Review of Harry's Grand Slam Baseball Game

Harry's Grand Slam Baseball

Designed by Harry Obst

Published by Out of the Box Publishing

MSRP: $9.99

The Spin: “Each Player manages a team and plays cards that simulate actual baseball plays”—from back of game box.





The Story: Harry’s Grand Slam Baseball Game “recreates” a nine-inning (or more) baseball game with cards that have effects based on happenings from real baseball games. The offensive and defensive events are in the same deck, which is shared by both players.




The Play: Harry’s is an exceedingly simple game. Players have hands of three cards that they draw from the same deck. The deck has a set of offensive plays (single, double, triple, home run, walk, hit by pitch, error, wild pitch, passed ball, stolen base, and balk) and a set of defensive plays (Ground Out, Strike Out, Fly Out, and Double Play). It also has some cards that can be used to a benefit on offense or defense (Sacrifice Bunt, Pitch Hitter/Relief Pitcher).

The two players choose which one is the home team and the visitor starts on offense. On a player’s turn, he or she simply plays a card from a hand of three, moves the runner and/or records outs, and then the other player goes. The cards themselves act as the base runners and are positioned around the bases of the small die-cut infield that comes with the game. After three outs have been recorded, the team’s half of the inning is over and the two teams switch sides. If a team is in the lead at the end of regulation the game is over. If not, the teams go to extra innings.

The interesting element of game play is that other than at the end of every third innings, players do not reshuffle their hands. So, tension is created by the fact that the awesome defensive hand that you have will any moment become a terrible offensive hand. Also, since players must play a card each turn, one is often forced to play a card that benefits the opponent. I’m not sure which is worse—having to play a hit on your opponent’s half of the inning that drives in a run or having to play an out on your offensive set with the bases occupied.


My Take: There isn’t an overwhelming amount of strategy. This isn’t a simulation by sport’s game standards certainly. It is a light card game that is themed around baseball. The theme is rock solid though. The game mostly follows baseball rules and any player without basic knowledge of baseball will be lost. That said, this isn’t APBA or Strat-o-Matic. It is to those games what Crazy Eights is to Contract Bridge.

I found this game to be a wonderful, light filler. As a baseball fanatic, having a quick-playing baseball-themed game really scratches a particular itch. Since there is hardly ever a tough choice, the real fun is watching how the game plays out.

The Components: Harry’s Grand Slam Baseball Game is part of Out of the Box’s Heirloom Game series. As such, the components are amazing. The game comes in a small tin box slightly larger than double deck of cards. Inside is an exact replica of the original Harry’s from 1962—box, cards and ruleset. In addition to the original rules, the game contains larger, better organized rules that aren’t as detailed but cover most of the situations players may encounter. There is also the aforementioned infield used to mark outs and base runner positions and, most impressive, a great tri-fold scoreboard with working dials used to track both score and inning. The entire package is attractive and the quality adds to the playing experience.


Score: 3.5/5



Pros: Fast Playing, well integrated theme, great production value

Cons: very light on strategy, limited number of choices

John Hughes 1950-2009

John Hughes, the poet laureate of teen angst, died today.  He had not directed a film in twelve years, nor one with any real impact in nearly twenty years.  Still, his passing saddens me more than other recent celebrity deaths.  I can easily forgive Hughes for the Home Alone films and dismal John Candy vehicles because he gave my generation some remarkable touchstones.  Starting with Sixteen Candles, Hughes made a string of films that captured the mindset of Gen X better than any other films of the time.  The films were so good, so popular, that they almost seemed to be reflecting the culture and creating it at the same time.  Alas, I'm not much of a star-****er, so instead of droning on about how Hughes enriched my soul or some nonsense, I'll just comment on the Hughes films everyone should watch in his memory.

Sixteen Candles--Molly Ringwald was so damned adorable as Sam Baker that it was nearly impossible not to feel for her as the events of the film unfolded.  The film hits very predictable buttons as the cool, smart girl is pushed to the background because attention is focused on her pretty, popular sister.  Still, every note is nearly perfect, and the image of Sam and Jake kissing over her lit birthday cake is one of the 80s most iconic.

The Breakfast Club--watch this one for the wonderful perfomances by the entire cast (some perhaps a bit broad, but still endearing) and for some of the best integration of pop music in cinema history.  Also, nothing says more about the way the masculine image was beginning to change than Bender removing his earing and giving it to Claire.  

Ferris Bueller's Day Off--okay, tough call here.  Ferris Bueler's Day Off is not nearly as good or as impactful as the first two films.  In fact, in my experience, viewers without nostalgia for the film or at least the period don't enjoy the it very much.  It has certainly dated worse than the two films above.  Ferris is far less likeable than we thought he was back then.  He's basically a smart ass who thinks he has all the answers and nearly ruins his best friend's life.  Still, in a lot of ways, he was the kid all of us wanted to be.  He was smooth, rebellious, and dating Mia Sara.  Most of all, the film should be watched for brilliant comedic performances from the supporting cast and the lovingly crafted tour of one of America's great cities.

So there it is, my little John Hughes Film festival.  If instead you end up watching Home Alone, Career Opportunities and Uncle Buck, don't blame me.

Dominion: Intrigue + Race for the Galaxy

We got our first chance to play the new Dominion expansion/stand-alone Intrigue tonight.  We used one of the suggested card selections from the rule book.  I can't remember the name, but it was the one that included lots of cards that had card drawing powers and extra action/buy powers.   As good as vanilla Dominion is, I wasn't expecting to like Dominion + Intrigue to a much greater degree.  Turns out I was wrong.  The new cards are awesome.  We had a close, tense game with Malorey edging out Jody and me 47 VP to 46 and 46.  Actually, after the first count, we thought it was a three way tie, but Malorey had missed a single VP card in her deck and squeaked out a win.  It was a great game and I expect that we will be playing many more games of this in the coming weeks.

 

Earlier in the evening we played a three-player game of Race for the Galaxy.  We are pretty much latecomers to this wonderful card game, but we are making up for it with two plays already this month and likely more to come soon.  I got ahead early in the consume powers department and pumped out produce and consume actions that benefitted me more than my opponents and they never seemed to catch up, but Jody had a huge military and was conquering huge points worth of worlds as I collected VP for consuming goods.  In the end, I managed to get to the end condition on exactly the turn I needed to.  One round later and Jody would have flown to the lead.

Final scores were Me-45, Jody-42, and Mal 35.  I really like this game.  We haven't tried the expansion yet.  I wonder how many games we should get in with the base game before adding in The Gathering Storm.

Anyway, two good games and the promise of playing Agricola next game night.  Woo Hoo!