Puckleball Revealed!

There's been an overwhelming demand for me to shed some light on the mysterious game that is puckleball. As I mentioned in the Flickr gallery for Debra's wedding, Puckleball is a game that Gerritt, Stephen, and I developed during the wedding weekend, while we were staying up late with nothing better to do than to create some sort of mystical new game. The basement rec room contained one of those 4-in-1 game tables on which you can play pool, air hockey, ping-pong, and baccarat or something, but none of the pieces were in place to play a full version of any of the games. Thus, boredom breeds innovation, and puckleball was born. Gerritt and Stephen laid out the original field of play before I arrived that weekend, and then Gerritt and I refined some more of the rules, leading to many tournaments over the next two days.

THE SET-UP

First, transform the table into an air hockey arena. You need four or five of those spongy water ball things that soak up water so you can throw them at your friend's face in the pool. Make sure they're dry, and space them evenly among the center line of the table. These are the Squeezles. Find eight to ten ping-pong balls and split them evenly between the two players. Finally, each player gets two air hockey paddles, or "puckles."

THE BASIC GAME

Each player agrees upon a number of rounds to play. (I think we played a best-of-seven series.) At the beginning of each round, each player may strategically place their two puckles into the field of play, where they cannot be moved until the start of the next round. The player may not place the puckle directly in front of the goal area. The two players then take turns rolling (not throwing) their ball across the table, through the Squeezles and past the Puckles, trying to sink as many of their balls into the opposing players' goal area as possible. The opposing player cannot use anything but their puckles to defend their goal, and only one puckle can be moved at the start of the next round. The round continues until all balls are played, and whoever sinks the most balls wins that round! Whoever takes the most rounds wins the game.

VARIATIONS

We had a couple of variations that I don't quite remember well enough. They had to do with tiebreakers, mostly, and one involved an extra Puckle that you could move before you played each ball, but it only came into play in later rounds. I think we also had someone throw a whiffleball or something across the table at critical times, as well, or we would have if we kept having ties and had to go into extra innings.

So there you have it! If any of you people who actually played the game remember any other details, please comment them. And if anybody else actually ends up playing this again and we witness the birth of a new national sensation, then please let me know so you can electronically transfer my cut.