Saying baseball is America’s sport is a bit obvious, but in today’s highly digitized, fast-paced world, it may not be immediately clear why. Baseball is a slow-moving game that lasts multiple hours, and there’s lots of waiting between quick bursts of action. Yet, it’s exciting!
The last couple seasons and World Series have been particularly fun in our house. I’m a lifelong Dodgers fan while my wife is a lifelong Cubs fan. To be fair, I think her World Series turned out better, but that’s still a sore subject.
But each winter, I get a little bummed when baseball is in the offseason. I start to miss it. A lot. I miss having a game each day, the strategy, and the stats. I can’t wait to get back to the ballpark for another game. My daughters, on the other hand, aren’t such big fans. They find the games boring and only come out of familial duty. But I’m trying to change that by making baseball more exciting for them.
One way I’m trying to make my daughters love the game more is by teaching them the rules and intricacies of the game. I know, that sounds really dull, but hear me out. Just running through the laundry list of rules is boring. That’s why I’m doing it in the form of a game they can have immediate success with: tabletop dice baseball. They have so much fun playing the game they don’t even realize my other reason for playing it with them.
Tabletop dice baseball is a simulated baseball game that can be played with nothing more than a pair of dice, a pencil, and a piece of paper. Each combination of rolled dice represents a play (an out, a single, a home run, a strikeout, etc.). You use the paper and pencil to record what happens and in about 15-30 minutes you’ve simulated a complete baseball game.
Tabletop dice baseball goes back many decades. Its glory days were before the dawn of video games and was popular when Baby Boomers were kids. I’m hardly a Baby Boomer, but I played this game when I was a kid. The father of one of my childhood friends taught us how to play tabletop dice baseball and I loved it. At a young age, I probably enjoyed it more than the actual live baseball game. It was simple, fun, and surprisingly suspenseful.
As I grew up, I got busy, discovered girls, and forgot all about this game. But a few weeks ago, it suddenly popped into my mind again. It was probably because I was missing baseball and needed something to fill the void. I retaught myself how to play the game and decided I wanted to share the game with my daughters.
The method I use is very stripped down and requires a pretty decent understanding of baseball. But I wanted my daughter to enjoy and learn the rules, so I needed something different. That’s why I designed this tabletop dice baseball scorecard, which you can download for free below.
The tabletop dice baseball scorecard can be printed out on a simple 8.5×11 sheet of paper. You can print one out for each game and write on it with pen or pencil, or you can laminate it (or use a sheet protector) and make it reusable by writing on it with a dry erase marker. We play it so much that we laminated it.
The second page of the printable includes little baseballs (red, blue, black, and gray are provided) that you can use to represent players on the scorecard. This makes the game visual, easy to track, and fun. You line up these players next to the scorecard. They’re meant to go in order 1-9 for simplicity sake, but you can mix up the batting order if you’d like.
The final page of the printable is a traditional baseball scorecard. This is designed for advanced players. A future post will detail how to play the game with this card. The remainder of this post will focus on playing tabletop baseball with the first page of the printable.
Tabletop dice baseball can be played solo or against another player. The rules work similar to a real baseball game. Each team has nine batters, and you play nine innings (though the scorecard includes a 10th inning should the game be tied at the end of the ninth inning). You have three outs per half inning. The scorecard includes a box score so you can easily keep track of who’s winning.
This particular version of dice baseball doesn’t include balls and strikes. There are versions that do include balls and strikes, but that unnecessarily slows down the game and doesn’t meaningfully change the outcome of the simulated game.
The scorecard has the dice roll combinations printed on the card so you know exactly how to score each turn. For each at-bat, place one of the baseballs (that represent players), on home plate on the scorecard. Then roll each die. The results of the die will tell you what happened during that plate appearance. There’s only one die roll for each player.
Dice scoring guide
* double play if a force available
You always read the die with the lowest number first. So, if you rolled a 6 and a 2, you would look on the scorecard for a roll combination of 2-6 (the lower number comes first), which would be a ground out. If you look at the scorecard, it forces you to always do the lower number first anyway. You can’t even find a 5-3 combination, for example.
If those rules make sense, you’re ready to go. If you’re still a little fuzzy, check out an example of an inning below.
To get started, each player writes their team name on the scorecard. The visiting team in this example is the Blue Devils, and the home team is the Unicorns (you can tell I play this game with daughters). Each player lines up their baseballs (representing players), next to the scorecard.
The visiting team goes first and puts their first player (#1) at home plate and rolls both dice.
The first roll results in a 5 and a 2.
Because you read the roll with the lowest number first, it would be a 2/5 combination. Looking at the scorecard, that results in a strikeout. That’s the first of three outs in the inning. The visiting team fills in the first out bubble on the scorecard.
And the visiting team moves player #1 to the back of their lineup next to the scorecard.
The second batter (#2) for the visiting team is up, and the ball representing the player is placed at home plate.
This time, the roll is a 1/3, which is a single.
That means the ball/player moves to first base on the scorecard.
Since a single is a hit, the visiting team places a tally mark in the hits column on the box score at the top of the scorecard.
Now the third batter (#3) is up and placed at home plate. This roll results in a 3/6, which is a flyout.
That’s out number two. The second out bubble is filled in on the scorecard.
Batter #3 moves to the back of the lineup. Leave a gap between batter #1 and batter #3 in the lineup. Batter #2 will return here once he gets out, scores a run, or once the inning is over.
Batter four (#4) comes to home plate and rolls a 5/5, which results in a base on error. That means batter #4 advances to first base, and batter #2, who was on first base, advances to second base.
A tally mark is added to the error column for the home team on the box score.
Batter five (#5) comes to home plate and rolls a 1/2, a double.
That means batters #2 and #4 who were on second and first base respectively, have to advance two bases each. That moves batter #2 home (scoring a run), batter #4 to third base, and batter #5 to second base.
Another tally is recorded in the hits column for the visiting team, as well as a tally in the runs column for the visiting team. The score is now 1-0 in favor of the visiting team.
Batter six (#6) comes to the plate. The dice roll combination results in a 4/5, which is a fly out.
This is the third out. The half inning is now over and so is the visiting team’s turn. The visiting team moves all players off the field and places them back in their appropriate places in the lineup. This means batter #7 will be first up to bat for the visiting team in the second inning.
The marks in the two out bubbles are erased on the scorecard, and a 1 is placed under inning one on the box score for the visiting team.
Now it’s time for the home team to take the field for the bottom half of the first inning.
Player one (#1) for the home team comes to home plate.
The dice are rolled and result in a 2/2 combination, a single.
Player #1 advances to first base.
A tally mark goes in the hits column for the home team.
Player two (#2) comes to home plate and the dice roll ends up as a 1/4, a pop out.
That’s the first out, so the first out bubble is filled in on the scorecard.
Player #2 goes to the back of the lineup next to the scorecard.
Player three (#3) comes to home plate and the dice roll is a 4/4, a walk.
This forces player #1 (who was on first base) to move to second base, and player #3 advances to first base. Even though player #3 advanced to first base, a walk does not count as a hit, so no tally mark is added to the hits column in the box score.
Player four (#4) comes to the plate and rolls a 2/4, a ground out.
That’s out number two, so the second outs bubble is filled in.
Player #4 goes to the back of the lineup next to the scorecard.
Player five (#5) comes to the plate and rolls a 1/1, a home run!
This drives player #1 and player #4 home, and player #5 rounds all the bases too. That’s three runs on the home run.
So three tally marks are added to the runs column for the home team, and a tally mark is added to the hits column for the home run.
Players 1, 4, and 5 are returned to their proper places in the lineup. The scorecard now has no players on it.
Player six (#6) comes to the plate and rolls a 1/6, a strikeout.
This is the third out. The inning is over. Player #6 returns to the proper place in the lineup.
A 3 is written under inning 1 for the home team in the box score at the top of the scorecard.
From here, the game continues in similar fashion for the remaining eight innings.
The game moves fast and the final scores are honestly fairly realistic (though the games usually end up with more hits than in real baseball). Like actual baseball, tabletop dice baseball often has long stretches of lots of outs and little action, but then you’ll often see an inning where your offense explodes and you tally a bunch of runs. That’s when the game gets fun (or frustrating, depending on if it’s your team scoring or getting scored on).
My daughters love this game and ask to play it multiple times during the week. They now have a solid understanding of the basic rules of baseball. Hopefully, this develops a greater love of the game and a desire to watch and attend more baseball games this season and for years to come. If nothing else, it’s enjoyable family time.
Printables in this post are for personal use and available to subscribers of Housewife Eclectic only. To use this printable, please SUBSCRIBE NOW.
This seems like a really fun game! My son is obsessed with Baseball so I know he would have a lot of fun playing this game.
This looks like a wonderful game to play with friends/family. I have to give this a try with the Mister. Thanks for sharing!
This sounds like a great game – especially for those who are already familiar with baseball. Will have to play this with my boys 🙂
Definitely give it a try with your boys! It’s fun for people who love baseball and those who don’t really understand the game.
What a fun idea for a game. My boys both love baseball, so I am sure they would have a blast playing this.
If your boys love baseball you should definitely try the game with them. It’s easy to learn and they’ll catch on quickly.
I have never heard of this table top dice baseball game before. Would be the perfect gift for all those baseball fans which I know many who are.
Yeah, dice baseball has kind of fallen out of fashion, which is really too bad because it’s a lot of fun.
I like that a tabletop baseball set can be very simple since it uses just few items and dice. It keeps you entertained and everybody competing against each other in the game at home. It’s a great way to pass the time.
For sure! The simplicity of the game is part of the charm. And it’s amazing how intense some of the games can get. You find yourself hoping for a good roll at the right time.
This is something I would have loved playing during my elementary days. I’ll have to print this out and see if my kids would be interested in it.
Give it a try! I was kind of surprised at how much my daughters took to this game. I think it’s a nice break from the technology overload.
I love dice games because they’re so portable and don’t take up a lot of room to store. This sounds like it would be perfect for baseball fans young and old.
The portability of dice games is pretty great. And when you cross that with the great American pastime you know you’re on to something fun. 🙂
This sounds like it could be an enjoyable game. I might have to play with my kids one day. Dice games are always fun!
This looks like it would be a lot of fun for the whole family. I’m sure my family would love to do something like this, family game nights need to be changed up a bit!
It is a pretty fun game for kids and adults. Definitely give it a try with your boys. Hope you have a good time with it!
What a cute game and perfect for baseball season. My kids played Little League for a couple of years and now my nephew is joining the ranks.
Little League is so fun. If you have kids that can’t get enough baseball, this dice game is a fun addition.
My youngest loves baseball. He went to the baseball game last night with his dad. I bet my son would love this tabletop baseball game too. We will have to play.
Way to team ’em young! Baseball is such a great family sport. I hope your son enjoys the tabletop game!
I love this. It would be a great way to explain baseball rules to my boys. And it has to be quicker than watching an actual game!
Thanks for a fun family activity to do that is not on a screen!
It really is a fun way to teach rules without feeling like you’re teaching. Hope you and your boys enjoy it!
Wow, that is something new, great for baseball fanatic. I would have love it if my son is into baseball rather than football, I think it is safer.
I think it is a great way to teach the nuances of Baseball. The Dice Baseball game looks like it simplifies things a bit and also makes it interesting without bogging down the learners in boring theory.
My kids would love to play this game! Seems a fun one! They love baseball too!I must confess this is my first time to read about this kind of game and I would love to learn this too. A nice board game that we can play when at my grandparents home. My cousins will surely liked this too.
i use to play this solitary when i was by myself emagination was the keyQuestion on base runners moving. If the 1st batter gets a triple and the next batter gets a single, does the runner on third have to stay there until he is forced home or does he advance on the single? Thanks for the cool game
We used to use the orange hotwheels trax as the baselines. We’d use encyclopedias as the fence. The green monster if u will. We would cut squares of masking tape and stick them on the carpet as the bases.. Same with homeplate . we would use a spit wad as the ball and a small,maybe 2 inch plastic toy bat. We would litterally act out each pitch. If it was a homerun , the roller of the dice would pick where the ball went. If it was a deep fly ball to the fence for an out, whomever was fielding, would pick where the ball was caught. I havent seen rolls of the dice quite like ours. 2 dice, 2 was a double. 3 was a triple. 4 was a walk. 5 was a pop out. 6 was a double play. 7 was a strikeout. 8 was a basehit. 9 was a flyout and pegged one runner. So if bases were loaded he would be thrown out at home. 10 was a sacrifice out if there was a man on. 11was a deep flyball where the runner tags. Again if one was on base. And 12 well i need not say. We would set baseball cards at their corresponding positions . we would act out each roll. If i was fielding i would hold the spitwad . the batter(roller) held the bat. The field was two hotwheel tracks long down the baselines. (6 feet). So we could manuever our cards with no problem. We would walk into the bedroom, hit the lightswitch and yell,” AND THE LIGHTS GO ON “. wed play for hrs. Didnt even know there was a board version. Wouldnt have played it anyway. Growing up was fun in my day. Dont even get me started on whiffle ball. Lol. Thanx for reading !!
Played this game or something like it in the early 60’s. I made up a schedule similar to the year and teams at that time. American League only as I was a huge fan of the Tigers. A friend of mine had 100’s of scorecards printed for me at his print shop. As the games went on I kept track of the standings as well. I don’t believe I finished a whole year as other things like school etc crept in but I sure had a lot of fund.
Me encantó, te felicito, no pudo ser mejor, de hecho puedes llevar estadísticas con tus jugadores e irlas guardando cada semana, también se podría jugar en línea con videollamada, es genial, felicitaciones lo voy a compartir con el equipo de mi hijo, más para estos días de cuarentena, gracias
This is great. The only part I have a bit of an issue with is that a base runner only advances when forced. In most cases wouldn’t a base runner usually advance on a hit, particularly if it was to the OF at least. Certainly if a base runner is at 3 and someone hits a double then I fail to see a situation when they wouldn’t score. Perhaps for a single then base runners don’t advance if they’re the only runners and on 2 or 3 but on a double they both get 2 bases (ie both score)….? Maybe I’m making it more complicated but feel that would be more realistic. Thanks for introducing me to it though, especially on the other side of the pond!
i’m french and i’m always be interessed by the baseball but i don’t have the english level (and the tv channel) for understand a real match so your game was a good way for me to learn and play i already have lot of dices and it is the kind of tabletop game i like so it was perferct thank to you
I put my email in the box, even confirmed my subscription and I still can’t find the link.Do you have a pop up blocker on? The download opens in a new tab after subscribing. Please let us know if we can help you trouble shoot further!
so excited to try this with my Assisted Living Residents (one on one)Have you seen the wooden version of this styled with your favorite baseball teams logo? My dad taught me this in the early 70s and I would play an entire season rolling for both teams in the same game.
Please email me…I subscribed and downloaded the baseball dice game but it says “can’t open file”Are you trying to download it on an iPhone? iphones tend to hide downloads from their users, so we recommend download it on a computer!
I really enjoy this game of tabletop baseball! However, would you have the rules for an advanced game? This would include like stealing bases, hit by pitches, strike ’em out,throw ’em out double play
I subscribed but have not received my dice baseball game. Do I need to do something else?I am a subscriber, don’t have any adblockers and for the life I cannot figure out to access the “printables” or downloadables. I don’t even see any where where these can be downloaded. What the heck am I doing wrong.
No – I was able to get to something called QuickForms which then installed itself on my PC and proceeded to put a bunch of viruses on my PC. I’ve spent half the day running apps to fix everything – just for a couple files that you can’t download unless you are a subscriber (which I am) and then evidently install viruses instead of the files that I was trying to download.
