DODECA Anyone?

The Hanover winters of fifty years ago were long and cold, and as Francis Taggart Christy '18 of Wilton, Conn., describes them, "without the benefit of female companionship." Some compensatory activity was inevitable and for Chris and several of his fraternity brothers, the "Bugville League" was it.

The league grew out of an improvised baseball game played with two short pieces of a six-sided pencil, with baseball scoring marks carved on each side. To determine the play, the "managers" rolled the pencils down a ramp made by leaning a blotter against a couple of books. As the winter proceeded, the competition became increasingly intense, the number of teams grew, and the Bugville League even acquired fans and fierce partisans. They played "seasons" of 100 games and figured team standings, batting and pitching averages almost daily.

The symbols carved on the 12 sides of the pencils indicated the various plays that could occur. One piece had an "X" (hit) carved on two sides, a "K" (strike-out) on one side, and four dots (base on balls) on another side. The two blank sides were outs. The second pencil had an "I" (single) carved on two sides, and "II" (double), "III" (triple), "IIII" (home run) and "E" (error) on the remaining sides. If the first pencil rolled an "X", the other one was rolled to determine the type of hit. Scoring was done on a pad of graph paper.

The simplicity of the game and the sustained interest it was able to generate, were part of Chris' fond memories of his days at Dartmouth, and when some temporary eye trouble in early 1969 prevented him from going to his law office or reading, he thought about the Bugville League and the possibility of developing it into a baseball game that everybody could play.

The result is DODECA Baseball, named after its 12-sided dice, or dodecahedrons. The game retains the simplicity of its prototype, but has been refined to the point that percentages for plays and statistics come remarkably close to actual major league percentages. The six dodecahedrons come up with almost every play that can occur on the baseball diamond, from bunt to hit-and-run, from wild pitch to intentional base on balls, from the attempted steal to the double play. The "managers" face just about every option that Gil Hodges or Leo Durocher faces, exercising their judgment in making up line-ups, using pinch hitters and runners, or relieving a pitcher.

All that's needed to start a Bugville League are the dice, instruction booklet, and for the perfectionist, a regular baseball scoring book. The kit fits easily into footlocker or knapsack. An average game can be played in twenty minutes, a series could be completed in a few hours, and a whole season, complete with world series, could be played during a rainy weekend.

Christy has practiced law for fifty years and is still at it, but his successful venture into the unfamiliar and highly competitive field of gamesmanship, has inspired him to try his hand at three more games. He is still putting the finishing touches on those.

DODECA Baseball is being manufactured and marketed by Dodeca, Inc. Box 492, Wilton, Conn. 06897.

Francis T. Christy 'lB invented his baseball game DODECA on the basis of a gamehe and his fraternity brothers played at Dartmouth more than fifty years ago.