The APBA Game Company, which has provided strategy and statistics based sports board games for half a century, sports a modern look this year, as well as a wider selection of games for fans of all ages, and distribution into hobby shops.

While the cosmetics of the packaging, playing boards, and cards have changed, traditionalists can take comfort in the fact that game play with dice, cards, and strategic moves remains basically the same. Additionally, the games are now fully licensed by leagues so team logos and names can be used, and all the games will be updated annually.

The classic APBA games released in the premier edition are Baseball, Football, and Hockey ($49.95) with Basketball due in early 2001.

For pre-teens, the company has introduced "All-Star" and "Pro-Bow" versions of the classic games as starter games for budding sports fans ($9.95 each) with Basketball due in early 2001.

And for younger children, ages 4-7, "APBA SuperStars" comes with a colorful game board ($19.95) for Baseball, Football, and Hockey, to be followed by Soccer, Racing, and Basketball.