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Theory 3: Baseball Offers a Natural Dramatic Structure

In this video I describe baseball’s natural dramatic storytelling structure. Yes I use a graph. There are two kinds of baseball dramatic structure. You may recall from grammar school the classic literary story graph with rising action leading to the climactic confrontation. The overall drama is the fatigue of the starter pitcher, the rising tension when the coach needs to send in the first reliever, and what happens next. I also argue that the baseball game includes mini dramas each half inning with the struggle of batters and baserunners against the hard limit of only 3 outs.

(If you’re looking for Theory 2, Baseball has dynamic topography, I appended the link below. And here’s the link where you can purchase the game. Thanks!

 

Theory 1: The Game of Baseball is Not Symmetrical

This new video replaces my previous effort on the same topic. It gives more description of my theory, and does not include a feline interference. I also quote from a baseball book as anecdotal support of my theory. In addition, it includes more specific information about how the theory influenced my board game design. I honestly don’t know if my theory is controversial or not. It’s probably not; however, I haven’t heard anyone talking about it in this manner. I hope you enjoy it. Feel free to let me know what you think!

“How to Play” Video: The RallyBird Baseball Board Game

I hope you enjoy this and it makes sense. The rules book requires only 2 pages to teach the basic rules. There’s also a page that explains the components, a page that shows an example of play plus variant rules, and a few more pages of help for beginners plus a F.A.Q section. So while I try to cover all the bases (get it?), I want to repeat that the basic rules require only 2 illustrated pages.

Guess what, this baseball board game is available for purchase! Today, May 8, 2018, you may purchase it here: https://www.thegamecrafter.com/games/rallybird-baseball

Play ball!

What’s in the Box? Unboxing The RallyBird Baseball Board Game

Yes, what I hope is the final prototype arrived. We’re moving along quickly now! In this video I open up a new RallyBird Baseball Board Game and explain its components. Along the way I discuss my purpose with the game and how the pieces fit in, what they do, and where they go on the board. I also discuss the rules booklet and what it offers. Stay tuned–I will soon make a “How To Play” Video. This game will be available for purchase as soon as I can complete proofreading the latest prototype.

As I try to emphasize in the video, I designed the game for what I searched for and could not find in other baseball board games: playability, short game time, and meaningful decisions for both offense and defense. All too many of the easier baseball boardgames seem to imply that defense has no decisions (and that offense’s decision is nothing more than a die roll).

Technical note: I tried to improve the sound on this video compared to my earlier ones. There’s a slight fluttering sound… I’m hoping it will go away as YouTube processes it. This is probably magical thinking. I have a lot to do before opening this game for purchase, and finessing video sound technology is not first on my list. Thanks for your patience.