managing the cards can be tough.

If you get the CDROM, the computer does all the behind the scene chart readings and the like, making it faster and easier to play. The online game is very customizable as far as which rules to incorporate, as well it has more rules available that the board game does not have. You could also choose to either have the computer roll the dice for you or you roll them manually and enter the results of the dice rolls to the game, in which the computer will then take care of the play results.

For a first time player however, I would recommend the board game. Once you understand the rules and how to read the charts and stuff, it becomes a second nature.

If you do decide to get the CDROM game though, definately spend the extra money to get the game with the card image option. That way you can see the actual player cards the game is using.

[JMP1]

Well I have played the board game but that was probably 40 years ago. Since life begins at 50 I guess I could say I haven't played it. :D

Would the computer game with the card reader be more interesting for a 14 year old? Or does the board game offer enough additional detail to hold a teenager's attention?

I'm playing the online game myself and enjoy it, so this really is to share with my daughter who is a big baseball fan. Although as long as I let her always have the Jason Bay card it might not matter! :lol:

[Play By The Rules]

For today's teenager, I'd say the computer game. However, everyone, including a lot of the people who complain around here about the online game, should check out the board game just to truly understand how it's put together.

[RICHARDMILTER]

I grew up playing the board game, however the CD-ROM did not exist. I would get the CD-ROM if I were you. It does a lot of the work for you. For instance; you do not have to create a schedule, or keep stats. Good luck and have fun!! Both you and your child!

[coyote303]

I prefer the CD-ROM game, and when I played as a kid there weren't any home computers, not to mention a CD-ROM version. I do [u:349bc1a29e]not[/u:349bc1a29e] look back fondly figuring out stats manually. Also, the CD-ROM version prevents misreading a card or misinterpreting a rule.

If you get the card image option, it will be very much like playing the board game so you can have the best of both worlds.