MOY Competition - Down by the School Yard - Overview

HOSTED BY: Canon Matter

WHEN: May 1st, in the year of our Lord, 2010

WHERE: Some School

DESCRIPTION: All the best school yard games from the past, but with more alcohol and less cooties.

The Fine Print

Four Square For those who've never played this game:
Four squares are laid out in a 2x2 formation on the ground. The squares are labeled 1st square through 4th (server) square in a counterclockwise fashion. The server will start the round by serving a decent (returnable) hit to the first square player, who will then hit the ball to any square he/she chooses. A ball may only bounce once in a square before the square's corresponding player must hit it to another square. If a ball bounces twice, the player hits the ball out of play or into their own square, or the player uses an illegal hitting technique, the player is out, and must go to the end of the line. The other players will advance squares as necessary and a new player will come into play at the first square. Play will continue in this manner until recess is over.

For our purposes:
Open handed (no fisting), underhanded hits only. Putting spin on the ball is totally fair. The outer lines count as 'in' like volleyball, and the inner lines will enact a 'do-over' and reset the round.
For ranking, everyone gets 10 outs. The three remaining players yet to reach 10 will be ranked by how many they have left, and 4th place and out will be determined by the opposite order in which they reached their 10. If enough competitors show up (10 or more), we will have a Round 2, in which the top 5 or 6 will split off to their own court and play through another 10 outs to re-rank themselves. The lower half will play another 10 outs as well.

Handball The court in Handball consists of a big-ass wall with some running space, and the equipment needed is a ball. We will be playing a variation of Chinese Handball, in which the ball must bounce off the ground before touching the wall for a fair hit. In our variation, we will use the same rubber ball we did for Four Square instead of a racquetball or traditional handball.

The purpose of the game is to hit the ball in such a way that the opponent cannot return the shot before its second bounce after hitting the wall. In its simplest form, two players can play for points. More players can play an elimination game. We will play three elimination games to determine seeding, then continue bracketed tournament play for overall rank. During tournament play, competitors will play to 7 and must win by at least 2 points. All ball bashing techniques are fair so long as the player only strikes the ball once per turn.

Tether Ball The game begins when one player serves the ball, usually by holding it in one hand and hitting it with the other. The opposing player then attempts to return the serve by hitting it in the opposite direction. The object is to hit the ball in such a way that one's opponent will be unable to alter the ball's direction. It is generally acceptable to hit the ball with either the fist or the open hand. The game ends when one player hits the ball around the pole in their own direction as far as it will go, so that the ball hits the pole. A match can consist of one, three, five, or more games. We will play best of during seeding, and best of five during tournament play.

Round robin play will determine seeding, followed by bracketed tournament play for rankings. Seeding ties will be broken by single round matches.

Knockout The game is played with two basketballs and a basketball court. The object is to make a shot before the player in front of you, thus knocking them out of the game. Once you have made a shot, return your ball back to the player next in line as quickly as you can. The last player yet to be knocked out is the winner. Players are allowed to interfere with each other's shots by hitting each other's balls with their own, but not while the ball remains in their hands; e.g. a player can throw their ball at the other ball while it is in the air, but not hit it out of another player's hands or use their ball like a hammer to hit a ball away.

We will play five games, and players will be ranked by average place over the five games. Order of play is by place of the previous game, and the first game will be ordered by height, age, biggest dump (by weight), or whatever we choose.

Overall scoring The last place of each game gets 1 point, second to last 2 pts, and up to first. All points are totaled for the final ranking. In the event that anyone is dissatisfied with a tie, each competitor within the tie will see how many slaps it take to make Sergio put a hand on the ground. Least slaps wins the tie.