Welcome to the Pine tar Baseball campaign! Download the PDF rules of the game for free to try it out. All you need are 3 ten sided dice available at most local game shops. Free Print and Play version
Pine Tar Baseball - 1897, designed by James Formo (designer of True
to Life Baseball), is a fun and fast paced dice and card game for 1 or 2
players that brings the 1897 baseball season to life. Ninety-five percent (not
counting rolls on error checks which varies by season) of plays are resolved in
1 die roll and no play takes more than 2 rolls. A game of Pine Tar Baseball
- 1897 can be played in 18 to 30 minutes.
Clark Griffith's 1897 stats.The 1897 season is a fun one to recreate. The league batting average for that year was .292 and teams scored 5.9 runs per game on average. This makes for some wild and crazy games. Then it happens to be Honus Wagner's rookie season of what turned out to be an illustrious 21 year Hall of Fame career.
The 1889 and 2014 seasons are also available for the game. Please refer to the section on reward levels for all the different options.
Pine Tar Baseball - 1897 will feature 12 teams from the NL which was
the only pro league that season. Roster sizes vary from 15 to 17 players per
team for a total of 199 players.
The player stats are color printed on sheets. Nine players maximum per
sheet. The stats have an appearance of a card with a border around each player,
but they are not cut out individually. Each team will have 2 player sheets with
the 2nd sheet including the suggested starting line up for that team.
Pine Tar Baseball - 1897 will roll out a new 'base on balls/strike out' pitcher rating that makes pitcher performances more unique. Other features include base stealing, errors, sacrifice
bunts, and squeeze plays. Players will perform just as they did in real life.
Bid McPhee's 1889 stats.Gregor Blanco's 2014 stats. Modern seasons have batter and pitcher splits.
Previous Pine Tar Baseball Seasons include 1889 and 2014. My
eventual goal is to produce the majority of the seasons through out the history
of the sport. Funding is an important part of this goal as seasons take
anywhere from 3 weeks to over 2 months to create for modern years. This amount
of time could not be justified without the support of baseball backers.
Funding also would help greatly to update my software. I am still using a
student 2000 version of Excel. I would like to upgrade to software that has
additional capabilities so I can add even more features to future card sets.
Credits:
Game design by James Formo from Life is Sport Games
None of the 1897 logos are official logos. Logos were not widely used in baseball in the
1800's. All logos used throughout this season set were created
and used with the permission of Pete Manzolillo of Jet Signs of Long Island.
Music: happyrock - Bensound.com
At the $2 level: Anyone making a $2 donation would receive a sincere thank you as it would help sustain Pine Tar Baseball into the future.
At the $7 level: Backers receive the PDF file that contains the 12 teams from the 1897 season.
The rules and scorecards are available in this
free PDF version of Pine Tar Baseball. All that is needed is 3 d10 dice.
At the $16 level:
Backers receive the color printed hard copy that contains all 12 teams
from the 1897 season.
The rules and scorecards are available in this free PDF version of Pine Tar Baseball. All that is needed is 3 d10 dice.
At the $35 level: Backers receive a boxed copy of the complete
Pine Tar Baseball - 1897
game. The boxed game includes the 12 color printed teams from the 1897 season.
The game box includes:
- 3 ten sided dice ( one each of red, white, & blue)
- 1 green six sided die
- 3 red game pawns
- 1 disk marker
- 1 dice pouch
- 6 blank score sheets and 2 scoring pencils
- 1 main instruction manual
- 1 optional rules manual
- 1 card stock sheet of game tables printed front and back
- 12 color printed teams from 1897 (2 sheets per team)
Pine Tar Baseball Components - This is what the 1897 game looks like, only the teams and player names vary. A close up of the top 2/3rds of the main game chart.
At the $40 level: Backers receive a limited edition of the boxed copy of the complete
Pine Tar Baseball - 1897
game with the 12 color printed teams from the 1897
season. There are only 20 copies available of this edition with boxes numbered 1 through 20.
In addition, you get 2 scoring booklets. Each scoring booklet contains 54 scoring sheets printed in black and white on 20# pound paper. Since it takes 2 sheets to score each game, the combined 108 sheets in the two booklets is enough to score 54 games. The scoring booklets will come with a color cover.
This is the first time I have offered these booklets and they will not be available at my website until after the rewards from this campaign have shipped out.
Example of score sheets in the score booklet. Actual size is 8 1/2" x 11". They probably display smaller than actual size in your browser.
At the $50 level: Backers receive a boxed copy of the complete Pine Tar Baseball - 1897
game and the printed season set for 1889. The boxed game includes the 12 color printed teams from the 1897
season and 16 teams from the 1889 season.
Game play is fast and easy. Ninety-five percent of outcomes (not
counting rolls on error checks which varies by season) are
resolved by rolling two d10 dice. This will give values from 0 to 99.
The results are read right off of the batter's hit column. Certain
special plays require a 2nd roll that is either a 2 die or 3 die roll.
There is no special roll for base running (except steals). How far base
runners may advance is determined by the players speed rating, (either
S, M, or F) and whether the batting roll was odd or even.
You can try out Pine Tar Baseball by downloading this print and play PDF.
The free Pine Tar PDF comes with 2 teams from the 1884 season. The 1884
teams will have a similar appearance to the 1897 set, although the 1897 set will have some improvements. All you need are 3
d10 dice.
Please note that examples in the rules show modern
teams that have left/right batter splits. These splits will not apply to
players from 1897. This is because those types of split stats were not
tracked prior to 1900. The same is true of pitcher grade splits. The
good news is that this makes game play even faster for 1897 teams.
An example of a position players stats.An example of a pitchers stats.
The 1897 set will include all 12 teams from the National League. Each team will have 2 player sheets. The sheets do not come with the players cut out. They
are easy to use in this format since the starting 8 position players
appear on the sheet in the same order as they bat in the starting
lineup.
Complete the 1897 Season Set - The set is almost complete already. I just need to do some final error checking and finish up a one or two page supplemental rule sheet that will include the new BB/SO pitcher ratings.
Electronically deliver the 1897 season PDFs
- This will begin 2 weeks after the campaign ends which is the same amount of time it takes for IndieGoGo to process all the payments. These should all be delivered by the 2nd week of August.
Deliver all the color printed 1897 season sets
- This will begin during the 3rd week of August and will take a couple
weeks, depending on the number of backers. Please allow until the 1st week of September for delivery to all backers at this level. Shipments overseas will take an additional 2 to 3 weeks for the post office to deliver them.
Deliver the boxed edition of Pine Tar Baseball 1897 - This will have the same time frame as the 1897 printed sets above.
Boxed editions of Pine Tar Baseball 1897 that also include additional season sets will also have the same time frame as the 1897 printed sets. With most rewards arriving by the 1st week of September. Overseas shipments again may take an additional 2 to 3 weeks to arrive.
All printed materials in
Pine Tar Baseball - 1897 are color
printed. (The 1 exception is the scoring booklets for the $40 reward level are printed in black and white with a color cover)
Both game manuals are printed on 65# glossy cover paper. The
game mat is printed on 120# Kromkote Gloss/Matte card stock. The player
sheets and game charts are printed on 110# White Matte card stock. The
score sheets are printed on 28# Hammermill Laser Bond.
1st Stretch Goal reached at $1000 funding level - At this level an additional game chart will be included. This chart is identical the the original except it will be printed in muted and 'vintage' colors. Having an extra chart would eliminate having to occasionally flip the original chart in order to see the tables on the back. It also means that when 2 people play, both would have their own chart.
2nd Stretch Goal reached at $1700 funding level - At this level a one page color printed table showing the 1897 division standings is included. The standings can always be looked up, but it is nice to have them as a reference to overall team strength.
3rd Stretch Goal reached at $2500 funding level
- At this level, a special 2 page biography of Honus Wagner's career will be included.
Only the support of our IndieGoGo backers makes it possible for Life is Sport Games to continue to bring fun and engaging games to the public. In appreciation, LISG promises that all 1897 season rewards will be shipped out before any 1897 editions are made available for general retail.
LISG
is committed to keeping all backers up to date throughout the entire
creation process. Please don't hesitate to contact us with any questions
or concerns.
Risks and challenges
While all projects have some inherent chances for delays, Life is
Sport Games will be working with a printer that we have used many times
in the past. They have always corrected any errors on orders that were
placed with them in a timely manner. LISG allows extra time to review
the product we receive back from the professional printer in case
anything needs to be re-printed.
All packaging of items for delivery is done by LISG. This is why some
reward levels have been limited to ensure that we are able to ship out
all rewards in a timely manner.
Our experience from releasing two different Baseball game titles,
along with 5 previous season sets, means LISG knows how to resolve any
printing issues that may arise.
Other Ways you can Help Support Pine Tar
Even if you are unable to contribute , you may still
help by sharing our campaign with friends, coworkers and family who have a passion for tabletop baseball. Thanks for your support!