When you add up just how much time is required to stage a replay, it is surprising. The numbers can be daunting.
First of all, there are a lot of games to be played.
Consider:
- An eight team, 154-game schedule requires 616 games.
- A 10-team, 162-game schedule replay totals 810 games.
- A 12-team, 162-game schedule replay demands 972 games.
- A 32-team, 162-game schedule replay needs 2,592 games
For an eight-team replay, that means if you played four games a day, you would complete the replay in 154 days.
A 10-team replay, at four games a day, would necessitate 203 days. Twelve teams, 243 days. Thirty-two teams, 648 games.
Suppose you take on an eight-team replay. Figure 20 minutes per game for each of the 616 games (and that is playing the games quickly). That means you have a minimum of 205 hours of dice-rolling and box-score keeping ahead.
And that’s only the start of it. You also need include time for:
Replay set up: schedule, rosters, a system for tabulating statistics, protocols for maintaining accurate records (e.g. scores, standings, home and away records).
In-season record-keeping: some kind of system to identify who is leading the league in various categories and how individual players are performing.
Replay summary: some kind of season-ending summary that explains to you, and anyone with whom you want to share your replay, what happened.
Bottom line: a replay will require a minimum of seven or eight months (that’s an eight-team, 154-game schedule), likely more like 13 or 14 months. You need to know, going in, that a replay is going to demand a lot of time,
That may seem discouraging, but it’s a realistic projection based on personal experience and playing replays in a highly organized, systematic manner. However, take heart in the knowledge that if you are organized and disciplined in your administration of the replay, it can be tremendously enjoyable and satisfying.
Next: Organizing and scheduling your replay.
Hello Rod,
I believe that TIME is the most common reason why season replays fail. I am nearing the end of my 4th season, and I average about a year and a half.
My biggest reasons for the time frame is life (i.e. work, family, fun) takes a lot of my limited free time.
I sometimes get in a rush to finish quickly, play too much and get burned out, not only slowing me down as I don’t want to play, but I miss the reason I play to begin with, and have fun.
If you are rushing to play a lot of games you sometimes can miss the fun happening in the game, like a pinch hit home run that makes you feel smart, or sacrificing hitting ability for that SS-9 rating and your now higher rated defense turns a crucial DP to end a rally.
And I absolutely agree regarding administration. I actually take a while to get my schedule set up so I can smoothly play. If you don’t set up correctly initially you have to do a LOT to fix it in season.
The computer game will allow you to play more games a day. I find that the average game requires about 4 minutes to set up the lineups etc. and 2 to 3 minutes to play. You also have the option of letting the computer play games, games you really don’t care about, which are completed in a couple of seconds.