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Max Jamelli
United States
Chambersburg
Pennsylvania
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#9 on the countdown - March Madness
March Madness is a game designed in 1991, so it's definitely an oldie, but a goodie. I was first introduced to MM by my father when I was in High School. I was a big basketball fan and my father was a big fan of strat-o type games. I was initially turned off by the "old teams" that came with the game. I never knew the rulebook allowed a system for players to create "newer" teams. All you needed was some statistical data to do it. Alas, the databases of sports statistics that are now readily available online weren't as available in 1993 (or so, whenever we started playing). So, March Madness went back onto the shelf and I went back to the Nintendo version of Tecmo NBA basketball.
Fast forward a few years to 1998. I went to a convention with my father for a few days. It was my first stay-over trip to AvalonCon (it's final year as Avaloncon). I had just turned 21. I remember sitting at the bar with my dad and watching him try to drink a Guinness. The only two games I really knew how to play were Air Baron and Gangsters. A few people taught me The Settlers of Catan, and I learned a few other new ones. But the other tournament my dad told me to enter was the March Madness event.
I played in two heats that year. I honestly don't remember who I played, but I had fun playing since the people there were friendly. I was pretty green at that time, so I didn't talk too much to anyone other than my dad. After my games, my opponents spoke highly of me to my dad (which probably made him prouder than he would've been had I won) and my first real experience with MM was a good one.
As the years went on, and I was able to get back to WBC again - March Madness was an event I circled. I played in 3 heats, dropping my first round game in each of them. The dice were just not friendly that year - nor would they be in the play by email event run by the BPA. I took an 0-9 BPA record into WBC of 2009. I was just hoping to get a win. I ended up winning my first 3 games, before dropping. That year my overall record was 5-3. My BPA online record is still 0-fer (0-6) but one of these years the online dice will be on my side.
March Madness was one of the first games I decided to re-design a little. I printed off new player mats - which can be seen here at a WBC game against Mark Love.
My custom print job on my dice tower also got some nice reviews at WBC:
I was lucky enough to get my own copy of March Madness through the 2008 Secret Santa. I had only put it as a #1 on my wishlist to remind myself to keep looking on Ebay for a copy. My next option was going to be to try to get into the Auction at WBC for a copy. I was really happy getting this because I knew the mechanics would be easy enough for Jen to enjoy. I was right. She and I both rate it a 9, putting it 8th on our combined ratings geeklist
It's also a great game to play online through ACTS. I've made some new friends playing online and I was able to teach a friend of mine who also grew up on strat-o games how to play (and I think he enjoyed it since we played a few games of it)
Final Thoughts
It's a dice-fest. No doubt. For someone who has the "bad die rolling" gene, it's surprising that I enjoy this so much. I really enjoy keeping up with my favorite college team - Syracuse - and creating their team to play against Jen. There are also an online group on Yahoo that posts the rankings for every tournament team every year and that is also a great resource to keep the game fresh.
If you weren't into Basketball, but say ... Tennis -- TC Tennis would be something to look into.
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