ABSTRACT
Hitting — the process of reaching out and coming into contact with another object — is such an elemental play mechanic that we tend to overlook it as a game mechanic. Games like boxing revolve around hitting in a very obvious way. The central act of boxing is punching your opponent. Other games couch hitting in more baroque systems, burying the mechanic in among a slew of competing interactions. When we think of baseball, we think of pitching, catching, throwing and running the bases, but the core of the game is hitting. Hitting puts it all in motion ( Figure 8.1 ). Sure, the pitch comes before the hit, but really it’s when the bat comes into contact with the ball that the rest of the game system comes alive. The ball arcs through the air, the players in the outfield begin moving and the runners dash
around the bases. In fact, the beginner version of baseball, T-ball, does away with the pitch and jumps straight to the hit. Because at the center of baseball lays the sheer act of whacking something as hard as you can.
