So, who remembers Owzthat?
For the uninitiated, it's cricket made interesting and manageable. You get two hexagonal dice, one for the batsman and one for the bowler. The batsman's has the scores 1, 2, 3, 4, 6 and "owzthat". The batsman rolls this and notches up his scores until "owzthat" comes up, whereupon the bowler rolls his to establish whether or not the batsman is out, and if so, how. It can be scored on a proper cricket scorecard.
I had fond memories of this until a lunchtime conversation today ruined it forever.
"So," said a Kiwi colleague, frowning to understand, "it's role playing ... for cricket?"
Oh. My. Gawd.
I've never heard of it, but that would have been my first response. And you never made the connection?
ReplyDeleteOwzthat is a great game that is simple enough for non-cricketers to understand. That is why it has seen so much success.
ReplyDeleteIf you are after a SAD cricket game, I possess a cricketing card game, with the four suits as bowling, batting, fielding and wicketkeeping. The rules were dreadfully complex, and although I thought it was alright, for non-cricketers it was verging on ridiculous.
I may find the rulebook shortly.
Anna: I suppose I would have, but I heard of Owzthat long before I heard of RPG.
ReplyDeleteDavid: yes, that is sadder. Thank you for restoring my self esteem.
Long before Gary Gygax invented D&D I used to role-play cricket matches between my soft toys. My excuse is that I was rather young at the time.
ReplyDelete