Having seen other's journals, I thought I'd give it a try. (Working title refers to my lack of knowledge when it comes to baseball stats etc...suggestions welcome)
Out of My League is a two player boardgame that recreates a baseball game (or season) through the use of cards and a extra large board representing the playing field.
Most of the cards represent a baseball player. Each card details the hitting, catching, throwing, running and pitching (for Pitchers) skills. These details are illustrated along the edges of each card. If a player is skilled at hitting he will have a large amount of his card's edge dedicated to Hitting. The remaining area is split amongst the Catching, Throwing, Pitching and Running skills.
Rules of Play:
Game Components:
1 Large Playing Field Gameboard
1 Small Pitching Board (Tall and narrow)
1 Flat Circular Plastic "Baseball" (Similar to a quarter)
18 plastic cards (Similar to credit cards): Two teams of (9) baseball players
Game Setup: The Defensive player places his nine fielder's in each of the infield and outfield zones. The Offensive player places his hitter in the Hitter Position.
Gameplay:
The Pitch: The Defensive player places "the Baseball" on "the Mound" (Pitching Board) and flicks the ball card attempting to hit the Strike zones at the other end of the board while avoiding the Hit and Ball zones. Three strikes makes an out and four balls equals a walk (place the Hitter on the First Base Position). If the Baseball lands in the Hit zone move the Baseball to the Home Plate Position (on the Playing Field Board) and follow the instructions below.
The Hit: The player on offense flicks "the Baseball" card from the Home Plate position into the playing field. If "the Baseball" lands on a defensive player's card, in the Catching section of the card, then the play is considered a pop out otherwise "the Baseball" is in play. The Hitter is first to move his card (See Running). Next the Defensive player may move one of his player's to intercept "the Baseball". If successful, the Fielder may attempt to flick "the Baseball" to the First Baseman.
If the Runner reaches the base first (and decides to stop) play ends. If the ball reaches the First Baseman before the runner reaches the first base position, the runner is out, and the play ends.
Comments
Flick Mechanic
I'll be honest baseball is a yawn to me, but have you thought about a die & card mechanic for hits, balls, strike, etc? Maybe a card deck with possible outcomes? Or maybe cards allow bonuses to defense & offense actions. Maybe an offense Deck and Defense deck.
Examples:
(offense deck) Batter is distracted by lady in red in stands at first base - minus 2 to roll.
(defense deck) - right fielder trips over his own feet going back to catch fly ball. Batter gets a double.
Maybe a player deck (generic players unless you can get a license) with stats relevant to the game and maybe fluff text on bio or celebrity news within the game world?
Offense roll: A die roll (d10 maybe) could add the player bonus plus offense card bonus (if any) vs defense roll.
Defense roll: would be much the same as above but from the defense deck.
I guess I'm not sure what you are using the 'flick' mechanic to try to accomplish and thought that the cards could make the game more interesting as well as allow for card deck expansions from season to season.
Just some ideas. Feel free to toss them if they don't work with your concept.
Thanks
The Flick mechanic is an important element to this concept which admittedly may not work. It's something that I stumbled onto while working on another plastic card game I'm developing.
I'm looking for a level of suspense created by trying to "Throw out" the Runner before he reaches first base. Also the idea that you physically "Flick" the ball to "Pitch" seems like a fun way to recreate the challenge on the mound.
Like I said, we'll see...