_1741647023_big.png "Gift Card")
Set Event Date
Games for Rent
Professional delivery to Coldspring, TX, Willis, TX and surrounding areas. Please submit a quote or contact us to be sure we service your area.
General rules
- A player can hit the ball with their hands, but picking up the ball and throwing it at a player is not allowed. Some versions do not permit scooping, or curling one's fingers while hitting the ball, so as to project the ball into the air. In some games, only open hand hits are allowed to prevent striking injury to small children and also to enable greater control of the ball, keeping it low and inbounds.
- A players knees or lower legs may not touch the ground as an act of defense. This is often referred to as turtling. If the player unintentionally touches the ground with his or her knee no penalty is assigned. However, players will often target a player who has done so numerous times as to avoid further explicit turtling.2
- If the ball touches a player anywhere on or below the knee (in some versions, below the ankle or waist), that player is eliminated from the game. If a player hits themself with the ball on or below their own knee they are out.
- A player may not hit the ball out of the pit. The penalty for breaking this rule is assigned to the last player to touch the ball before leaving the pit, rather than to the original hitter. Because this provision can result in a strategy of hitting the ball upwards to eliminate another player, the rule prohibiting scooping attempts to discourage this. In some versions, an exception is made if the ball hits a wall or the ground before leaving the pit; in this scenario, the exit is deemed to be the result of a ricochet, and the player is not eliminated.
- Holding or otherwise using the wall to assist a jump is termed "spidering" and is prohibited. However, some variations allow spidering.
- No player may hit the ball twice in a row, unless the ball comes into contact with the wall or another player between touches. This rule is sometimes expanded to include "self-serving," which prevents the player that served the ball from being the first to touch the ball. Some sets of rules may allow double-hitting if enough players have been eliminated, usually when there are two players left.
- In some variations, if a player pops the ball up into the air, another player may catch it and ground it. The other player is then out. However, most variations prohibit catching completely.
- When a player gets out, that player must step out of the pit completely to show that they have been eliminated.
- A player must start the game with one of their hands (or some versions feet) touching the wall of the pit; however, some versions do not make it a rule to touch the pit as the game starts. One player or a referee has to throw the ball in and have it bounce thrice and chant "ga-ga-ball" (Some versions use "ga-ga-go", "ga-ga", and "ga-ga-ga", among others). If a player removes their hand (or foot) off the wall before the third bounce, they are eliminated.
- The winner of the last game has the right to serve to start the next game.
