A
British game similar in some respects to
softball, but played almost
exclusively by
primary school children and young girls: rounders is
most certainly
not considered a "man's game". The basic rules are
similar to
baseball: there are 4 bases, usually marked out with a bit
of
hasty improvisation by the use of
jumpers, pre-liberated
traffic cones or what have you. The bat is wooden and usually no more
than 18 inches long, and the ball is usually a
tennis ball.
There may or may not be a set of official rounders rules, but usually
they're made up on the spot. Teams are usually informal, having anywhere
between 7 and 20 players (remember, this is a kiddies' game), and bowling
is underarm. It's rare for a three strikes and you're out system to be
applied, instead the batter can usually stay in play until such time as
they succeed in hitting the ball. They then have to run from base to base:
if they get all the way round back to where they started it's not a
home run, it's a rounder: players can be caught out, run out or bowled out.