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Friday, October 9, 2015

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. 


18 comments:

  1. This looks like a fun game and with the right knowledge of who was seen as a surprise out of nowhere performer I'm sure one could get very competitive with this. I might try this with minor leaguers one day.

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    Replies
    1. You and I should play once we get the kinks worked out of this version.

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  2. Replies
    1. We are working the kinks out still, but I think it will be fun.

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  3. Sounds like fun, any game that involves adding a stack of cards has to be good.
    Do the players have to be *active* in the specified year? I bet there are Babe Ruth cards from 2005, for instance.

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    1. It has to be active players from 2005 because you use their WAR from that year as part of your teams cumulative war total.

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  4. This is kind of awesome. I'm curious to see how it goes!

    Also I've been thinking about card games so much lately...I think I want to start collecting Showdown cards.

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    Replies
    1. I'm excited to see how it works out. The scoring will probably be tweaked some, but this will give us a baseline.

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  5. I think this is an awesome game. I can't wait to see how your trial run works out!

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  6. Sounds interesting. May have to get it on this eventually

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    Replies
    1. Oh yeah....Once we get it going, the more the merrier.

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  7. When you get the kinks worked out I think this will really take off around the blogosphere.
    I could see this easily becoming a tournament. Find 16 bloggers and set them up in a bracket. Round of 16 in January, elite eight in Feb., final four in March (fitting, no?) and championship in April. Use a different year for each round.
    Those interested would have to be willing to invest $40 over a four month span, but it would make for some great reading during the winter months!

    Oh, one last thought... do you have a tie-breaker?

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    Replies
    1. I need to think of a tie breaker, but I doubt it would happen. Baseball Reference doesn't round the WAR so it would be quite the feat to tie.

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  8. Man this is so cool. Can't wait to see you and Micah battle it out.

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    Replies
    1. It will be fun. The $10 limit makes for a nice challenge.

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  9. Replies
    1. As soon as the kinks are worked out I think I'm going to start a tournament.

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