How We Keep Score

Our goal was to create a fun Ichiro-related game that is reasonably challenging but not impossible. We decided to ask users to guess what Ichiro’s stats would be on a night-by-night basis in five statistical categories: hits, runs scored, walks, runs batted in, and stolen bases. Players receive points for guessing correctly in a category, and whoever scores the most points on any given night wins. Like any baseball player, Ichiro puts up certain numbers more often than others; for instance, so far this season he has recorded exactly one hit in 24 games, or 44% of the time. We recorded in how many games he had zero hits, one hit, two hits, and so on, and then did the same for runs, walks, RBI, and steals. The table looked like this:

We want to reward players for guessing correctly, but we do not want everyone to always take the “safe bet.” Each time you make a guess that turns out to be correct, you get points for it. For instance, if you think Ichiro will get one hit, and he ends up getting one hit, you get one point. However, if you took a risk by guessing that something less common would happen, and you turn out to be right, you are rewarded with more points. For instance, if you went out on a limb and predicted that Ichiro would get three hits, and he did, we reward you with three points. For some categories, the odds are strongly in favor of a certain outcome. For example, in roughly 78% of games, Ichiro will not steal a base. Because the odds are slim that Ichiro will steal any bases, we’ve grouped all the non-zero answers together in the category “1+”. For the categories “runs,” “RBI,” and “steals,” you predict that Ichiro will get 0, and receive one point if you’re correct, or you can guess that he’ll get one or more (1+) and receive two points. Here is how points are assigned. Remember, to win any points you must guess correctly in that category.

Enjoy playing ClubIchiro Pick n’ Win, and good luck!