Archive of SportingNews.com's old SOM Baseball forum

I don't understand the Mystery card concept, nor what I am playing with.

On each card is a certain year - which is also outlined in light yellow. Are the 36x2 sides chances i am looking at on each card the year in yellow, or is it the average of the 5 seasons listed? Because I look at some cards and they do not look anything the balance rating listed on the FA list.

Also, is the card I am looking at the card that will be used during the season? Or is it something I cannot gauge? ET simply hates this game, but I got a free credit from SOM to play and decided to try it out. But I am totally confused. How many mystery cards are there - just 1 on each team? Or is every card a mystery? And you have no idea what you have.

I don't like to play anything I don't understand and am not even remotely into random or surprises.

So I guess my main Q is: Am I looking at the cards I will be playing with or not? It is incredibly confusing and frustrating and I am likely going to jump on ET's bandwagon unless somebody can explain this to me.

I read the rules and FAQ's several times and I still don't get it.

Any help would be most appreciated - especially from trusted friends here - like TRich - who always seems to be able to explain things in my own language. Thanks SWP

Each player has 5 possible years. Each player gets one of the years and that stays as his card for the season. So when you create your team, you dont know what you will get. That is part of the appeal of the 80s game. You could have the exact same team and get very different results. There are several threads on this board on how to help ID cards. Your team will shifts as the season goes on. There are a lot more FA moves(and trades) in the 80s game. The players defense never changes from year to year.

Every card is a mystery card. So you have a whole roster of mystery players with a possibility of one of the 5 seasons as their card. Correct?

So the idea is to be able to figure out if it is one of the good seasons or bad ones? Then decide whether to keep the card or drop it? so really, all I am looking at on the card is meaningless?

Oh, I am going to really love this. I can hardly wait.

Thanks for the info, PA.

Rob't the default year you see when you first pull up a card is his first year. You must click on each year to see each of the 5 possibles, Injuries and performance are the only ways to determine what year you have. It's much more of a intuitive game as compared to the 00 games. I think you will enjoy it once you understand it.

SWP, does that make sense?

Each player has 1 of 5 cards he will play with during the season. That won't change, but you don't know which card you will get. That applies to all players. Sometimes you will get a player's best card and sometimes you get the player's bad card. And sometimes it's somewhere in the middle. You obviously have 1/5 of a chance to get any one card. So throughout the season, you have to determine whether each player has a "good" year or "bad" year and when and if you can identify the player has a bad year, then you must decide whether to cut him lose and pick up a replacement or keep him. Usually most will drop the bad year player and pick up a replacement. Especially for pitchers. Many times if I get lets say Ozzie Smith's bad year, I'll just hang on to him to keep his D and drop him to the bottom of the batting order. Also, each player is assigned one of the five cards at the beginning of the season by HAL, so even the free agents have one of the cards, possibly one of their very good seasons.

Also, the penalty to drop a player is only 5% at the biggining of the season (10% after game 40 I think). So it's an advantage to attempt to identify the players card as soon as possible because after game 81, the penatly goes back up to 20%.

When you click on each year (i.e. 1984, 1986, 1987, 1989, 1990), the player's rolls are listed on the cards down below. The stats may not seems like they reflect the player's balance, but it is.

The game does take some time to get used to, but I think those that stick it out tend to really enjoy the game. The game can be frustrating at times, especially when you get unlucky with a bunch of bad cards. But when you get a bunch of good cards or are able to turn around a season by picking up some players with good cards, the game becomes much more fun than the other SOM games. It's a much more hands on managment game compared to the other SOM games that many tend to leave on autopilot the entire season. That strategy definitely doesn't work in this game.

Anyway, it's the only SOM game I consistently play over and over again because each of your teams and leagues are different even if you were to get the exact same players on your team.

I kind of liken this to purchasing a car. the car costs 50K. But you might get a Ferrari worth 200K or you might get a used Yugo with no features.

Problem is - you have to race...And it costs 50K, but you have no idea what your going to be driving...Yeah, great game.

I don't see where it is any different than simply rolling dice - no strategy, no plan, no skill. It sounds so random to me, that I don't even get the point of playing.

When I play any kind of game or any kind of competition - whether it is tiddlywinks or trying to see who can get girl first. I want to know what I have as my strengths and what I am up against so I can guage my strategy - whatever it may be.

So now I am in a league with the draft completed and all the scouting of players I havce done was meaningless and now outcomes are not only determined by virtual dice, which I never get to roll, but totally random cards - unlike the ones I studied.

Whew!!! No wonder ET hates this. What is the point of even printing those cards in the first place? :roll:

Each and every player has five cards- one year is assigned to that player for the season. The year/card doesn't change for any reason. Pre-season no one knows which year each player has. However, during the season you can narrow down which year you have through injuries, performance , stats etc...

Before the season starts, you receive a player's full salary back when you release him. After the season starts, however, you receive a smaller percentage of the player's salary, based on how far along the season is:
before Game 42: 95%
after Game 42, before Game 81: 90%
after Game 81: 80%


Fielding, running, bunting, pitching endurance, hold ratings-don’t change depending on the card they’re fixed for every card/year.

After the playoffs are over- the year of the card is reveled.

The stats in the FA are an avg. of the players real life stats for the five years, so are the balances.

I think the yellow highlighted stuff is just letting you know which year you're looking at?

The mystery card game is the best of them. Play a few times, get the hang of it before making a final judgment.

I think the yellow highlighted stuff is just letting you know which year you're looking at?

The mystery card game is the best of them. Play a few times, get the hang of it before making a final judgment.

while some of you were answering...no offense intended to anyone's joy here...I didn't realize you could look at the other 5 seasons.

So basically I needed to do 5 x the research I normally do.

This is pretty much why I don't do live Drafts or play in theme leagues.

I definitely see the mental challenge of the game and all its changes and adapting throughout the season AND even why it would be appealing to some or even many.

But I think I get it now. Definitely not my type of game. I hope I don't annoy anyone in my league because I don't switch enuf. BTW thanks for explaining the lower penalty rule to me. It was the next logical Q.

Wish they offerred me a free ATGII credit instead. Oh well, I'll just ride it out and play nice. Thanks for explaining it to me. SW

[quote:3a7d954ae8]I kind of liken this to purchasing a car. the car costs 50K. But you might get a Ferrari worth 200K or you might get a used Yugo with no features.

Problem is - you have to race...And it costs 50K, but you have no idea what your going to be driving...Yeah, great game. [/quote:3a7d954ae8]

It's not quite like that, actually. You pay your 50K and if you find out it's a Yugo--by studying the performance and reading other signs--you can dump it for a small discount (5% at first) and get another car. Maybe this next one will actually perform like a Ferrari.

[quote:3a7d954ae8]I don't see where it is any different than simply rolling dice - no strategy, no plan, no skill. It sounds so random to me, that I don't even get the point of playing.[/quote:3a7d954ae8]

The skill is in figuring out what years you've got, and deciding whether to keep or dump players. Some guys--such as Panzer ace, who answered your first post--have had consistent success in season after season because they develop an effective team-building approach, analyze player performance with a high degree of accuracy (it's really an art), and make shrewd adjustments as the season develops. Others have more trouble winning consistently but remain addicted.

[quote:3a7d954ae8]So now I am in a league with the draft completed and all the scouting of players I havce done was meaningless and now outcomes are not only determined by virtual dice, which I never get to roll, but totally random cards - unlike the ones I studied. [/quote:3a7d954ae8]

Your effort in drafting your team isn't wasted. You've probably drafted a very good team. But, now, like a real baseball manager, you're going to have to figure which of your veteran players are in good years, which are in great years and maybe deserve a bigger role, and which are in bad year and need to be benched and/or cut. The numbers you saw on the free agent table are their average performance. Most players have only one bad year--so on average you might be weeding out two or three regulars and shifting a couple of subs around to meet needs. Most players will give you more or less what you expect and some will exceed expectations when you get their great year. That can be pretty exciting. :D

A lot of us this this is a lot of fun--I like it because the uncertainty is like managing a real baseball team and the best managers tend to win pretty consistently. Anyway, you've already paid for the season so you might as well give it a try.... :wink:

BTW, I've bumped a "help for Newbies" thread that you might find useful.

I did notice and read that post for newbies.

And I really do like the idea of having to gauge whether your players are in an up or down year. Very challenging, mentally stimulating and exciting across the board.

I just wish I understood this before I drafted. I guess the old adage applies in this case...

"If all else fails, read the instructions." :wink:

Thanks again everyone. If I do play again, at least I will know how to go about it. :)