Killerball (game)

Killerball (Swedish: Killerboll) is a non-team variant of dodgeball, played especially in Sweden among children, such as in physical education classes. In the game, one must throw a soft, rubber ball at other players to "kill" them with a legal hit, sending them out of the game (often only temporarily). The game is won by being the only remaining player that has not been "killed", or by "killing" the most other players before time runs out, if the game is timed.

Rules

All players are spread out in a gymnasium or other playing area. A ball is thrown into the air, and is taken up for throwing, after hitting the floor or a wall, by whoever gets to it first. It is then thrown at another player, and may be caught or picked up by any other player for successive throwing. A thrower must remain stationary after obtaining the ball, until the ball is thrown. A variation is to use more than one ball.^[1]

A player is "killed" by being struck by a ball, without catching it. Usually, a throw is "killing" only if a ball hits a player without hitting the floor or a wall first, but this rule is sometimes dropped. Head shots are discouraged for safety reasons, and thus a hit on the head is not considered "killing". One may also catch a thrown ball with one's hands, and then one "kills" the thrower. In some rule variants, the hands are also considered shields, such that a hit on one or both hands, without a catch, does not "kill" the player who was hit. A doubles variant using this rule, instead of catching, is to pair players up such that they must hold hands, each using their free hand to block throws, and to pick up and throw; the team of two is considered "killed" if either of them is "killed", or if they drop their mutual hand-hold.^[1]

"Killed" players are benched, waiting outside of the playing area (e.g., on an actual bench or a mat) until their "killer" has been "killed" in turn, at which point all players previously "killed" by that newly benched player may re-enter the game. There are several variations that require score-keeping of "kills": Each "killed" player is permitted back into the game after some amount of time has passed. Or all "killed" players can be periodically re-admitted at once, to keep the game going. Or positions on the bench may be limited, with the player benched the longest returning to the game when a newly "killed" player is benched; there might be four bench spots, or even just one. Yet another variation is that a "killed" player sits down in the game area exactly where they were hit, and remains seated, acting as an obstacle, until they can get hold of a ball passing nearby, which frees them to stand and resume play.^[1]

The game continues until only one player remains, having "killed" all others, and thus requiring no score-keeping. Or, for many of these variations, the game may be time-limited, and then the winner is the one who has "killed" the most players when the time is up; this requires score-keeping.^[1]

References

1. Andersson, Mikael (editor) (October 2009). "Killerboll". Lekarkivet: Lekar och aktiviteter för alla åldrar och tillfällen [Play-squabble: Games and activities for all ages and occasions] (in Swedish). Archived from the original on 15 September 2011. Retrieved 25 May 2015.