The good ole days

Big thumbs up reading this thread!

I don't have the full picture as those like Nev and others do, as I only started with the 20xx game so didn't try ATG until ATG 3 (under different usernames).

But I was hooked by the people who played as much as by the game. It was definitely those personalities that stood out that made it fun--most were helpful, no one was shy, and there was always banter. And Bernie Hou always cared, that's for sure.

It was a community. Back when there were still Coffeeholic(s) and before Petrosian became endangered as the last true druid.

I just feel lucky to have gotten in back in the beginning. I never knew it was coming, a buddy of mine was the one who alerted me. He and I used to play the board game when we were kids.

True to form, Strat didn't exactly aggressively market this online version. But those early primitive online days were the best. It's still great now, but it had more character back then, not sure how to explain it, but definitely feel fortunate to have been one of the early ones.

Indeed PJ.
For me, the magic of it was bringing to life StratOMatic after a long hiatus since playing with cards, dice, and lookup tables. And bringing it to life online? I hadn't played the CD/PC version so it was like shangri-la.
I was floored and I don't recall how I ran across it. I think it was happenstance...and then being hosted by TSN--that puzzled me.

But now the genius, albeit some might say stubborn and egotistical, of Hal Richman was he created something that no one else could pull off as well. But maybe he was so close to the conception that it stunted his creation's "growing up" at times. With the business now carrying on, maybe 21st century experiences will help it kick into a new gear that will be a renaissance for others.

Of course, if baseball keeps going the way it has, there may not be enough stats to drive the future game at all.

Absolutely!

The feeling of rolling those dice, no matter how much you thought this time was going to be different, Reggie Jackson was going to drive in that run against Bob Stanley, regardless of how many times we re-rolled those damn dice. It was a completely different feel, as if the result was already determined but we still had to go through the physical motions to get to it.

Moving to the ease of digital online games was like the microwave oven appearing in your kitchen. You mean I just press two buttons and in one minute my leftovers are hot and ready to eat?

And, it was fixed and permanent. No shenanigans (or so we thought). The game was above reproach. No re-rolls, no arguments over how to use the cards, it was all done by an honest HAL.

and Reggie still hits the homer off of Stanley. That hasn't changed.