Butts Up
| Players | 3 or more |
|---|---|
| Age range | Preadolescence (9) and up |
| Setup time | None |
| Playing time | No limit |
| Random chance | None |
| Skill(s) required | Running, catching, throwing |
Butts Up (A.K.A. "Burn Ball", "Ballsies", "Chinese Suicides", "Peanut-butter," "Rump Rounders", "Buttock Blocker", "Sky Blue", "Red Butt", "Blackjack", "Assies' Rehab & Tea", "Wall Ball", "Slaughterhouse", "Fourteen Eighty-Eight", "Fumble", "Butt Ball", "Buju Gay", "Beartrap", "Asses Up", "Suicide", "Stitch", "Pee Pee'd", "Peg", "Balls Deep", "Fire in the Bum", "A-Ball", "Buns Up", "Booties Up", "Electric Booty", "Glempner", "No Fear", "Red Bum", "Red Ace", "Jetters", "Red Ass", "Red Out", "Sting", "Error", "Off the Wall", "Kirby", "Spread", "Burn", "Murderball", "Blue Gooch" or "Brandings") is a North American elementary school children's playground game originating in the 1950s or earlier. It is slightly similar to the game Screen Ball. Butts Up or Booties Up began in the 1940s or 1950s as a penalty phase of various city street games. Butts Up is played with a ball (such as a tennis ball or racquetball) on a paved surface against a wall, with a variable number of participants—usually more than three and often likely to exceed ten. Butts Up tends to be played during recess or after school; it is played infrequently before school. Popular in New England is another frequent variation of wallball that usually differs a lot from the more widely known 'Butts Up'.
Players determine the variations of the game prior to start of play. Some of the rules of the game very loosely resemble the rules of baseball and racquetball.
The object of the game is to be the last player remaining in the game after all other players are out.
In some variations of the game, there is no specific object of the game. Play continues until time runs out. In this variation, when players are "out" three times, they must lean against the wall and wait to be hit by the ball ("Butts Up"). See below for more on this.
The first player, usually the tennis ball owner, starts the game or "breaks the ice" (see terminology below) by throwing the tennis ball against the wall with the objective of having the ball hit the wall without hitting the ground first.
After the ball makes contact with the wall and bounces off the ground at least once, any of the players, including the thrower, may then try to catch the ball. If catcher mishandles the ball and the ball touches the ground, the catcher must try to touch the wall before another player fields and throws the ball against the wall. If the ball touches the wall before the catcher, the catcher is out and must face various consequences. In some places, instead of hitting the wall you have to throw it at the catcher.
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Wikipedia