To wargamers, Avalon Hill is holy ground — the company that more or less invented the hobby. Less remembered is that they also made a run of excellent sports games, and March Madness, their college basketball title, is one of the better ones. In this playthrough I put it on the table and see how well the old warhorse runs.
Tempo, matchups, and the upset
College basketball is the right sport for a board game because it’s built around tempo and matchups — exactly the levers a good design can put in your hands. March Madness lets you control the pace, exploit a mismatch, and sweat the kind of late-game possessions that make the real tournament what it is. It carries that Avalon Hill DNA a wargamer will recognize instantly: clean systems, meaningful choices, and just enough chrome to make it sing.
Classic and modern sports sims, played through in full. Subscribe for the next tip-off.