Strat-O-Matic lives.

• Author: Schley, Stewart
• Position: Sports Biz - Strat-O-Matic Game Company Inc.

HITTING .412 WITH SEVEN RBI IN THE 2004 WORLD Series didn't just earn Red Sox outfielder Manny Ramirez series MVP honors.

It also put him on the cover of "MVP Baseball 2005," a new entry in the sports video-game category that generated $1.2 billion in sales last year.

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Powered by muscular new game platforms like Microsoft's X-Box and Sony's revved-up Playstation 2, graphically rich and visually stunning sports-video games are hot. Reigning category kingpin Electronic Arts says its EA Sports division is on pace for a record sales year.

Which is why it was surprising to see legendary Electronic Arts founder Tripp Hawkins weigh in recently on an Internet chat forum:

"Jeff Kent led all second basemen in defensive win shares and runs saved, and for that he gets dropped to a 4?" pondered an incredulous Hawkins.

If you're dumbfounded, read on.

If you're smiling, you have been outed.

You, like Hawkins, are One of Them.

You are a Devotee of Hal. You are a Roller of Dice.

You play Strat-O-Matic.

For devotees, simply hearing the game's name, clumsy and out of rhythm with the modern entertainment ethos, evokes wistful memories of Saturday afternoons spent huddled over card tables and game boards, squinting at statistics and rolling dice. Since 1963, when the first commercially available Strat-O-Matic board games were manufactured, a peculiar obsession has continued to grip those who have fallen under the spell of the most enduring sports simulation game ever invented.

The product of closely held Strat-O-Matic Game Co. of Glen Head, N.Y., the "Strat" series of sports games continue to defy market assumptions. Graphically limited, mathematically complex and strategically demanding, Strat games are the odd throwback in a sports-gaming market where 128-bit microprocessors and super-realistic animations dominate. Even the computer-based versions of the Strat board games are little more than text and numbers.

When a player in EA's "MVP Baseball" smacks a double, you can see such fine details as ridges in the dirt of a baseline as a computer-simulated figure scampers around first. When a Strat-O-Matic player strokes an extra-base hit, the main visual indicator is merely a line of type that shows up on a rough outline of a diamond.

Yet the game perseveres.

Major leaguers like Phillies outfielder Doug Glanville are self-proclaimed Strat geeks. TV sports announcers Bob Costas and Dan Patrick play Strat. Film director Spike Lee's 1994 movie...