Bottom of the 9th review - Baseball and dice collide in a beautiful board game

I don't really understand baseball. It is a complicated game of rounders with too many rules that seems to last for about 14 hours longer than it really has any need to.

But that's fine, because some people might say the same thing about board games, which I love. Well, not the bit about rounders, that wouldn't make sense.

Now imagine what would happen if you mashed board games and baseball together. A 28 hour game that makes little to no sense and maybe only four people in the whole world understand? Well, actually, no.

Bottom of the 9th is essentially a game of dice. You're either playing the batter or the pitcher, and you need to second guess the other, with random dice rolls thrown in to keep things spicy.

Both sides pick a combination of directions. The pitcher where the ball is going to go, the batter where they think the ball is going to go.

If the batter gets one of these directions right, each team gets to tweak their actions. If either side gets both directions without the other matching them, they get carte blanche to use a whole bunch of skills.

When you're batting you're trying to score a run. When you're pitching you're trying to get the batters out. It's not all strikes though. There are foul balls, walks, and all manner of other things that just sound like confusing nonsense words.

But somehow this combination gels together to create something incredibly entertaining. Each small section of play is tight and sharp, and since you can see what your opponent is doing, there's strategy to everything.

There's a lot of game here as well, from single player to pass-and-play and online multiplayer. And there's a slick thrill to everything.

No, it won't be to everyone's tastes, but if you're a fan of board games then there's definitely a lot to love here. And if you're a fan of baseball you might understand some of the things the game says to you.

Either way there's a good deal of fun to suck out of Bottom of the 9th. Don't write it off if you don't fit into both, or either of the camps, it's designed for. Just go with it, and you might be pleasantly surprised.