Dice, More Dice, and Precision in Baseball Sims

In this video, I talk about dice used in tabletop baseball games and the implications on the game engine/design. Specifically, I review the dice and how they are used in a number of different baseball games that I'm familiar with. Constructive comments are welcome.
Here are the links to the two videos that I mention near the beginning of the video:
100 dice: • Predicting How Dice Wi...
Probability distributions (AnyDice): • Dice probabilities in ...
#baseball #dice #simulation #sim #APBA #Strat-O-Matic #StatisPro #game #BaseballClassics #SportsIllustrated #PayoffPitch #PineTarBaseball #HistoryMakerBaseball

[@alanbuschmann7233]

One improvement that I noticed during this video was the 20 sided die Strat-o-matic now has to determine the "split" results. My old game from the early 70s had actual cards, but with the die you get the probability of getting 1-20 without having to shuffle the deck of cards every time to obtain the same precision. We would "burn" a card when used during a game without realizing the loss in opportunity.

[@PEBelarus]

I just built a dice game and I like the sports illustrated here very much. What I found is that baseball is actually a 2/3 game and not a 50/50 game. What I liked about that sports illustration game is that it did break into a 2/3 1/3 result. The first two-thirds could be some kind of an out or at least a play and the last third were generally going to be hits distributed as hits should be distributed. That would seem to be the most logical way to create a baseball game that plays normally.

[@Milcom34]

Thanks Steve. Super Interesting Video**** I Love All my Dice For Stratomatic, APBA and Pine Tar Baseball. I'm always Buying New Dice for my Baseball Games. I have so many Now, That I have Started a Dice Graveyard..LOL. Take Care and Roll On*******

[@sabertoothbaseball3432]

Las Vegas only uses dice with square edges and not rounded edges, because research has shown that rounded dice have minor effects on total impartiality.

[@steve_etzel]

Thanks for the comment. That makes sense. I'm probably wrong but my gut tells me that to the extent there may be partiality in dice, it is not significant in the context of tabletop games. It's possible that I'm wrong though.

[@DeViLzzz2006]

While precision is important I'd sacrifice some of it even lots of it to have the opportunity to play one of these games with people locally on a regular basis. Unfortunately I am in Canada where the hobby and sport is not as popular and so harder to find people to play with. Anyhow thanks for the video. It is good to hear that Payoff Pitch, a game I really like, seems to have precision. Gives me more reaosn to throw money at them in the future. First things first though as I have to print off three seasons or more of cards and if memory serves me right I have to print off each of them with lefty / righty splits and without.

[@RJLNetwork]

You didnt compare INside Pitch. 😏

[@steve_etzel]

Yes, sorry. Unfortunately I don't know anything about Inside Pitch. What is your opinion of it?

[@steve_etzel]

So, I just took a quick look at a demo video for IP. While the basic matrix is only 6x6, the fact that many times you roll on both the pitcher and batter cards, plus a d20 die is used to “split” several of the results, it appears that IP has a reasonable amount of precision. Given the unique game engine design, I don’t know exactly how to categorize it in the format that I showed at the end of my video.

[@RJLNetwork]

@@steve_etzel Check out my DEMOS of the game. I have plenty to choose from. Its the most exciting tabletop baseball game you can play IMHO!

[@b-Dog9]

I have played most of the games you have listed. They are all good games and fill a niche, but my favorite hands-down is Inside Pitch. So try to get to Inside Pitch and give it a try (you will need to get a few games in to get the feel of it) I understand it might not be for everyone, but it covers just about everything that I am looking for. It covers pitcher/batter interaction, lefty, righty, home runs walks & strikeouts allowed, Ballpark affects, Pitcher hold ratings and grounded into a double plays, fielding errors and fielder range and arms of the OF & catcher plus a pivot rating of 2B/SS then also rare plays it takes into account The base running rating and also the steal success it has a small footprint, a pitchers card, a batters card, and a ballpark card. It uses basically four dice a red white and blue D6 (A lot of people customize their colors of dice) and a D20. Some have complained that there’s too many dice rolls but that’s what gives it Its flavor an accuracy.

[@stephenkerns6302]

Proves that Strat is probably the most precise….I recently did a replay of Tom Seavers 1976 season with Payoff Pitch..was amazed at the precision vs his actual stats. You video showed that PP is probably about at precise as Strat and the replay verified that. I am currently doing a replay of 1976 Reds season to check offensive stat precision. Pitcher replays are very simple using PP…

[@steve_etzel]

Thanks for your comment. Glad to hear about your experience with POP. I did a separate analysis of POP, but the design is complex enough that it's hard to know how accurate it is. Replay experiences like yours help shed light on the subject.

[@greg7129]

Interesting ...... got more interesting with a reward for watching it all, LOL

[@farpointgamingdirect]

Batter-up is pretty hard to find; Baseball Classics is a waste of time: its highly inaccurate and the customer service is atrocious

[@steve_etzel]

If you're a Facebook person, you can check out the Batter Up group. We have a lot of materials related to the game, including some "new" teams that weren't part of the original seasons that were released. facebook.com/groups/1210877696188761

[@ClarkandAddisonGamingCo]

Have you played long term replays of Baseball Classics? I'm curious as to where you see inaccuracies show up. Seems difficult with so much precision to work with (4 d6 dice).

[@steve_etzel]

@@ClarkandAddisonGamingCo If you want to discuss offline I can share some analysis with you.