Triple Threat Baseball
It could be argued that board games and baseball grew up together in the U.S., with both grabbing the country's interest at the dawn of the 20th century. Through the years, hundreds of games with a baseball theme have been published, from Action Baseball to Zimmer's Base Ball Game. Players like Babe Ruth, Johnny Bench, Lou Gehrig, Roger Maris, Jackie Robinson and Steve Garvey have all lent their names to baseball games.
|
Discuss Triple Threat Baseball and other baseball board games on the Board Games Forum. More information about baseball board games is available. This article is three pages long. Don't miss pages two and three. | |
Unlike many sports games, there are no statistics involved. This is both good and bad.
It's good because everything flow much more smoothly -- there's no leafing through page after page of charts with small type on every play to see what happened -- and, in my opinion, allows many players to better get into the rhythm of the game. There are charts that must be referred to after dice rolls, but after a couple of games many players will remember most of the common rolls, eliminating much of the need to look at the charts.
The lack of statistics will be a downer for anyone who only enjoys sports games where they can pretend to be (or manage) real players. In Triple Threat Baseball, your team can include anyone -- dad, crazy uncle, tempermental cat -- and it doesn't matter. The names you insert into your lineup are, practically speaking, irrelevant.
TTB comes packaged in a solid wood box, the lid of which doubles as the playing field. (The game's logo is branded onto one side of the box; a photo of a baseball field is found on the other side.) All of the components -- wooden player tokens, scorepads, situation cards, etc. -- are top of the line. Though the $49.95 retail price is higher than that of many board games, Triple Threat Baseball is not going to fall apart anytime soon. It was made to last for decades.
Doug Spohn, the man most responsible for TTB, recently took some time to answer a few questions about the game and how it came into existence.
|
| Photo courtesy Triple Threat Baseball. |
My love for the game began around 1959-60. I lived in Southern California and my grandparents and parents were huge Dodger fans. I attended Duke Snider Night when the Dodgers played at the L.A. Coliseum. My grandfather even took me to the "other" Wrigley Field in L.A. to watch the L.A. Angels when they were a minor league team. I grew up playing Little League, Pony League, Colt League and high school baseball. Needless to say, I was addicted!
What's your favorite baseball team?
As I speak, the Seattle Mariners are my favorite team. Prior to moving to Washington state in 1987, the L.A. Dodgers were my favorite.
When did you decide to develop your own baseball board game?
I first began working on it in 1962 when I was 10. My best friend, Buster, and I invented a simple dice baseball game using a regulation scorecard. We played it daily all summer! Our goal then was to take it to the marketplace so we mowed 30 lawns at a buck each to raise the startup money.
|
Discuss Triple Threat Baseball and other baseball board games on the Board Games Forum. More information about baseball board games is available. | |
It was because of these life experiences and the friendly kick-in-the-pants of two friends, who later became my business partners, that I resurrected the project in 1994 and set out to finally get it done. For me, my personal reasons for developing the game at my current age centered around two things. First, it symbolized all the dreams in my life I had not yet realized. And secondly, I decided to finish it as a tribute to my mother who suffered a ruptured brain aneurysm in 1996. By the way, she is the one who helped me perfect my curve ball when I was 12.
Had you played any baseball board games in the past?
The only time I played a baseball board game before I developed Triple Threat Baseball was in the early '60s. I think it was called Electric Baseball. It worked by vibrating runners around basepaths. Actually, I enjoyed Electric Football much more! I played a few other baseball board games during the developmental phase of Triple Threat Baseball.
Tell us about the process of designing Triple Threat Baseball.
|
|
Once I figured some things out, I'd run them by my two partners which was a very good thing to do. One partner is very visual and abstract and the other is very methodical and concrete. We would collectively discuss different features like packaging and playability. We would constantly debate the issue of complexity vs. simplicity. I would then take our collective knowledge and try to integrate revisions into the game.
We would also play-test the game by hosting "throw parties" with adults. Additionally, we playtested the game in about 5 different classrooms of sith graders. I would be remiss if I didn't mention the input we received from our different suppliers and other professional resources. We would seek out information from others along the way. This included many trips to the library and our local business resource center.
Throughout the entire design phase we tried several self-motivational techniques. First, we always tried to put deadlines on ourselves --- like agreeing to present a prototype to the local business adviser by a certain date. Second, we were always willing to take steps through the door of opportunity. In just about all cases, we would find new doors on the other side.
| NAVIGATE THIS BOARDGAMES ARTICLE | |
| Page 1 | "For 37 years I carried the rudiments of the game around in my head." |
| Page 2 | Why can't Robbie bunt to get on base? |
| Page 3 | "It can be a disappointing game -- but only if you lose!" |
Article Archive
An ever-growing library of boardgame features.
Boardgame News
The latest in the world of board games and other table games.
Board Games Subjects
Organized and annotated links to great boardgame content.
