Yesterday, I started off by getting a sense of who APBA players were from a demographic standpoint.  Today, I’m focusing on what games we play.  I’m actually breaking up the the “Playing the Game” survey section into a couple articles (I’ll post the rest of the results of that section soon). 

One point before we get started… A few of these questions were the type you could choose more than one answer so the percentages will add to more than 100%.  The given percentage is simply what percentage of the 400 respondents answered with that response.

If you had to choose one, what sentence best describes the way you play APBA?

Comments: Regardless of sport, this question gives us an idea why we play the game of APBA.  Do we do it for the enjoyment of simulation of replays or the camaraderie of competitive leagues?  Or maybe something in between?

I’ll be honest.  I’m a little APBA league-centric.  That is, I have (had) this feeling there were a lot more people in APBA leagues than there really were.  This really opened my eyes. There is a substantial portion of the APBA community who play solitaire (or at least do not play in leagues).

What kind of APBA do you usually enjoy?

Comments:  I tried to make this survey as sports agnostic as possible but I did want to get a sense of how popular the Basic was in comparison to the Master Game and computer versions. 

Under “Other”, the most popular responses were “modified” or “enhanced” versions of the game, Skeetersoft and the DVAL boards.

What APBA sports do you enjoy playing?

Comments:  Wow!  Baseball is king!  APBA Baseball fan that I am, even I was amazed at the high number.  Football holds a solid second.  Golf still has a good following apparently.  Higher than I expected, I guess.

For you baseball fans, which APBA seasons do you most like to see and play?

Comments:  This was one of the few questions that was blatantly directed at one sport.  The high popularity of ‘61-80 is most likely due to generational and age issues than anything.  We like to play the years we grew up with.  That’s the case with me. 

In the “Other” field, the three most popular answers by far were Great Teams of the Past, BATS (Baseball All-Time Stars), and Negro League set.  OFAS (the Original Franchise All-Stars set) was mentioned a few times.  A couple of you wrote that you liked “ALL Seasons” which made me feel good inside.  And I got a chuckle from the person who wrote, “years the dodgers did well”.  

In general, do you prefer to play card sets from past historical years or do you prefer current card sets?

Comments: This was a simple question.  Without getting into specific years or seasons, I let you interpret the question how you would. 

It seems that past seasons definitely have an appeal.

I’ll continue the series with questions that focus on “How” we play the game of APBA next.  That article may be next week since the IAL draft is this weekend and my Twin City Thunderchickens desperately need my attention.  :)

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I’m finally ready to start revealing the data from the Great ABPA Fan Survey!  We had 400 respondents.  I’m quite pleased with the response.

First, a couple things.

Why have multiple choice/yes no questions? Those questions were easily quantifiable and analyzed and easier to graph.  I didn’t want to have too many short answer text questions at first for fear of making the survey too long to fill out.  But Walt Taylor and I talked over email and he (maybe unknowingly) convinced me it would be a good idea.  I’m glad he did.  Sure, the text answers are harder to display in a graph form but they provided an outlet for you to speak out.  They also made the survey more interesting, quite frankly.

Finally, I’m not claiming this survey has any scientific bearing.  I’m no statistician or pollster.  There are inherent flaws in the survey (for example, only those with Internet access could take the survey).  That said, I think this survey does reveal some things about us as an APBA community.

So in the first installment, I’m taking on the General section of the survey.  Who are you?  I wasn’t so much surprised by the general consensus of survey as much as I was by just how much so.  In short, the average APBA fan is over 40 years old and has played since they were young.  They read about APBA in a sports magazine and most likely have tried other tabletop sports games.

Let’s take a look at the first set of questions:

How old are you?

How old were you when you first started playing APBA?

Comments:  taking these first three together, it shows a very loyal if aged, customer base of APBA fans.  I was amazed how many have played APBA for so many years.  In short, many fans have started playing young and kept playing.

Comments: The most cited reason in the “Other” field was a “teacher” or “school”.  Probably should have had that as an option.  Thank goodness for the educational system.  Other ones mentioned were:  military, seen in a game/toy store, and read about it in an article/book.

Comments:  No surprise here considering the target audience.  I was just curious how many tried other games.

Comments:  This question was a suggestion and again, I’m not too surprised by the results.  There are some who find no satisfaction with the video game genre.  At the same time, there are enough similarities that I figured enough people would admit to playing. 

As time allows (the Illowa APBA League has their draft this weekend), I’ll continue to post results of survey. 

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