Picking Teams

- At the beginning of each game:
• All the players form a circle in the middle of the court.
• All players number off 1 and 2 alternatively until each player in the circle has a number.
• Once every player has a number, the two teams go to their respective side of the court and wait for the game to begin.

Beginning the Game

• Each team stands on the base of their respective half-court side.
• Balls are placed on the half-court line.
• President or the presiding officer blows the whistle after a count of three
• Players sprint to the half-court line to retrieve the balls.

Players may kick, toss, throw, pick-up etc. the balls on the half-court line. However, the balls are not active until they have been run back to the back court line. Once this has happened, the ball is active.

Boundaries

Boundaries include a given teams baseline and sidelines, and extend to the 2nd blue line past half-court. This creates a neutral zone for both teams in the middle of the court.

Getting out

If any of the following occur, the player goes to jail.

Tagging
If a player is struck on any part of their body including the head (hair included), or any part of their clothing, that person is out, unless the ball was dead. The player must be tagged by a forward throw, if a player is struck from the opposite direction in the neutral zone, the player is not out.

Boundary Lines
The player is out if he/she steps over a boundary line.

Loss of Possesion
The loss of possession of a ball due to another live ball striking it. If the ball is caught that knocked the possessed ball, then the player is not out.

Empty Jail Catch
When a team’s jail is empty, that team can get opposing players out by catching live balls thrown at them. The players that throw the balls from the opposing team are out if they are caught by the team with an empty jail.

Act of God
Officials / Officers have the authority to rule any player out.

Jail

The players that are out on your team are lined up on the sideline beggining at half court extending towards your baseline.

Getting out of Jail

Receptions
If you catch a live ball from the opposite team, one member of your team (the first one in line closest to the half-court line) comes back in. The player is not an active player until he/she touches the back line, or 5 seconds has passed. When any of these occur, the player is live and can be tagged.

Dead Balls

Dead balls consist of balls that have hit any part of the enviroment, including rafters, walls, curtains, the floor, jail members, and other balls. Dead balls cannot tag an opponent or be caught for receptions. Balls that tag an opponent are not dead until they hit the floor, curtains, wall, etc. This allows for team catches (see below).

Team Catch

If you are hit by an opposing players ball, and the ball is caught by another member of your own team before becoming a dead ball, you are not out.

Winning the Game

As would be expected, once one team eliminates everyone from the other team, the eliminating team has won the game. However, there is one rule that should covered in this section. If both teams have only one player remaining on their team, and the game becomes a “one-on-one,” in which all boundary lines are eliminated within the court. The two remaining players continue to play until the player is struck by a live ball or a player’s ball is caught by his/her opponent.

(We follow the Midwest Dodgeball Rules for Tournaments…)