A Die to Sport For

Suppose, instead of a soccer ball, you have a die (as in one of a pair of dice). Let's say it's a 5-inch, 20-sided die. Made of foam, but coated so it can take some good kicks. And your score depends not only on your kicking the die into the goal, but also on the number that shows up on top of the die when it stops rolling. Seems a little random, doesn't it? Not something you could really control or anything. Kind of up to the roll of the die, as it were. On the other hand, that little bit of randomness could be just the thing needed to keep both teams in play, because even though you may be two or three goals down, there's still the chance that when you finally do score, you'll roll a 20.

I know, a brand new, coated, foam-rubber, 20-sided, $5.95 die is not what you'd call "junk." On the other hand, it could prove to be just the thing your friendly family soccer game needs to keep more people in play longer.

There's a whole category here of stuff - not actual junk, but neat stuff that you have to buy - well, I suppose you could make your own kickable dice out of cardboard cartons and then it would be more junkly, but that's not the point here at all is it? Rather, that there's this neat stuff, all around, especially the kind of stuff you'd find in a physical education supply catalogue, like, for example, Toledo, where I found this die - stuff that can bring more people and more fun into the game. And, as such, becomes a source for invention and inspiration for anyone who cares anything about play at all. It brings to mind one of the football variations I wrote about in Junkyard Sports - called "Chess Football" (demo game 5.7) - where each team has a certain number of single step moves before the other team gets to move. You could throw the 20-sided die to determine just how many moves the team would be allowed for that turn, and, if you so desired, you could play, as described in the demo game called "Scooter Football" (5.12), play Chess Football on, well, scooters, even.