A.K.A. Suicide

The Equipment:

one wall

one ball that bounces well, such as a tennis ball

number of players: at least 2

The Rules:

The basic activity of the game is throwing the ball up against the wall, letting it bounce on the ground if you want, then catching it. You can throw it against the wall and catch it yourself, or let another team member catch it, or whatever.

The fun starts when one of two things happen: 1) if a person throws the ball and it touches the ground before hitting the wall or 2) a person fumbles or drops the ball in any way. This includes purposely throwing the ball at another player so that the ball hits them but they cannot catch it before the ball hits the ground.

When either of these things happen, the fumbler/bad thrower must run to the wall. Meanwhile another player is trying to throw the ball so that it hits the wall before the fumbler can touch the wall.

If the fumbler can make it to the wall first, game play continues. If the ball gets there first, the fumbler has one strike, then game play continues. Some kids played that when a player gets three strikes, he is simply out of the game. But among other groups, the person with three strikes must stand with their hands against the wall while his fellow game players pelt him in the butt with the ball. Strange? Very. A great game, minus the pelting.

Contributed by Todd - Thank you!

Butts Up

This is a minor variation on Wall Ball. We played with the rule that the person who got three outs (strikes) had to go to the wall and get pelted. We also gave the person who had to touch the wall an out if they were pelted before they touched the wall. We also allowed someone to throw the ball at another player, but then both had to run and touch the wall before someone threw the ball at the wall or one of the two people. One hint: racquetballs are much harder than tennis balls. As an adult I described the rules to friends who had never played it and I got some weird looks. I now realize it is rather sadistic, but it didn't seem unusual as a kid. I played a game a few years back and it was still fun.

Contributed by Jeremy - Thank you!

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