Wallball
- Posted by ryan on August 26th, 2008 filed in Miscellany
In reading a novel I’ve just begun, I’m struck by the universality of certain aspects of kid culture. It’s astounding if you think about it. There is a body of jokes, rhymes, songs, institutions, methods, and games that has apparently been transmitted, through time and space, almost entirely by children alone. There are startling commonalities to certain activities, again, across time and space. And yet there are also interesting variations, dialects, to it all.
For instance. Wallball. I am certain no grownup ever told me about wallball, how to play, and so on. It is not the kind of game grownups recommend or encourage. And yet I learned it and played it, as have millions of other children in cities around the country (the world?) for years and years. Decades, maybe. But I bet my rules are different from yours.
Wallball, as practiced by young master Avent, circa 1988:
Needed: a small ball (preferably bouncy), such as may be held in the palm of one’s hand; a wall.
Directions: A ball is thrown against a wall. Players catch the ball on the rebound and throw it back against the wall. Players attempt to throw the ball with speed and at odd angles off the wall, in order to increase the difficulty of catching the ball on the rebound. IF A PLAYER attempts to handle the ball and misplays it, he must run and tag the wall before another player can grab the ball and throw it against the wall. If the mishandler tags the wall before the ball, play resumes. If he does not, player must stand and face the wall, and submit to a single pegging attempt. Throws at the head are discouraged. After the peg, play resumes.
So, how did you play wallball?
August 26th, 2008 at 9:22 am
That sounds about right.
You got to use a tennis ball. I seem to recall playing with a blue racket ball once, and those things really hurt.
August 26th, 2008 at 9:38 am
Tennis balls are indeed best but that didn’t stop us from playing with racquetballs pretty frequently. Ryan sounds like he played with the nice kids. In many of my games I remember that if throws at the head were discouraged that only resulted in players attempting angled or bounce shots designed to rack the peggee. Kids are cruel.
August 26th, 2008 at 10:34 am
While “Wallball” was permitted on our schoolyard, we often opted for the outlawed “Suicide” version of the game, in which instead of throwing the ball at the wall before the offending party tagged it, you had the option of pegging the running player.
In either version, if you missed the player or failed to hit the wall before the offending party tagged it, you had to drop the ball and run to the wall, and were subject to the same fate. Tamer versions were also played in which players had 3 “lives” instead of being subjected to the “firing squad.”
There was also no easier way to incur the wrath of all schoolyard participants than to “roof” the only tennis ball (we had a 3-story building, so they were impossible to retrieve).
What other games are this universal?
August 26th, 2008 at 10:52 am
Sounds like about the same rules as I played. Oddly, I only picked this game up after I came to DC for college, after growing up in Chicago–is it an East Coast thing, or did I just have a sheltered youth?
August 26th, 2008 at 11:16 am
What’s the novel?
Random guess: Fortress of Solitude?
August 26th, 2008 at 11:23 am
We called that game SPUD. Every time you were beat to the wall you got another letter (like HORSE). Once you got SPUD, you had to spread-eagle against the wall, and everyone had a turn pegging you with the ball.
August 26th, 2008 at 11:42 am
I loved Wallball in elementary school, but once I hit fifth grade my attempts to play were complicated by the boys’ unwillingness to peg a girl. There were two walls, though, so we set up a powderpuff game. Same rules.
August 26th, 2008 at 11:47 am
TheTim: You are correct
Reid: We had SPUD also, but it was entirely different. One person is designated “it” to start the game. The ball is thrown high into the air and everybody runs. IT has to catch it, and when he does, everyone stops. He’s then allowed to take three steps toward someone and attempt to hit them with the ball. If he does, they get a letter (SPUD, like HORSE) and become it. If he doesn’t, he gets a letter and remains it.
Helen: Where did you go to elementary school?
August 26th, 2008 at 12:12 pm
ryan - that’s a great book. Enjoy!
Also - I realized I didn’t answer your original question. In the new york city suburbs, we played wall ball exactly as you described it, but on occasion we referred to it by the pg-13 name, “asses up”. One other rule, the thrower had to hit the wall in the air (which could be tough if the ball had rolled a long way), otherwise he/she had to make a mad dash to tag the wall before someone else was able to retrieve the ball and throw it at the wall.
August 26th, 2008 at 12:34 pm
I haven’t thought about this game in forever. Back in the day, we played this every lunch period at my high school in suburban Boston. We only played the “Suicide” version because we were hardcore like that.
I’d give anything to get a league going here at work. It could be planners versus building inspectors or something.
August 26th, 2008 at 12:35 pm
We played the 3-outs versions with tennis balls most of the time, where I grew up (southern Indiana).
The wrinkle some of us liked to do was to throw caution to the wind and play right in front of the wall when another kid (especially one who couldn’t throw or was farther away) had the ball. Then we’d try to block the ball, tag the wall quickly, and then grab the ball and toss it against the wall to give the other kid an out.
My favorite game growing up was always hotbox, though. I think it’s also known as pickle.
August 26th, 2008 at 4:23 pm
Capture the Flag, SPUD (as described by throwing the ball in the air), Wallball as described by Ryan, Hall Ball (which was indoor Nerf ™ hoops in a narrow school hallway) and my personal favorite…Kick the Can, a game I have no seen played in 20 years, at least.
August 26th, 2008 at 4:29 pm
We played Roofball. It used a larger ball (like a dodgeball, soccer ball, or basketball). Player 1 throws the ball on the roof (roof must be sloped towards players). Player 2 has to catch the ball when it rolls/bounces off the roof, and throw it back up, but he has to be in the air when touching the ball. In other words, jump, catch, throw, land. Then the next player gets it. If the ball hits the ground or your feet hit the ground holding the ball, or if you throw the ball off the roof, you’re out!
August 26th, 2008 at 4:30 pm
Oh you’re right, SPUD is the game with the “it” throwing the ball in the air.
I think we called wallball “Butt’s Up”. But I think there still was an element that you had to get caught four times before you got pegged.
August 26th, 2008 at 4:32 pm
We also played Running Bases, where there are two “it”s who toss a ball back and forth, and the group runs back and forth from two bases. If the “it”s hit you with the ball when you’re not touching the base, you become it.
This always led to the endless argument of whether there was “electricity” whereby you were safely on base if you were touching someone who was touching the base.
Good times.
August 26th, 2008 at 4:46 pm
I must confess I don’t know what Kick the Can is. Explanation?
In my hood, “Running Bases” equals “Pickle”, and “Butts Up” equals “Soccer Practice Pasttime, In Which the Noobs Line Up and Get Balls Fired at Their Asses.”
But I was never a soccer player, so I only saw this ritual performed from afar.
August 26th, 2008 at 5:05 pm
We played something similar to roofball, just without the roof. We called it ‘tip,’ usually with only two players (or more in a circle). You had to jump, catch, throw, then land. If you were in contact with the ball and the floor at the same time, you’re out (or you lost that round). If you gave someone a horrible throw, you’re out, too.
I seem to recall also being limited to one spot on the floor. You had to try and get people out with spin and quickness rather than making them run.
August 26th, 2008 at 5:34 pm
In Kick the Can, you have one “it” and a group of people who run and hide as It counts next to a can on the ground. Once It is done counting he then has to find all the people. The way we played it, It had to run back to the can and step on it and say “I see so and so behind the bush” or whatever. Once you’re caught by It, you are in jail. It goes on like this until someone can kick over the can without It catching them. The game really necessitates an area with proper hiding spots, like bushes and fences.
August 26th, 2008 at 6:33 pm
At camp we would play rafterball–the bunks had rafters coming down from the ceilings, and you would try to throw a basketball or volleyball so it hit the top of the rafter and bounced over. There were several variations on this–you could play double rafterball, where you had to shoot for two rafters away, or “rejections”, where if the other player made a scoring throw, you could jump and throw it back over the rafter, and you would go back and forth until someone failed to return the shot, with the winner of the rally getting the point.
The older and taller you got, the easier and less interesting the game became, so it was well-suited to being a kid’s game.
Running Bases was a popular neighborhood game.
August 26th, 2008 at 7:36 pm
Yes, roofball games were strong, particularly at summer camp.
Reid has it on Kick the Can. It is essentially hide and seek, but if someone feared being spotted, they could try to outrun “it” to the can to ensure their freedom. Similarly as people got caught and put in jail, a free person could free the rest by kicking the can while “it” was still seeking.
August 26th, 2008 at 9:11 pm
@ Dan Miller
I’m not sure if you had a sheltered upbringing or not, but I learned to play Wallball when I lived in Saudi Arabia.