It's the Bottom of the Ninth...
The bases are loaded, with two outs. It comes down to this at bat. One pitcher, one batter. The game swings on this swing of the bat. Can you find your way to pitch around, or will they tire you out. It all comes down to this pitch. Ignore the signs and swing away!
IIf you're the batter, you win by either getting a hit or a walk. You get a hit by predicting the pitch and making contact. You get a walk by holding up your swing on a couple pitches off the plate.
If you're the pitcher you win by striking out the batter before they get a hit or a walk.
1. Remove the three tokens from the bag. Flip the bat token to see
who pitches first.
2. Give the cards to the Pitcher, and the tokens and bag do the Batter.
3. The Batter discards two random cards from the Pitcher face down.
4. The Pitcher builds their Pitch Deck by choosing at least two pitch
cards that have no more than 3 power total.
** Well Worn Knuckles Variant: When building your Pitch Deck,
you build as if the Knuckler is two power instead of three. **
5. The remaining cards that haven't been discarded or added to the
Pitch Deck are not part of the Pitcher's hand.
6. The Batter places the Green Count token on the bag so the count
reads 2-0.
7. YOU"RE READY TO PLAY!
1. The Pitcher places the cards in their Pitch Deck in any order they choose, but keep it hidden.
2. The Batter holds up either one or two fingers. If the Batter holds up two fingers, the Pitcher
must place the top card of their Pitch Deck on the bottom.
3, The Pitcher places the Pitch Token or Marker on one of the three spots above the strike zone
on the bag.
4. The Batter places the Bat Token in the strike zone on one of the four green dots. The Bat
should be positioned so the solid white area points to one of the nine areas.
5. The Pitcher reveals their Pitch Deck, and decides if they want to put spin on the pitch, by putting one card from their hand face down beside their pitch deck.
6. The Batter then takes one of the following actions:
- Move to an adjacent dot without turning, and swing.
- Rotate 90 degrees and swing
- Discard and reveal one card from the Pitcher's hand, and swing.
- Flip their bat and DON'T swing.
7. The Pitcher reveals their pitch and any spin card they added.
Each Pitch has rules about how it moves and where it can be hit. This depends on placement, timing, movement, and spin. The Pitcher decides the position by placing the Pitch Token on one of the three spots above the strike zone. The timing is based on the highlighted row. The pitch can only be hit in that one row, marked in green. Movement is determined by the arrows on the pitch card. The pitch moves straight from the top to the bottom unless it hits an arrow. The pitch moves once per row. Finally, spin is added if the Pitcher reveals a card from their hand.
In the example above, the Pitch was thrown on the right, travelled forward to the last row, and moved to the left once because of the arrows on the card. The pitch can be hit on the lowest row, right in the middle.
If the Batter Swung at the pitch...
...and the pitch was in the center of their swing, they get a hit and WIN!
...and the pitch was just outside the center of their swing, they hit a foul ball, and discard two pitches from the Pitchers hand.
...then they take a strike, by moving the Count Token down, and the thrown
pitch is flipped face down.
If the Batter didn't swing...
...and the pitch was hittable within the grid, add a Strike by moving the Count Token down.
...and the pitch was not hittable, add a ball by flipping the Count Token from 2 to 3.
...then the pitch thrown stays face up in the Pitch deck.
The Batter wins if they manage to get a hit, or if they get a walk with four balls.
The Pitcher wins if they can get three strikes on the Batter.
Scoring:
When you win as the Batter, you get four points plus one point for each face up Pitch.
When you win as the Pitcher, you get three points plus one point for each card still in your hand.
Switch between Pitcher and Batter each round. Whoever has the most points after four rounds wins!