I’m pretty sure you have all either heard of this game before or even played it yourself. It is one of the easiest and most simple games when it comes to ball games and one of my personal favorites.

What do you need?
Luckily, you only need a ball (or more depending on how many players you are and how difficult you want it to be), a playing field that fits the number of players (preferably outside since you can’t break anything there while throwing the ball) and fellow players. I would say to make the game fun, you need at least five players but the bigger the group, the more fun it gets.

How to play?
First off, this is a game in which there are no teams so every player plays for themselves (though some variants of the game include playing in teams but it is more fun to play it the normal way).
The game then starts by throwing the ball(s) randomly into the playing field. This can either be done by one of the players or by an outside person who is not an active player themselves. I recommend turning around to throw the ball into the game so that your back is facing the playing field and you can not see where the other players are. This helps to have a fair start and gives the same chance for each player to be the first to catch the ball.
The goal of the game is to hit other players with the ball while trying not to get hit with it yourself. Hence, this is the perfect game to practice your throwing, as well as your catching and dodging skills. But don’t worry, if in the beginning, you get hit by the ball more often than you’d like, once you play it a few times, you will get a lot better at it and can soon be the last player standing on the playing field.
Now that you know what the game is about, we can have a look at the rules:

Rule 1
When you get hit by a ball, you have to leave the playing field and sit down/ stand next to the field (depending on what your playing field looks like). You have to remember the name of the person who hit you with the ball because he or she is the key to getting back in the field. Once this person gets hit by a ball, you are allowed to go back into the playing field and continue playing. This goes on until one player manages to hit all the other players with the ball and is the only one left on the playing field.

Rule 2
When you have the ball in your hands, you are only allowed to take a maximum of three steps, though the number of steps can be individually chosen at the beginning of the game and adjusted when there’s less player on the field.

Rule 3
Hitting the head does not count. This means that if the ball hits your head, you don’t have to leave the playing field and can continue playing.

Rule 4
When you throw the ball and someone catches it directly (=without it touching the ground first), you have to leave the playing field. The person who caught it, now becomes the person who hit you with the ball, so it is this players name that you have to remember when you sit on the outside of the field.

I hope you enjoy this game and have fun playing!