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Mechanic Monday: A Multi-Use Sports Ball

I totally missed Mechanic Monday last week and almost missed it again today.  Buh, my brain.  Work’s slammed, my theatre’s slammed, and my rehearsal schedule is a lot to adjust back to after having been off the stage for… two years? Anyhow.  Probably going to do some rpg stuff for a TTRPG Tuesday, but for today, let’s just do something that popped into my brain earlier this weekend.

Ball as Scoring and as Capture Tool
In GREEMBALL, every player has a ball, but may only be in possession of one ball at a time.  The only way to lose possession of a ball is to pass possession of it onto another player.  This is achieved by using the ball to touch them, by tagging them with it, throwing it at/to them, or otherwise making contact with them.  If a player is hit with a ball but does not have possession of a ball (usually from having just passed possession to another player), the ball they are hit with becomes their ball.  If a player ever has possession of more than one ball, they are Out.  A player who has possession of a ball, and is not out, can move into a scoring area to gain points.  They accumulate points based on the length of time they spend, in possession of a ball, not out, and within a scoring area.  A period concludes after twenty minutes, and the team with more points in that period gains a match point.  After a five minute rest, another period is played.  The first team to two match points wins the game.

So… not especially tabletop, I know.  But as Chicago experiences flashes of sunshine (smiles nervously into the new climate sky) my thoughts bend toward outdoors play, and as sports are a trillions-dollar industry with enduring traditions and public consumption that dwarf other forms of entertainment, I often think about how theatre (and games) can stand to learn from and take from it.  Hence this study.  I think it would be fun to try and balance the fast with the cautious, the utility of the ball as weapon vs scoring tool.  This feels quite a lot of iterations off from something that really gels, but the design goal here is to find a game of timing and balance, parity broken by moments of truly excelling.
Yeah so anyway see you… again soon! Maybe.

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