The RallyBird Baseball Board Game is coming back in April 2023 with new board art and more, but it’s the same game.
Baseball Season has returned! I’m ready for it to be GREAT.
If we’re talking about Major League Baseball, I am rooting for the new pitch (and batter) clock that keeps the game pace moving. Total game lengths seem to be returning to ~two hours after an epoch of some time bloat.
If we’re talking about the Rallybird Baseball Board Game by Sir Deer & Owls Company, I think the new edition, due out in late April 2023, will also be GREAT.
This edition is mostly the same, but here are the changes:
New Original Art for Board and Tiles
The new board with players in action replacing the GlovesA couple glove tiles, front and back
Smaller Box–It’s a new, slim design of box that opens with a hinge. It has tabs that lock on the other side. Aside from the art, the components haven’t changed. The board and cards are the same size. The rules booklet are the same size. Still, the new box is slimmer and a little smaller in length and depth.
Other than some of the art, and the box, it’s the same game.
RallyBird Baseball has been out in the world since 2018 and has proven itself to accomplish what it aims to do–provide a ~1-hour playable baseball board game for two people, with easy rules, meaningful decisions, real baseball spirit, and appeal for fans, casual or serious.
–Peter Gelman RallyBirdBaseball (at) gmail (dot) com
This kit is an add-on to the RallyBird Baseball board game. You cannot play with out the base game, which provides a baseball contest between teams of equal potential. This kit provides way to match up teams of different ability–different mixes of strengths and weakness. It does so in two ways. Here’s what it includes:
The Easy Advanced Game… Coach Defense Cards that change the array of Glove values of the standard RallyBird Baseball Board Game. For comparison, the standard game gives both players the same starting Glove values. This advanced game gives each player a different set of values–all with the same sum. I think this implies different strengths and weakness, different risks and benefits, and different strategies–all for you to discover. This does not add more than a minute to game play time. The rules fit on 1 page!
Big League Teams… tiles and data. This includes 30 team tiles in red (Visitor) and blue (Home). It also includes data for the 2018 season. I intend to provide the 2019 season as well as a free download for owners of the kit. Unlike the Easy Advance Game, with which this does not mix, it offers variation of offense and defense for individual teams–in simple RallyBird Baseball game terms. The rules are on 1 page, with an example of play on a second page, and team data on 2 more pages.
24 new Glove tiles, 12 for each side. In support of the two add-ons above, this supports both the variable defenses of the Easy Advanced Game and the Big League Teams rules. The regular RallyBird Board Game does not include enough tiles to support either set of rules, so you need these to play.
These materials fit inside the regular RallyBird Baseball game box. You don’t have to pay for an extra box, nor grant it more shelf space.
As you can see I tried to make the video interesting and on point. When I finish cogitating the 2019 season data I’ll probably replace this video with a revised version.
Thank you!
Update: The Add-On Kit now comes with the 2019 team data. The 2018 season is available as a free PDF after you purchase the game. Thank you!
I think the painted wooden figures for the Glove zones make the game even more “play me”. Small, but portable, cute, costs less, and less to ship as well. It’s the same game as the regular sized RallyBird Board Game (which is still for sale). I’m waiting to receive a copy of the mini RallyBird rules from the printer. If everything is OK, I’ll let it fly free on the market. Below is my updated, annotated unboxing video:
*I received the latest prototype of the *mini* RallyBird Baseball Board Game, which features printed “meeples” (wooden person-shaped pawns) instead of glove tiles! I just need to make a minor change regarding the Outs tokens and revise the rules as needed… Meanwhile, I can’t offer pictures because….
* ….We received the first of several new baseball-o-dynamicRallyBird artwork elements which will I will incorporate as appropriate–including changes to the box. This means work with graphics software to conjure up the image…
*….And therefore I will need to order a new prototype of the *mini* RallyBird Baseball Board Game before sharing pictures.
*….BUT I already made graphic revisions to the standard RallyBird Board Game box, and ordered a copy of just the empty box. The manufacturer’s elves have chalked it on the master board in the queue to make. When I receive the new box, just try to stop me from sharing pictures of it with you!
*A manufacture has stamped out test samples of the 2018 MLB Team Tiles for me, and handed the box to the postal agency to arrive via the saddle bags of jet-powered ponies.
*I paid a “service” (legal) to review my customer facing elements and received a phonebook sized list of suggested changes. Do any of you remember what a phone book is? Included on this list was the jettisoning of my recently completed How To Play video for something shorter. Point taken, and I shed no tears. I merely glance upward with a momentarily stricken face. Then I look back horizontally with my cowboy cheek muscles manfully forcing upward smile factors.
*…Said “service” also had problems with my beautiful, beautiful rules. For example, there was no Overview (due to economy, but no one wants to hear my excuses.) For another example, I didn’t explain what a Double Play is. So with trepidation I add MAJOR RULE REVISION to my To Do list, as confabulating such a document not only requires editing work with words and pictures, but also producing a perfectly sized image file of the page (which then cannot easily suffer editing corrections). All the while, I need to continue to be handsome and not succumb to the call of little birds chirping outside the springtime window. And wait there’s more to do! Bust in all the needed information in a pleasing manner, while keeping in mind that page numbers come in sets determined by the manufacturer, and every extra bundle costs the consumer. We don’t want that! Do “we”?
*….Fortunately I am driven by wild horses as I sit cross-legged in the iron sledge of my determination. One horse is named Pop Fly, and the other is Ground Rule Double. I’m lucky to have these challenges to demolish and smash. So as I get back to work, I will do arm curls with heavy kettle bells to make the challenge a little harder. One-a and a two-a. One-a and a two-a….
The RallyByrd Baseball Board Game 