Prolog
Xyra: I have no idea what planet you were playing on.
ahem..
Dodgeball is a game in which members of
opposing teams chuck heavy foam balls at each other over the line of a divided court and scream a lot.
Reccomended number of Players:
10; 5 on each team. No less than 6 or it sucks.
Field of Play:
Any good
outdoor playground worth its salt will have an actual
Dodgeball court spray painted on its surface. This is usually a rectangle divided exactly in half, each team gets a half. I would guess that Dodgeball courts have about 2/3rds the surface area of a Basketball court though when the weather sucks, an indoor
Basketball gym is a likely candidate for a replacement. Pro
Dodgeball players prefer a slightly smaller court so that the
cowards don't have a place to fall back to. Basketball courts are notorious for offering a safe haven for the wienies. Using masking tape to section off the field is a great way to solve that problem.
Rules:
The rules for Dodgeball are pretty
straightforward. This is another "
House Rules" Sort of game, "
Called Rules" are generally not acceptable due to the large number of players involved. Some rules may or may not include:
- Outs: Outs occur when a person is hit with a ball and then the ball drops to the ground and when someone breaks another optional rule as described below.
- Line Outs: No respectable game of Dodgeball will lack the almost crucial middle line out rule in which anyone who crosses or even touched the middle dividing line is instantly out of play. Encouraged optional rules include side and back outs in which the sidelines and backline of the playing field are also enforced with outs.
- Catches: Catching the ball always means that the catcher is NOT out. In a lot of cases people play with the optional rule that when a person catches a ball thrown by the opposing team, one of his team members gets to come back into the game. If this is the case, all players who are "out" form a line on the sidelines. Whoever is at the beginning of the line is the next to come back in should a catch occur. I favor the catch-back-in rules, but some people play that once you are out you are out until the game is clearly won and a new game is started. Should a person be hit by a ball and catch it before it hits the ground, they are not out. Should a ball hit a person and a teammate catches the ball, they are not out. Should a ball hit a person and it fly back to the other side of the court where an opponent catches the ball, they are in that case out. Should a ball bounce off someone and hit someone else and then hit the ground (no matter what team the second person is on), it can be played that they are both out. That rule is optional and should be called before play.
- Multiple Balls: There is of course the option to play with more than one ball. This makes the game quite interesting and adds a certain element of strategy to the game. Should one side hog all of the balls up and throw them all at once, it greatly increases their chances of hitting an opponent.
Team Play:
Team play is a major part of this game. You want to make sure to protect your good throwers. and let the good
catchers stick it out in the front as the throwers retreat back.
Winners:
The winning team is the team that has one or more players left when the other team has
none.
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