Patball
| Nicknames | "Pattball", "Wallball", "Slapball" |
|---|---|
| Characteristics | |
| Contact | Limited to none |
| Team members | One person per team, each team competes against the others |
| Mixed gender | Yes |
| Type | Competing sport, ball sport |
| Equipment | Wall or court, hand, tennis ball |
| Venue | School playground |
Patball is a non-contact competitive ball game played in many forms using one's hands or head to hit the ball against a wall - the objective being to get the succeeding player out. The game is popular in school playgrounds during break-time. Patball is played with a tennis ball, or other similar-sized specific patball, and the preferred hand, rather than any form of racquet or bat. The hand is used to "pat" the ball at the wall with the objective of making the ball un-returnable, similar to squash. In some variations of the game the use of the foot is also allowed.
It is very popular among London public schools, most notably, Dulwich College and Dulwich Hamlet.
Patball, in most forms, is played by two opposing players, but multiple players at once are possible depending on space restrictions. It is played against walls of a various widths, with the exact areas usually agreed upon based on age, space availability and a size which will allow continuous play rather than repeated restarts or "second serves".
Only the players' hands may hit the ball and different shots and skills are employed to avoid the opponent being able to return the shot, at which point the opposing player is out or loses a life depending on the game version being played.
The ball used is usually a standard tennis ball, but at Dulwich College, a specific patball is used. This is a hollow rubber ball which can best be described as a tennis ball without the fibrous felt.
Recently, new variants of patball have been invented such as 'Aces', 'Kingpin' and 'Single Dingles'. Aces is played with four players on a special court (eight equally sized squares painted on the ground) and each player uses one square. It is played just as the original version, except for the fact that the wall is on the opponent's court and "lives" are used, varying on who is playing. When a player runs short of lives, he/she becomes a "ghost". A ghost is still allowed to play but cannot lose lives or make players still in the game lose lives. When just two players remain, each player gets four of the eight squares each and continues with the number of lives that they had prior to this. The players continue playing until one of the two is knocked out.
Kingpin consists of three to eight players. Much like aces you play on the ground but once you lose the point you go to the back and the aim is to become the king, who starts the rally every point. the positions are in order; King, Queen, 1st Jock, 2nd Jock, 3rd Jock, 4th Jock, 5th Jock and 6th Jock. The game ends when the end of break/lunch bell goes. Up to Twelve players could play (King, Queen, Jack and playing cards from 10 down) with 9 being a common court configuration (King in the middle). The king bounced the ball in his square and onto someone else's. If the ball double bounced, was missed or went out of court, the player was out and demoted to the bottom square.
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Wikipedia