Baseball Express 4th Edition

Finding the right gift for my 25-year-old son—who loves crunching numbers as much as he loves baseball—was a challenge until I found the Baseball Express 4th Edition by Strat-O-Matic. Here's why this game was a home run.A Good Mix of Fun and Strategy:Baseball Express is a simplified version of the classic Strat-O-Matic Baseball, which made it the perfect starting point for him. It blends his love for stats with his passion for baseball, all without getting too complex.What’s in the Box:Current Player Cards: The set comes with 42 cards of current All-Stars. These aren't just any cards; they reflect real player statistics, which my son gets a kick out of analyzing.Customizable Player Card: The free personalized batter card was a nice touch. He had fun creating a card for himself, adding a personal spin to the game.Gameplay and Enjoyment:Ease of Use: He found the game straightforward but engaging. It's been a great way for him to unwind, applying his statistical skills to strategize each move.Connecting Over Baseball: More than just a game, it's given him and his dad a lot to talk about and enjoy together during game nights, deepening chats about baseball strategies and players.A Few Notes:Entry-Level: It’s targeted at beginners, so while it’s perfect for casual fun, he might graduate to more complex Strat-O-Matic games as he gets more into it.Quality and Design: Compact and well-made, it's easy to set up and pack away, which suits his tidy nature.The Baseball Express 4th Edition isn’t just a game; it’s been a perfect blend of his hobbies—baseball and math. Seeing him analyze each player and their stats with such enthusiasm is exactly the reaction I hoped for.For those with a sports enthusiast in their life who enjoys a bit of number-crunching, this game could be a delightful surprise. It's engaging, educational, and, most importantly, a lot of fun.

Bought this for my grandson. I have played strat-o-matic baseball myself since I was 16. Easy to play and learn with this kids version. Basic play is the next step up which is easy to play also. Having the major league players cards to set lineups, it makes it a true fun game for the sports fan that likes realistic outcomes. After my grandson gets the hang of the kids version, then we can get the next set of "basic" game cards that you can play with any major league team you want. This 3rd edition is the "allstar" player cards from both American league and National league. Its fun and takes less then a half hour to play a game.

It's more complicated than I expected

This is a great introduction to Strat-O-Matic games. My 11 year old and I were able to set it up and start playing immediately. Nice selection of players, enough to fill out an AL roster and an NL roster - bench players, pitching rotation, bullpen, the works! The free personalized batter card is an added bonus. Their website is easy to navigate to fill out the required stats to complete the card. We had a bit of an issue with the order process for the personalized card (our discount code wasn't working), but their customer service was great. They were able to take care of it in a timely fashion. They also followed up with me later to make sure it was taken care of. You don't often see service like that these days!

I am impressed with how true-to-baseball a dice version of the game can be! Every part of the game -- pitching, hitting, fielding and stealing -- seems very realistic based on how major league baseball plays out in real life. Sometimes I can stage a huge comeback. Sometimes my son can stop the bleeding by bringing in a new pitcher. He loves this game so much we just ordered additional major league players -- 5 complete teams worth! It will be great to mix in some fresh players.

I'd love to play the game and give it a proper rating, but game is incomplete due to missing dice. The package says there are 2 red dice included, but I only have 1. Is there any way I can play the game with the 2 dice or do I have to find red dice on my own?

With my two elementary school age sons I split the 42 players into three teams and ran a 12 game regular season. We loved it and have upgraded to the full Strat-o-Matic game. We'll keep this for travel, etc.Two recommendations: use a note pad to keep score, and grab some larger dice from another game.

Good introductory game - Will purchase the full game. Enjoyable, good for quick play. Fielding component of baseball is not part of the game.