Materials
- Dodgeballs
- (Optional) Tape, rope, or cones (if not using a naturally enclosed area.)
Preparation
Typically, the whole room or field will be used without allowing people to go into other rooms or areas of the property. If you do not have a naturally defined area, use markers to define the area of play. There should be enough room that people can freely move without needing to be packed together, but not so much that there is no challenge posed by those already out.
Rules
The Start
Every man is for himself. The leader will start by throwing 5 balls into the area of play while standing backwards so as not to throw them to specific people. Balls are immediately live.
Gameplay
If a player is hit by a legal ball or is out by another traditional dodgeball method (such as a caught throw), the player should go down on both knees (or sit down.) They are then planted and cannot move their knees or leave their spot if they are seated. A player that is down can then tag other players and get them out as well. A player cannot fake being down. Players that are down must roll any dodgeballs that come to them at least arm’s length away. I typically allow for balls to still be withing lunge distance to create a trap. Lunge distance is the idea that a player not moving their upper body could not normally reach the ball, but by laying flay out on the ground with their arm outstretched, they still can. Their knees must still remain planted.
Ways for a player to get out.
- Hit by a ball thrown by the opposing team.
- The ball must not touch any surface before contacting the player. (e.g., the floor or a wall.)
- The ball must be thrown, not kicked or propelled some other way.
- The ball cannot hit the someone in the head. (This discourages headshots.)
- Hit by a legal (see above) ball that bounced off a teammate first. In this scenario, all players the ball touches are out.
- Has their throw caught by the opposing team. (Note: if a ball ricochets off a player and then is caught by a teammate, the first player is still in.)
- Leaves the play area.
The End
The last person standing is the winner.
Modifications
Allow for players that are down to get back up by tagging a player that is up. The tagged player would have to get down. This extends the game significantly but is a lot of fun.