Just going thru the collection tonight and realised I have quite a few games that I haven’t documented or uploaded (quite a few, actually). So, I’ve scanned and uploaded a game from Australia from the early 90s called Howzat which I received in exchange for an article I wrote recently for a cricket magazine.

The game consists of a number of charts which produce a set run rate (from 3 an over to 7). It allows you to select different quality of batsmen each of whom has a different chance of getting out.

Like many cricket board games, this one is flawed. Majorly flawed in fact because it has different levels of batsmen, but all bowlers are considered the same. This sentance is the give away: “All bowlers have an equal chance of taking wickets.”

What?

So, from a game playing point of view, it’s a dud. From a labour of love point of view, I love it. The effort that’s gone into it must have been considerable, so for that alone, I’m happy it’s in my collection.

For lots of images of it, go to:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/replaycricketgames/photos/album/427560126/pic/list

Leafing thru an old Wisden, as one does, and discovered something interesting in Wisden 2006, p62.

Just uploaded a bunch of images of Pavilion Cricket, a game from circa 1991.

Interesting approach of mixing three different games into one – county, ODI and Test cricket. Each game takes a different amount of time to play, with county being the shortest, and Test the longest. Players from test teams have home and touring ratings, so you can play an entire season if you have a year or two spare.

Good fun, if a little flawed.

Pics are here.

I sometimes think of my ever growing collection of cricket board games as something of a cricket game graveyard.

Rarely do games get reprinted and those that do are mostly aimed at kids. So Test Match and all its variants are probably going to get re-printed for ever more.

Most games get printed once, sell out in their initial run or, more likely, fill the garage of the person who invented the thing in the first place :-)

Notable exceptions are of course the Owzat range of Lambourne games, which has been going strong since the early 80s, Wicketz, although that is now defunct, and hopefully, in the near future, Mr Collier’s fine effort.

So what happens to all these games? The answer, of course, is they become landfill or cupboard fill. They also become web fill, as this site can attest to.

So here’s my idea: I’m going to over the course of the next year try to do two things. One is to reprint as a PDF a classic old game called Stumpz. Regular readers will know this is one of my favourites. It’s simple and can be reproduced faily easily, although without the lovely tactile pieces of the 1930s versions which you can occassionally buy for a pretty penny from eBay (see above). I can only imagine that the copyright for the game is now owned by games giant Hasbro and sits somewhere in its huge “dead game” warehouse.

Secondly, I have recently discovered a game that I think could be, with some tweaking, made into an excellent cricket game. It’s a little simliar to the classic International Cricket, but takes into account field settings (the only small issue I have with IC). I’m determined to track down the owner of the game and see if they might allow me to republish it. Stay tuned for more news.

Both of these options feel more likely than me ever finishing the game I’ve been tweaking for a decade and, besides, with Nigel’s game coming sometime “soon” I’m more interested in helping him make his better.

So, first things first.  A letter to the publisher of the more recent game I’ve found, and a search online for any info I can find on the legality of what I’d like to do with Stumpz. Any advice from those who understand such things would be appreciated.

Image source: Wikipedia, (c) Mike Knapton, 2008.

I’ve been in touch with Nigel Collier, who is developing a new cricket board game. He’s let me know he is still a little way off releasing the game for beta, so we are keeping the names of everyone who has volunteered and will be in touch soon.

Anyway, I’m happy to say I’ve seen a lot of the game, including the rules, board, the results tables, etc. It’s is looking amazing. Nigel’s putting an incredible amount of work into it. Latest reports from him is that he has play tested it with a couple of friends and is now finessing the strucutre of the player cards, and choosing the configuration of dice to ensure fast play with as few dice as possible.

If you want to see some of Nigel’s other work, you can always download his Advanced Rules for Wicketz from our replaycricket Yahoo! Group (you’ll find it in the files area).

More news soon.

This is a report. Originally posted by me here.

I’ve returned to Owzat’s International Cricket after a long lay off and had an experience playing a test between Australia and England that showed me the extraordinary detail you can get with Terry’s system.

I have a dream of playing a world Test Series but am trying to keep it realistic so have settled for a tri-series between Aus/India/Eng. I’m using cards from current set back to 2004 when I first bought the game. The first game is Eng v Australia with a test each in India (if I ever get around to other games the 3 teams will tour to Australia then England to play out all nine game … knowing my record I’m hoping to just finish the first test).

Anyway, first game was Chennai (I chose the ground randomly) and the pitch was a shocker for batsmen. Australia won toss and chose to bat as the pitch was only going to get worse.

I bowled Harmison and Flintoff in tandom for nine overs but Hayden and Hussey were banging them all around the park. I had one over left with the new ball and I scanned my English bowlers to see who had a negative Lift rating as the pitch was already cracked and there was a bonus for Lift.

Enter Ryan Sidebottom. First ball, and the dice roll hits his “Lift -1″. Hayden has a bad roll and bang, caught behind (b Sidebottom, c Read).

It showed why IC is a much better reflection of the nuances of Test Cricket than I have imagined. The following came into effect: the cricket ground, the pitch, the new ball, the selection of bowler and the types of balls he can bowl, and a solid roll (no luck involved!) of the dice.

My input, apart from rolling the dice, was the brilliant change of bowling at the crucial time to make the break through happen ;-)

If you want to see how not to post an opinion you have about a replay game, check this post out at the Home of British Sports Replay forum where one user criticised the design of some Owzat games.

I visited the forum for the first time in ages last night as a result of an email about some new products from Owzat and was a little surprised to see the activity around this post. It seemed well intended but was definately clumsy. HBSR is a small community of people passionate about Owzat and Lambourne games, and the response to this post proves just how passionate they are. Good reading!