According to the Strat-O'Matic Football Facebook page Strat-O'Matic football is described as: "The game is a statistically based sports game that simulates the play of American football. Each player's statistics are gathered, analyzed, and then converted into numerical results which reflect each player's production for a given year. These numerical results are placed on a set of cards, with each team having its own set. In addition, a team's defensive ratings for a season are converted into card data that determines how many yards may be gained against that defense."
Strat-O-Matic Football according to our guest Mike Kane, was first produced by the Strat-O'Matic game company in 1968. The game is a statistically based game that at first used a series of informational cards, a set of three dice and a unique game board to help simulate action of a real football game. Strat-O'Matic first offered a baseball version in the early 1960's but it wasn't until a few years later when they developed the special player cards that the game really caught on. Wikipedia ways that Strat-O'Matic began as a company in 1961, when Hal Richman a mathmatics major started selling a very early version out of his basement. The natural jump to the stat driven game of football soon propelled the company to new heights.
The early 1980's saw another evolution of the game that enhanced it further but right around the year 2000 Strat-O'Matic Football entered the computer age and really tapped into the interest of sports fans. Mike Kane shares the basic rules of play with us in the podcast and how even to this day folks are drawn to playing the game in an international setting through the use of the internet and localized tournaments are held so that these players can show off their skills.
The fundamental core of the game though is the intent of replicating the great players of the gridiron abilities as accurately as possible, giving the game player the feel of making managerial and coaching decisions based on actual weighted stats.
For ways to join in on the fun Mike suggests going to the Strat Fan Forum and to purchase the game and its components you can go to the Strat-O'Matic .com website.