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Baseball Board Games for Kids

Baseball is America’s pastime and a popular sport among children. But kids want to follow the game for more than just a few months in the summer. Baseball board games were invented for young fans who love the game. Unlike most other board games, these are realistic simulations meant for the true baseball fan.

APBA
- The father of all baseball board games was started by Pennsylvania kids in the 1930s, according to the APBA Games website. Dick Seitz developed a homemade game for himself and his friends that simulated the game of baseball. They formed their own gaming league and played under the name American Professional Baseball Association. They soon named the game APBA for short.
  
  Seitz developed the game further during World War II and later printed up more player cards and play charts reflecting current lineups. By 1957 Seitz was making APBA a full-time career. The APBA sold today is much the same as the 1957 version except for the players on the cards.
Strat-O-Matic
- Strat-O-Matic, the second-oldest baseball board game, was introduced in 1961. It has a large fan following in live gaming leagues and on the Internet, according to TableTopBaseball.org.
  
  Strat-O-Matic offers a basic and advanced version of the game in the same box. Players use dice and cards to play simulated baseball games. Players decide whether to sacrifice, steal bases, perform a hit and run or make other strategic moves. The basic game takes about 20 minutes and incorporates most of the strategy options. The advanced game takes a bit longer and includes right-handed and left-handed pitching, fatigue, clutch hitting and other factors not included in the basic rules.
  
  Strat-O-Matic is also available in an online game, according to TableTopBaseball.org.
Statis Pro
- Statis Pro was a baseball board game produced by the role-playing and strategy game company Avalon Hill from 1970 until 1992. This game is considered among the most enjoyable baseball strategy games, according to TableTopBaseball.org. The relatively realistic play made the game popular, but many players considered it too simple.
  
  The game could be played solitaire or against another player, and a nine-inning game was usually complete in a half-hour. The game used cards and dice, much like the other games of the era, and was based on match-ups between hitters and pitchers.

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