Dice Baseball and Its Allies
From very early on in baseball history, fans have played tabletop games that simulate the sport – largely thanks to the formulaic scoring of events in real-life baseball, which lend themselves very well to simulations based on randomly generated outcomes (spinners, dice, or other methods of randomization).
- Spinners were popular for kids' games in the early days, perhaps because of the gambling connotations of dice. Here, inevitably, is a Christy Mathewson-endorsed game, Big Six
- Such games can be exceedingly simple
- All-Star Baseball was Robert Coover's childhood favorite
- Google-image searches for "tabletop baseball" produce lots of very interesting images of games that combine chance elements with pinball skills
- More sophisticated simulations depend on dice. Well, dice baseball can be incredibly basic and completely unrealistic
- Most dice games involve cards and charts, though, distinguishing individual player characteristics
- Mid-20th century dice baseball games are now highly collectible
- There are several classics of dice baseball: APBA, SI Baseball, and of course Strat-o-Matic. Statis Pro used random cards instead of dice; Baseball Strategy used no randomization for basic events, instead reading them off a matrix depending on managerial choices
- MLB Showdown was a short-lived game that attempted to mix baseball cards, trading-card games, and dice baseball
- Strat-o-Matic and APBA have moved onto computers while still printing cards. Other games like Diamond Mind and OOTPB exist only in computer form. What If Sports features a range of simulations that would make Henry Waugh proud
- There is not enough time or space to include baseball video games, but naturally they exist in huge numbers, from Atari to MLB 09 the Show
- And of course there have been horse-racing games
- And financial games too
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