--Fieldball Rules--

by Qarin Van Brink

Equipment

• Required
• 2 balls per player
• 1 Live Ball, a bright color different from that of any of the players' balls
• Suggested
• Some form of team identifier (eg., orange traffic safety vests)
• First Aid kit

Fieldball (also known as "Field Juggling") is a form of team keep-away. Two teams of up to about 6 members each play in an area which can reasonably hold quite a few more people than that (30'x30' is probably good enough for a 12 player game). Each player holds two balls, while one person starts juggling with the live ball. The team with a player who has the Live Ball is at that time the Offensive Team, while the other team is the Defensive Team. The player attempts to pass the Live Ball to one of his teammates, who must catch the Live Ball into a juggle with his two balls. Members of the other team may (and should) attempt to intercept the pass by catching the thrown Live Ball into a juggle. If a pass is dropped by a player on the Offensive Team, the Live Ball transfers to the other team, who becomes the Offensive Team. If an interception is attempted and the Live Ball is touched by the interceptor but not successfully juggled, and it hasn't been since touched by the Offensive Team, the Live Ball stays with the same team (essentially, this is a Last One To Touch The Ball Loses It rule). If the player with the Live Ball drops his pattern, the Live Ball goes to the other team (but he may, before any of his balls hit the ground, pass the Live Ball out of his hands, which is counted as a pass, which may be intercepted). At no time may the player with the Live Ball be physically interfered with, nor can the Live Ball be snatched from an opposing team player's pattern.

Possible Scoring Methods

• points per successful pass
• points for interceptions
• points for successful passes where each member of the Offensive Team gets the ball (termed a "yahtzee" by Edward Jackman)
• reduced score for spending too much time with the Live Ball