“VGB is designed to fill the void between the
software-based version of baseball statistical simulation games, and the
physical board-game itself. It does so by giving you a virtual gameboard environment that has several user-customizable
options.”
CTRL + F to
‘find’ a specific word in the HELP file
Understanding Stat-A-Rama Virtual Game Board
(VGB)
Team controls
Stats Form
On-Screen Results Control Panel
Options
Setting up teams
Using logos
Using player photos
Customizing charts for chart-lookup
Customizing chart button names
About VGB
System Requirements
Understanding Stat-A-Rama Virtual
Game Board (VGB)
1) VGB still requires that you have the
physical player data cards on-hand in order to play—please support your
favorite statistical baseball game manufacturer by purchasing their games, cards,
and accessories
2) Some features of VGB:
a. Can be used with various baseball
simulation board games such as APBA Baseball, Strat-O-Matic Baseball, or Guru Baseball (baseballguru.com). VGB
has three 6-sided dice—one that’s white, one that’s green, and one that’s
red—as well as a single 20-sided die that is yellow. Or, you can still ‘roll
your own’ if you wish…
i.
Example: APBA
requires two 6-sided dice of different colors; Strat-O-Matic requires three 6-sided dice and a single 20-sided
die; Guru Baseball requires three 6-sided dice of different colors. VGB’s
electronic dice roll has the necessary dice combinations to allow play with any
of these games.
b. Keep track of runners on-base by
dragging/moving game pieces on-screen
c. Keep track of the box-score on-screen
d. Roll dice electronically [or roll
your real dice if you prefer]
e. Keep track of outs on-screen
f. Change the VGB background to your
favorite ballpark
g. Experience ambient ballpark crowd
noise during a game
h. Game result lookup charts POP-UP with
the click of a button
i.
Game
result lookup charts are
user-customizable to allow VGB use with different statistical games
j. Player photo display option
k. Team logo display option
3) Additional benefits
a. Can be used with various statistical
baseball simulation games. Just customize the charts with those from your
preferred game, and you’re ready to go
b. Allows you to use the small confined
space at your PC desk to play actual baseball simulation games—no big tables or
spaces needed
4) You can use your favorite ballpark
background photos and actual stadium backgrounds for teams rather than the same
old worn-out game board
5) VGB still requires user-accuracy,
just like using a clipboard with paper and pencil to record results or using an
actual scorebook to chart the game both require. However, VGB is fully editable
and allows you to ‘correct’ any data entry errors etc. VGB will not ‘catch’
your data entry errors as it is a “virtual data recording” environment.
TOP
‘Calculator’ Feature
The numbers 1 through 0 at the top of the box score boxes
function like the number keys on a calculator. This allows you to put your
cursor into a box, and then click the appropriate number to enter into a box.
Boxes will automatically turn yellow when the half inning is over as a reminder
to enter a value.
Load VIS; Load HOME buttons
-loads the text file document with player names and supplemental data
MOVE or EDIT checkbox
To MOVE a player UP
or DOWN the roster list….
[1] click on a name in the list, hold down the left mouse button and go up or
down the list
[2] let go of the mouse button when the player who will bat AFTER the player
you are dropping is highlighted
(e.g. the name you are dropping will always appear BEFORE the name that is
highlighted when you let go of the mouse button)
MOVE or EDIT checkbox
To EDIT a player
name or appended data to a player name in the list…
[1] select the player in the roster list to edit;
[2] check the ‘MOVE or EDIT’ checkbox;
[3] type the player name and data into the white textbox exactly as you wish it
to appear in the lineup, then…
[4] Uncheck the ‘MOVE or EDIT’ button and double-click the player’s name in the
lineup. The player information in the lineup should now reflect the player
information you typed into the textbox.
NOTE: each player name on the left
side of the = sign within the team file must be identical to the player photo
name within the teams player photos sub folder, or the player photo will not
load [See “Setting up teams”
directly below for team file configuration]
Example: player name within team player file is Ed_Charles=3B-3 ......so, player photo MUST be named
Ed_Charles.jpg
INN Reset button
-sends all on-screen game pieces/images back to their default on-screen
position
-updates the boxscore manually if desired
*The Stats Form provides a means to automatically tabulate
results, which can then be exported to an HTML report or XLS file format
*Pitching changes will add the new pitcher name to the Stats Form automatically
*Any cell can be manually edited on the Stats Form; just click on the cell and
enter/edit a value, then hit the ENTER key to save
TOP
On-Screen Results Control Panel
|
1B, 2B, 3B, HR = single, double, triple, homer |
BB = record a walk |
PO = popout |
DP = double play |
|
RBI = record RBI |
STATS = launch the stats form |
FO = flyout |
K = strikeout |
|
TO = runner thrown out/tagged out |
GO = groundout |
LO = lineout |
*SB = stolen base ‘reminder’ button |
|
*NOTE:
To record a ‘stolen base’ statistic, hold down the CTRL key and Left-Click on
the top part of the base runner who stole the base. You will receive a
confirmation message box when the statistic is recorded. |
|||
NOTE: other than a ‘strikeout’, outcomes
that result in an OUT are not specifically recorded despite having buttons
available. This may be a future statistical feature of the program. [E.g. you
must manually record how many double plays, popouts, flyouts etc occurred; VGB will
not do this for you]
Triple-Play: Just record a DP and then record a
GO … this will record 3 outs
TOP
Options
*Extra innings boxes for innings 11-20 if necessary
*Mute dice sound
*Hide controls [hide the on-screen play result control box]
*Crowd noise; ambient crowd/ballpark background sound
*Photo size; change size of photos
*Show dice roll
*# of OUTS; can manually adjust/correct the current # of outs [allows for data
entry error correction]
* Random Ballparks; after loading a new ballpark one can select this checkbox
to have a new random ballpark selected automatically simply by clicking the
‘Ballparks’ button again. Random ballparks will always be selected from the
‘Ballparks’ folder. Uncheck this box to manually load ballpark photos.
TOP
Setting up teams
-team files must be created in text file format with a .txt
extension
-player first and last names can be represented naturally—with a space between
first and last name; or with a separation character such as an ‘underscore’ _
character
-each player name must occupy a single line of the team text file
-if appending the player name with additional information such as ‘position’
and/or ‘fielding rating’, the equal sign
= must be used as the separator (as seen in the image below)
-if for some reason you want to edit the data appended to a player’s name while
a game is in progress, you can manually
change the data using the respective white edit-lineup text boxes directly
below each current pitcher’s name. You must check the ‘Move/Edit’ box to do the
edit—you must Uncheck the ‘Move/Edit’ box when
finished.
Here’s how to edit a player’s appended
data in the roster/lineup while a game is in progress:
[1] Highlight the player name you wish to edit in the team roster listbox
[2] Click your cursor into the long white box below the ‘current pitcher’ label
[it’s right below the team roster listbox]:
a. Type in the name of the
highlighted player exactly as it appears in the list, then…
b. Change/edit the appended data
etc.
c. Double-click the highlighted
player name in the list box—the name in the listbox should now reflect the
change/edit you made
EXAMPLE of appending Strat-O-Matic fielding rating,
steal rating, and running rating to a player name in the team file to save time
looking it up on the cards:
Pablo_Sandoval=3b3.1b4.sE.r11 [3rd base = 3; 1st
base = 4; stealing = E, running = 1-11]
*NOTE: the
included KCA1963 team file [seen here] is a good example of efficiently
appending information to player names
* it’s always best to have the team
files properly prepared ahead of time as opposed to making a bunch of edits
during a game; edits are NOT saved to the team file, so you’ll have to edit the
team file anyway if you want them to be permanent
-logos should be JPG file type
-optimal display of logos will be achieved when logo size is 150 x 150—other
sizes will work too
-logos MUST have the same name as the team text file they are to be associated
with, or they will not load
Example:
Logo name: KCA1963.jpg
Team text file name: KCA1963.txt
-player photos should be JPG file type
- optimal display of photos will be achieved when player photo size is 200
x 280—other sizes will work too
-player photos MUST be located in a SUB-folder within the ‘PlayerPhotos’
folder—this SUB-folder MUST have the SAME NAME as the team text file
Example:
Name of SUB-folder with team player photos:
1963KCA
Name of team text file: 1963KCA.txt
-Every player photo in a team sub-solder must correspond with
the same name in the team text file
Example:
player name within team player file is Ed_Charles=3B-3
......so, player photo MUST be named Ed_Charles.jpg
Example: player name within team player file is Diego_Segui
......so, player photo MUST be named Diego_Segui.jpg
TOP
Customizing charts for chart-lookup
-You can replace the chart images in the ‘Charts’ folder (located
within the program folder) with your own custom JPG format charts for the board
game of your choosing.
*You’ll have to have a little bit of “courage” or “guts” to do this because you
need to get into your program installation folder on your PC to do it. Consult
the more tech-savvy users in your simulation forums for assistance if you’re
unsure of how to do it. Most baseball simulation gamers have already customized
their program folders by adding logo packs, player photo packs, and ballpark
photo files.
-You can create and launch a copy of the ‘Rules’ in HTML format—provides easy
access to the rules when needed
-The first (top) chart button on the main interface launches Chart01.jpg;
the second button Chart02.jpg; the third Chart03.jpg and so on….
-You can make JPG scans of your charts, recreate them in Excel or MS Word or
some other program, and then create a JPG of them via screenshot or some other
means—once you have a JPG of a chart, you can REPLACE the relevant chart in the
‘Charts’ folder with your chart image.
-You CANNOT change the names of the images in the ‘Charts’ folder, but you can
change the image itself to whatever you want.
Example:
If you want your chart to launch with chart button #3, name your image
Chart03.jpg and replace Chart03.jpg that is already in the ‘Charts’
folder—button #3 will then launch your custom chart.
User-customizable charts/files MUST have the following names:
Chart1.jpg, Chart2.jpg, Chart3.jpg, Chart4.jpg, Chart5.jpg, Chart6.jpg,
Chart7.jpg, Chart8.jpg, Chart9.jpg, Rules.html
*Chart JPG files for Charts 1-9 must be located within the
‘Charts’ folder
*Rules.html must also be located in the ‘Charts’ folder
NOTE: the ‘Charts’ folder is located
inside the ‘SARBB’ installation folder located within the ‘Program files’
folder on your PC. You can find your ‘Program files’ folder here:
*Windows 7 and Windows XP: C:\Program Files
*the ‘Program files’ program installation folder will always be at the C:\
location on your PC
TOP
Customizing chart
button names
-CTRL + Click will allow you to edit the caption of each of
the 6 chart buttons—Double-Click to SAVE once you’re done editing
[Note: On some PC’s you may need to tap CTRL once, then hold CTRL down a second
time while clicking the chart button]
TOP
About VGB
Stat-A-Rama VGB was created by Dr. Jeffrey Howard of Northern
State University as a means to deal with a cluttered desk and lack of space to
play baseball simulation games. Out of necessity the idea was born to use the
computer screen as a virtual gameboard to place all the physical elements of
the game into a virtual space-saving environment. Stat-A-Rama is FREE to use
and no donation or other remuneration for its use is required. Stat-A-Rama is not
responsible for any damages that may occur from improper use or unforeseen
occurrence due to installation and use.
Pentium 4 or higher CPU; 1GB RAM; Windows XP, Windows 7
recommended, previous versions of Windows may work but have not been tested.
1280 x1024 screen resolution or higher for proper reproduction of interface and
graphics.