Whether it’s simple counting or the theory behind probability, there’s a little math behind every board game. A Dakota State University Associate Professor of Math has had two board games published, and he’s sharing his love of math and table-top games with his students.
When Justin Schrader was a kid, he would sit in his room and simulate a baseball game.
“I would roll dice and have a chart and be like, okay, if you roll a six, it’s a single. If you roll a ten, it’s a strikeout,” Schrader explained. “I would play, you know, for hours, just simulating games. And so I wanted to take that idea, but also provide more of a strategic element for players so you can draft your team of players, arrange your batting lineup, choose are you going to swing away? Are you going to try to bunt and sacrifice a runner?”
Now as an associate professor of math at Dakota State University, Schrader has had that game called Seventh Inning Stretch published. He sets out the different pieces and playing cards on a table as he compares a plain white card with just text on it to what looks like a bubble gum baseball card with images and stats…