The Dazzler

With the release of the 1974-75 NBA season, Strat-O-Matic has now reissued every one of the original season releases for the computer in the current game format. The first rendition of Strat-O-Matic Basketball had both a basic and advanced version. The game was based on half court basketball.  According to the Strat-O-Matic Review, Strat-O-Matic creator Hal Richman was disappointed with the basketball game. Starting with the 1980-81 season, the game was totally revamped. An action deck activated game play and features such as the fastbreak, blocked shots, steals and individual fouls for players based on how many times a player went to the line and how a player committed or did not commit fouls. In short, Strat-O-Matic now had the best basketball game on the market. The first version of the game lasted from 1972-73 through the 1979-80 season. Each of these seasons is available for the computer version of Strat-O-Matic Basketball.

When the ABA opened shop with the 1967-68 season, they wanted to follow the success of the AFL in football and eventually force a merger. The league began with 11 franchises and by the 1970-71 season they still had 11 franchises. The Pittsburgh Pipers moved to Minnesota for one year, then moved back to Pittsburgh and for 1970-71, they were renamed the Condors. The Floridians were in their third year of existence and would last one more year. The Indiana Pacers , Kentucky Colonels and New York Nets were all solid franchises. The New Orleans Buccaneers were sold and moved to Memphis for the 1970-71 season and became the Pros. The Dallas Chaparrals were also solid, becoming the San Antonio Spurs in 1973-74. The Denver Rockets were also strong, becoming the Nuggets in 1974-75. The Carolina Cougars were a regional franchise for five years. They later became the Spirits of St. Louis. The Anaheim Amigos became the Los Angeles Stars after one year and in 1970-71 they became the Utah Stars. The former Oakland Oaks and Washington Caps became the Virginia Squires for the first time in 1970-71. After the 1975-76 ABA season, the Indiana Pacers, New York Nets, Denver Nuggets and San Antonio Spurs were all admitted into the NBA. The remaining players were part of a dispersal draft.