h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Over 16.4 (245-9): And it's all over! A push down the ground, a scampered single, and the World XI are home. It's been a terrific game, though, and undoubtedly Ernie Blagden's well-crafted century will earn him the man-of-the-match award.

I wouldn't argue with that.

BT cut me off again at the crucial moment, bless them.

B

It's quite an interesting little game, actually. Not terribly realistic, granted, but there are worse ways of using up a couple of hours. Handy scoring practice, too. I wonder how you could redeisgn it to give more realistic results?

How does it work in the first place?

I used to have a little game called Logacta when I was a kid, which I'd play for hours. You had a set of about half a dozen dice of different colours, each with a different range of numbers on them, and you'd consult a chart which would tell you which dice to use for a particular match. If you were playing, say Liverpool v West Brom. Liverpool would be assigned the green die, which had all the numbers from 0 to 5 on it, and west Brom would have the red die, which was mainly 0s and 1s with just one number 2. Most of the time, Liverpool would win, but you'd get the odd freak result when you'd roll a 2 for West Brom but only a 0 or 1 for Liverpool. Teams that were closer in the table would use more similar dice. It was great fun, and must have taken days to work out.

This game works with two dice, one for the batting team and one for the bowlers. The batting die has the numbers 1, 2, 3, 4 and 6 on it, and one side says 'HOWZAT!' If you roll 'HOWZAT!', you roll the bowling team's die, which has LBW, Stumped, Bowled, Caught, Not Out and No Ball on it.

::AHEM::
A948765

That's the one, Gosho

You could probably refine this game by having another die that you'd roll first. It would have perhaps two sides for Dot Ball, two for Runs, one for Extras and one for Chance. The Runs one would be the same, except that you'd replace 'Howzat!' with another '1'. The 'Chance' one could have the 'No Ball' replaced with 'Played and Missed' or 'Run out', maybe. And the Extras one would say 'No Ball', Wide', 'Byes' and so on. I'd be interested to see how that would work.

It could end up like one of those dreadful fantasy die-rolling games if you go too far...

Right, chaps, it's 2am, and I have to go to work tomorrow. Cheers for your company - I'll catch you later.

Arthur Perkins

Arthur Perkins

Gawd bless 'im and all who sail in 'im

http://www.flickr.com/photos/alextuftyashman/3148681373/

I've set the SExperts a question or five based on the game at F2124165?thread=6190175

Bloody hell 'rich! I reckon you should send that question to the people running Roadrunner
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_Roadrunner