Customer Reviews

Harry's Grand Slam Baseball Game

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4 star:		(0)
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1 star:		(0)

 

 

I passed over this game a few times initially without care, but having played it now, I couldn't have been more wrong. This is a great baseball game that is played with cards, not spinners, dice or pinballs. Most baseball games utilize either a dice, spinner or drawing of cards to determine a play, but this game is a little different in that you play your hand of cards against your opponent's hand to determine the outcome. For example, if I'm batting and the 3 cards I hold in my hand are strikeout, single, and a triple while my opponent, who is pitching, has (strikeout, error, ground out), I want to try to play my offense cards (ie, the single and triple) and score before my opponent, or even myself, play the 3 outs to retire the side. It's not realistic in the sense that you already know part of the outcome based on the cards in your hand, but what it does allow for is strategy--the essence of this game. Can I put an extra runner on base prior to playing a home run card or will the pitcher retire the side before I get that far? Or can I muster up those 3 outs before damage is done?

The game has a lot of plays that you might not normally find in a casual baseball game, such as a balk, hit batter, passed ball. It also includes a pinch hitter/relief pitcher feature which gives the game that extra bit of suspense when, say, you're pitching, holding 3 hit cards and in need of an out. Will that relief pitcher card be a strikeout or perhaps that devastating long ball?

My only gripe, and it's somewhat minor, is the fact that a runner cannot go from first to third or score from second on a triple. But a variation on gameplay could easily be introduced with a dice roll to determine those situations (ie, 1-3 is a success, 4-6 is a failed attempt) if desired.

The game isn't terribly complex and obviously isn't meant to be like Strat-o-matic or APBA Baseball. Yet the simple back-and-forth play of cards succeeds in creating that sense of tension, relief, and excitement. There's a lot of whooping, laughing and groaning that happens, which is great for a game that is meant to be played in 20 minutes.

The game is faithfully recreated based on the original game. It's a small box of cards with a reproduction of the original instructions. Even cooler is the fact that OOTB Games created a retro-like tin to house the original game, as well as include a scoreboard dial system that actually improves on the original scorekeeping. So you can play the game like the original or more conveniently with the scoreboard. A very thoughtful reproduction and improvement to the game. The picture of the tin looks like it's the size of one of those retro tin lunchboxes, but it's actually much smaller, which is a good thing as it doesn't take up much room.

This game is pretty much a 2-player game. Although the original instructions has a method for playing with more people, it's basically sharing and taking turns, which isn't all that great, IMO.

If you like baseball, particularly something that harks back to the Golden Era of the 50's & 60's, this is a keeper of a game for those casual and quick moments of gameplay. I plan on buying a couple more for friends as gifts.