Danish Longball Write-Up

Danish Longball, a recreational sport combining elements of baseball and cricket,

involves two teams: one batting and the other fielding (also known as “balling”). Two
rectangular bases are arranged approximately 15 metres apart, and the batter stands in
one of the bases to bat the tennis ball (or a lacrosse ball). When the pitcher throws the
ball, the batter may choose to hit or leave the ball. In both cases, the batter must
carefully place the bat in the “home base” and run towards the other base. If the batter
successfully reaches the field base without being tagged by a fielder with the tennis ball,
he/she is deemed “safe.” If, however, a fielder holding a tennis ball tags the batter
before he/she reaches the base, the batter is “out.” Points can be scored when the
batter successfully returns to the home base without being tagged by a fielder with the
ball. Upon receiving three outs, the batting team must switch positions with the fielding
team, and, when time is called, the team with the most points will win.
After playing the game with the original rules, our groups realized that the rules
strongly favoured the batting team, making it easier for the batters to gain points than
for the fielders to eliminate the batters. Thus, our group revised the rules as to make the
game more challenging for the batters and easier for the fielders by adding and
removing restrictions placed upon both positions. While the fielders were prohibited to
move in the original game, our new game of Danish Longball allows fielders to run
freely in order to eliminate the batters. In addition, no more than one batter can stand in
the base simultaneously, forcing the batting team to run (even in challenging
circumstances). The fielders, given the ability to run, are now prohibited to throw the ball
at the running batter to eliminate the batter.
Realizing the need to change the original rules to create a fair game, our groups
(groups 1 and 2) revised such rules through “trial-and-error” and finalized the decision
through a majority vote. After reaching a consensus by sharing ideas and voting, the
revised version of “Danish Longball” (kept the name, as the revised game was similar to
the original) was significantly more successful than the original sport.