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December 06, 2008 |
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Official Wall-Ball Rules
FOUND by Mike Oswalt
in Katy, Texas
I found this in my neighborhood. It looks like it might have been taped prominently somewhere.
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Skull with Parasol August 05, 2007 |
Totally Hot April 13, 2006 |
Crucial Advice for ... May 23, 2007 |
Neet to Straighten... November 18, 2005 |
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We collect FOUND stuff: love letters, birthday cards, kids' homework,
to-do lists, ticket stubs, poetry on napkins, telephone bills, doodles -
anything that gives a glimpse into someone
else's life. Anything goes...
Suddenly, "The Hang" is beginning to make sense.
http://www.foundmagazine.com/find/684
There's no crying in Wall-Ball!
...and apparently no rules either since they were liberated.
I wanna play.
Whose gonna bee the first too bitch about the grammer in number 15? Bettor hurry, clock iz tickin.
Nah, the grammar is fine. It's just the spelling ;o)
Anyway, this is one of my new favorites. I remember making up games like this with my friends on long summer days. The list of new rules kept getting added to. Usually because the whiny kid kept complaining about things -- which is why the NO CRYING rule eventually has to come into play. Just has to.
Personally, I'm not going to complain about the spelling error because if "no crying" is in the rules, I'm assuming the kids who wrote this are in elementary or middle school. I know college kids who have worse spelling. Plus, they used the word "designated" which is impressive for even a high schooler.
Too many rules...I'm not gonna play. Nothing with this many rules can be much fun.
I'm takin' my ball home with me, too! Nyeh, nyeh!
Years ago on a youth group trip we decided to play Wall Ball and some kids from a neighboring town were amazed that we knew what Wall Ball was because they thought they invented it. Turns out our two versions were completely different. The only similarities were they both involved a wall and a ball, and crying was not allowed.
I've run into similar issues playing HORSE on the basketball court- who knew there were different ways to play?
I'd have put NO CRYING as number 1. and OBEY ALL RULES as number 2. There was nothing worse than playing a playground game and some princess-minded girl would call a do-over for herself because the sun was in her eyes or the wind was blowing. Man, those girls were annoying!
@baby basil
yeah well, I'm taking my wall home with me, so there!
this reminds me of all the games I used to make up as a kid. the best one was a combination dodge ball & tag ...played on roller skates. and of course generally played without helmets.
we used soccer balls, (or any other similarly sized ball that might be around). both the "it" person and the "not it" people each had their own ball. the "it" person had to use theirs for tagging, and the others could use theirs to block with. Or to tag the "it" person, which meant they had to "freeze" for 10 seconds, giving the "not it" a chance to skate past.
it was the whole "played on skates" part that really made the game fun. because after all, if you can't hurt yourself doing it, it's just not an exciting game.
yup, kids skating around throwing things at each other, good old fashion unsafe fun.
Holy crap, that's a lot of rules for a neighborhood game. We just took a ball, someone kicked it and we all ran. Ahhh.... the good old days...
Feminista beat me to my comment! :D
@monkey: All of the best games we played as kids would get our parents arrested for Child Endangerment/Neglect these days.
Our favorite activity on skates was to hold onto the back of someone's bike as they pedaled down the steepest hill in our neighborhood as fast as they could. Of course no helmets and no pads.
(And now I shall date myself...) Those metal wheels didn't offer much cushion so I'm surprised we didn't suffer some damage similar to Shaken Baby Syndrome by the end of the ride from our brains rattling around in our heads. Or perhaps we did, which would explain a lot of my life choices.
No self outs.
That one is my fav.
Yikes! I would never be able to play this games, since I couldn't possibly remember all the rules (well, I could remember No CRYING.)
WALL BALL! Brings back good...eh...just...memories of jr. high.
I teach at an elementary school. You can not imagine how many fights break out amongst the boys as they play Wall Ball. One of my boys ended up in the principal's office yesterday after shoving a boy down hard on the concrete when said boy got the ball, and also screamed "I hate you!" It's a highly competitive game! And yes, tears...oh God, the tears.....
I wish they'd ban it. I applaud this list!!
Nightingale! Perfect! Whoo!!
Every time a bell rings an angel gets a pass.
I love the final, un-numbered rule: ENJOY. When I was in jr high we played a game in Phys Ed called murderball. It was brutal, but awesome.
This game seriously sounds like a lot of fun! Let's start up a game when we all meet in Ann Arbor on the 12th for the Found Six Release party!!
(Oh mannn, don't I wish.) Happy Weekend everyone.
@ just me in my house, and there was nothing better than than beating a bunch of boys at their playground game, having them change the rules, then beating them at the new rules and having them all quit and call their own game stupid.
#20 No actual "Balls" on the wall.
@Teacher I had forgotten that kids play games like "Wall ball" until today. One of my daily tasks is supervising recess at the Elementary school where I teach and your comment makes me happy that the walls of our school aren't high enough for "Wall ball" to be a viable option for the kids at recess. :)
Bah, I'd rather play Calvinball.
NO CRYING and ENJOY!
The reason I don't like games is it takes too much concentration to remember the rules and I was always picked last. Okay, sometimes second-to-last.
Mom Interrupted, thanks for the roller skate memory, I can still feel the vibration and sound of those metal wheels on the pavement! Did yours also have the key for tightening them to your shoes?
@ Joey, CALVINBALL RULES!!
@ kwyncee, hell ya, silly boys thinking they can make a game we can't beat them at.
When I was a kid, I hated all the weird names the rules had, like "no angels passes." What the hell is an angel pass? I'd always wonder how people would come up with ridiculous names like that. I also hated just about every sport as a kid, so maybe that explains my confusion about the names for the rules. Anyhow, I like this find because it unblocks repressed memories of "butt ball" back in elementary school.
I was just thinking about Wall Ball (for the first time since fifth grade, I guess) today after watching a show where it looked like two characters were playing it. Then I see this. Nice coincidence, eh?
Anyways, I don't think I ever assumed kids at my lower school had made it up or anything.
Also, to those who have played a 'Wall Ball' before, what was it like? We used one tennis ball and probablly about half a tennis court (only one wall). I only remember it vaguely, but I recall having to run and touch the wall if you did something wrong like touching the ball without throwing it back (similar to rule no 3). And I think you had to let it bounce a certain number of times (otherwise you had to run to the wall, as well?).
So now I'm curios as to how common this game is?
Thanks, Chrome. I knew the cool kids would get it.
All in all, these are good rules for life. Enjoy!
An Oswalt in Katy, eh? Any relation to Roy?
@Jess in DC - I played wall ball from 2nd grade on. I live in California. There's your answer!
Uh, if I've never heard of Wall Ball before this, what does that mean? About me, I mean.
Also, looks to me like there are an awful lot of "Don't" rules here. Is there anything that is allowed in this game?
Ok, just skimmed through the Wikipedia article on Wall Ball. I'm more confused than ever. And I'm clearly too old to play it now anyway. Though, it does sound like it'd make an interesting Olympic sport.
I really like this find, reminds me of all the crazy fights that broke out during wall ball in elementary school. Actually, it was so popular that our school playground actually had a random wall built on the blacktop for the game...
I think I just realized how odd that is.
that's wierd, i used to have this sign on my bedroom wall for when i'd bring drunk girls home from the bar. number 18 was always a deal breaker though.
Way too many rules. It's too complicated, which would suck all the fun right out of it.
When we played Wall Ball in elementary school, it was much simpler. If you caught the ball, you got to be the thrower, and if you were hit by the ball, you were out. The only specially-named rule we had was the one that disallowed throwing the ball at someone's head -- we called it "No head hunting." :) Even if you threw a wild ball and it accidentally hit someone's head, you were out as a thrower and the victim got to be the thrower, and you got yelled at pretty hard by the participants.
Best game ever!
I remember playing Wall Ball when I lived in southern California from 3rd through 5th grade, and it was THE game to be seen playing at recess. I was queen of wall ball!
However, when I moved to the Tennessee, no one at my school knew what the hell Wall Ball was. Not only was I the uncool new kid, but I also didn't have a common interest to link me with my new classmates. The hot thing at my new Tennessee school? CHOIR. I was a fish out of water. Plus, they talked funny and all the girls already wore bras.
I remember wall ball...only from my perspective, it was the cool kids at recess who monopolized the squares, and a long line of kids waiting for someone to get out. I was a shy kid, so I never played. It was a status symbol really. Also I lived in Oregon, and the covered "breezeway" was sometimes the only place to play when it was raining. The breezeway was nothing but walls, so I guess wall ball was a natural choice.
At my elementary school, they used "the wall" for punishments, perhaps in attempt to eradicate the "wall ball" game that had went on before my time. If you were bad during school, you were given a recess time out on "the wall." Usually there were just a few unlucky kids standing, spaced so that they couldn't touch or talk, but once my entire class was involved in some sort of rebellion and we all had to stand there for the entire recess.
This didn't stop "Wall Ball," though -- the kids just took the balls to the baseball field just on the outskirts of the playground, and, somewhat inexplicably, called the game "soccer." If there were any rules other than "run around like a maniac and kick/chuck the ball at people," I didn't know them.
I used to live in Katy, TX. wow.
haha I still live in Katy, TX. For that sole reason I had to laugh.
I grew up playing wall ball in San Antonio, Tx...there have been occasions when I have tried to explain the rules of play to my wife without much success...this is great to see Wall Ball is still being played out there in the elementary yards. Hopefully along with paper ninja stars, fortune tellers...is Friday still 'flip up' day?
@K lee in Houston,
You mean "Cousin Roy".
Nope.
He's an "O"'s walt and we're just plain ol' "OZ" walt's. Great to have him in Houston with the Astros.
I love how "No Pushing" is crammed in the bottommost corner of the page, as if it was an afterthought.
me and my friends have our own game called wall ball that involves volleyballs and squash couts.
me and my friends have our own game called wall ball that involves volleyballs and squash couts.