WAR Games Update

In cased you missed it here is a link to a game called WAR Games my buddy Micah and I created using baseball cards

We are about ten days into the competition and this is a very difficult game. The $10 limit becomes quite a detriment when balancing the specialty card needs. As we speak I've found four cards with my strategy being to focus on the auto/relics/parallels. You also have to deal with some buyers remorse because as soon as you commit to buy something sure enough a better player at an even better deal will pop up.

While the $10 limit is challenging it is also the funnest aspect of the challenge. This forces you to think outside the box when purchasing. In your mind you may think that you can just scour eBay and look for free shipping auctions, but it is hard to find good cards with free shipping attached. Obviously the holy grail would be to find one good seller, but our chosen year for cards is 2005 so that really limits the choices.

As of now we feel that the only thing that will need tweaking is the scoring system. We are thinking that if you don't at least complete the specialty card portion you are automatically disqualified. The bonuses/penalties will most likely be adjusted some as well.

Once the trial run ends I think I'm going to create a tournament style blogger competition. So far it has been a lot of fun.

WAR Games (A New Game to Play With Baseball Cards)

I'm always trying to think of new ways to enjoy baseball cards and utilize my blog at the same time. My buddy Micah and I began throwing around ideas yesterday. While a huge Pirate fan like myself, his collecting habits are way more general. So our first goal was to come up with something not bound to a team or player.

The other important aspect was cost. We wanted our new game to be competitive, but on a limited budget. This works out great as I needed to control spending as my wife and I have a significant home improvement project on the horizon.

After a few emails back and forth Micah came up with foundation of a monthly competition game of accumulating cards.  I tweaked the rules.

Let me be the first to introduce WAR Games!

The game is kind of a pack war meets FanDuel mash up with baseball cards.  Here are the rules.

First you pick a year (Our trial run is 2005).  All cards have to be from the chosen year. 

Each person has $10 to spend (that includes shipping)

Roster = SP, RP, DH, C, 1B, 2B, SS, 3B, LF, CF RF

Cards have to be new purchases. 

We will use baseball reference for WAR calculation. 

Each roster must include 1 certified auto, 2 relics, 3 numbered cards = to 250 or less. 

Each person must be able to officially account for the exact amount spent each round. 

You cannot check WAR rankings (relying on the honor system)

For each roster spot left unfilled at the deadline you lose 2 WAR from your collective score

+ 2 WAR for Completed Roster

+ 3 if auto is highest War Player

+1 if relic is highest War player. 

+1 for serial numbered cards /25 or lower

No dual relics or autos

Each card must be of just 1 player.

The team with the highest cumulative WAR total is the winner. 

We set the time limit at one month. The winner gets to choose 1 card from the opposing teams final roster. 

Micah and I started as of yesterday to give it a trial run.  We like the challenge of a limited budget of $10.  The main tweaking will probably be with the bonuses. If it works out well, I think this might be a fun game for the blogosphere to play.  

Let me know what you think.

Thanks for reading.