Can You Teach An Old Game New Tricks? For Strat-O-Matic, The Answer Is Yes

As one of the most respected board games tied to sports, our company — owned and founded by my father Hal — knows our audience. We hear from thousands of fans, oftentimes as the game, our digital games or the board game gets passed down in Monopoly-like fashion from generation to generation. We have a stable, successful and — yes I can say it — iconic name in the industry.

However, like any established business, we needed to find a refresh. Sometimes that is easy, sometimes it’s a challenge, especially when you do not want to lose the core audience we have who LOVE our product.

As someone who has grown up around the business, and the game, but has ventured off into other successful ventures in film and television, I often wondered when, if ever, we could make a pivot with Strat-O-Matic.

Then came the pandemic. It was a moment not just to have our game literally replace the games, but for us to go further, to give fans of all ages a slice of normalcy using not just our game play BUT all the data that we could run in simulations which we have done for years in trying to refine the real-life characteristics of our game that did not exist anywhere else.

That was our goal: Bring real baseball every day to the fans. What we didn’t realize was the resonance our simulations would have not just with our core audience, but with casual fans, and the media, and even celebrities. The result was a business reinvention, a re-engagement with fans of all ages, an introduction to new fans and a bold affirmation of what we had hoped: That a venerable name tied to innovation would lead to new business success not just for now, but for the future.

As MLB has returned to play and other pro sports are back on the pitch, ice and court, we are taking a quick breath to see how we got here, and using some great creative outreach, to make “Strat” a household name more than ever.

The numbers have been outstanding …

• 70% higher Baseball Board game product sales

• 85% higher Baseball Windows platform sales

• More than double New Members on Strat-O-Matic Baseball 365 platform

The interest also helped in another way we never anticipated: employment opportunities. Our main offices on Long Island were limited in terms of staffing to assemble and ship our physical products, with demand outdistancing our supply. We were able to enlist the help of some out-of-work actors in a building in Harlem to help us build the games as they sat idly off the stage. It wasn’t a massive hire, but it gave these folks some much-needed income and gave us the opportunity to keep things moving.

What was even better was the way our simulations literally played out with the media, and how we were able to ramp up that area of awareness which we had never had before. Outlets like the San Francisco Chronicle ran our stats, standings and scores every day as if they were actually games; sites like SI.com and The Sporting News ran our Player of the Month awards and were constantly coming to us for updated information; we had some of our biggest supporters, like Giants broadcasters Jon Miller and Dave Flemming create a video simulating the team's home opener; Drew Carey and “Stray Cats” guitarist Slim Jim Phantom played out the All-Star Game live on Twitch (Strat and Twitch together, who saw that coming?) and over 50,000 people watched parts of the game. We developed a great series with Marquee Sports Network to reimagine some of the great Cubs games of all time and play out what would of happened. All of that has led to even broader discussions about growing on the daily fantasy side, on the sports gambling side, and even as part of a school curriculum where teachers needing more data for remote classes are incorporating Strat into lesson plans. 

And what we learned did not stop with baseball. We ran a simulation to finish the NBA season that has garnered support from broadcasters and players alike. Clippers fans were VERY happy as the season ended, Bucks fans not as much. And we are working on new partnerships around the NFL and the NHL as well. 

All because this venerable company didn’t sit still. We saw a window and were able to give fans realism and joy at a tough time and helped our new media partners with content so real fans were clamoring for more. 

So what are the lessons learned for venerable brands?

Stop sitting still. If you ask 10 people who don’t play your game what you are and only two know, you better get moving.

Never alienate your core consumer. In the quest to grow we can take them for granted. In hard times they are your backbone.

Be nice. Answer the same questions over and over again. Say please and thank you.

Be not afraid. It is easy to be paralyzed with fear and uncertainty. Use it as a tool, not a crutch. 

Even with all this pivoting, no one is more happy that sports are back than we are. After all, without the REAL games, we have no data, and without the data, there is no Strat. The most important thing we have always offered is realism: Create a real, quality product and the consumers will come. We knew that because of the length and depth of how our core fans engaged for decades. What we weren’t really sure was what would happen if we pushed our boundaries even further. We now know that a little new thinking, a little innovation, and a lot of fun numbers can open doors we never thought to knock on, and even for a “classic” game business, that is an invaluable lesson, one which we will keep learning from.

Adam Richman is president of Strat-O-Matic.