Ork Ball
Jenny E.
Sandra,
I keep meaning to ask you...is ork ball a game that the kids learned to play or is it something that Marty and Co. created? Are there rules somewhere? I remember doing a google search on it one time, but I wasn't sure if it was the same game your kids play.
Jen :o)
Mom to Beck (8) and Dane (5)
Learning the natural way every day!
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
I keep meaning to ask you...is ork ball a game that the kids learned to play or is it something that Marty and Co. created? Are there rules somewhere? I remember doing a google search on it one time, but I wasn't sure if it was the same game your kids play.
Jen :o)
Mom to Beck (8) and Dane (5)
Learning the natural way every day!
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
[email protected]
In a message dated 1/11/04 8:24:12 PM, mom2jrjedis@... writes:
<< is ork ball a game that the kids learned to play or is it something that
Marty and Co. created? >>
Marty made it up.
Turns out there had been a similar game made up by my husband and a couple of
his friends when we were in our early 20's and kids were far in the future,
but they only played it a couple of times, and in SCA armor, with SCA swords.
Marty might've heard Keith talk about it and forgotten or something, I don't
know. But he didn't name it, I told him what the name of the game Keith had
played years before had been.
What Marty had said was "I'm thinking we could play a game with boffers, and
a ball with hair, like a head, and..." and he went off on details and I zoned
out thinking how very weird that Keith (whom Marty is SO much like) had been
so excited about the very same game like 25 years before that.
The rules evolved after several sessions and have settled, I think.
The boffer swords are built with pvc water pipe (I don't know measurements,
but I'm guesing 3/4") covered with foam insulation (made for that pipe) and
then covered with duct tape, and the end padded with more foam and more duct
tape. The end of the hilt is taped over so the PVC isn't dangerous.
The balls were birthday gifts last year. When he said he wanted to play it,
Keith and I secretly made him three orc balls (Marty chooses to spell it "ork
ball" who knows why) with smallish playground balls, like four-square balls,
but in different colors.
One of those is still around, but its original clown wig is worn to a nub,
and Marty put another wig on it, only on the side of its face. I'll try to
upload a picture I took of it today, and some other orkball pictures in a bit. I
borrowed a camera and need to learn how to use it anyway.
So there are two shields on the ground (wooden shield blanks my husband had;
I know not everyone will have such things, but you could use two anythings,
like bases).
Teams are five people, usually. Six today, four in a pinch, but ideally
five, with alternates if there are extra people.
They play to seven points. When there are seven total points, that's
halftime. When one team has seven points, that's game. The seven comes from SCA
business of 25 years ago, involving the seven dwarves. (I was Snow White TWICE,
and was in the newspaper once for it.)
So...
Any kind of passing is fair. They can throw it, kick it, carry it, or bat it
with the boffer.
Any kind of catching is fair. Tapping it with the boffer and catching it as
it falls, picking it up off the ground, catching it whole or by the hair,
taking it away from someone else American football-style.
You can hit another player with a boffer. They started off only hitting the
carrier, but that rule changed. If you're the carrier and you're hit, you
have to drop the ball. Someone else can pick it up. If you're hit and you're
not carrying, you can hit back, but nobody "has to die" (in boffer-fighting
terms, there's no accepting a blow as a wound or a death, because you weren't a
legal target). If you were carrying and you're hit, you let the ball go back
into play, and you can't play again until you resurrect yourself by touching
both shoulders to the ground.
I was there today and saw some kids somersault, and some just kind of throw
themselves on their backs and roll over to the other side, get up and go again.
There's a goalie. They switch around who's going to be goalie. Poor Arik,
who's 14 or 15, already a big guy and a good and experienced player, today
made four goals--two for his team, and two for the opponents, when he was goalie.
He let a ball through, and he bounced the ball off another player, back into
the goal.. It happens.
And... Some kids have gotten really angry because they got hit too hard.
Kirby twisted his ankle a few weeks ago and had to miss a day of karate
(missed his own class, missed a class he teaches). Occasionally frustration breaks
out, but they've so far always found ways to make peace and stay friends.
Holly, our walking calendar, noted that they had had their anniversary a
couple of weeks ago. They had played first with a wigless ball, and then on
Marty's birthday last year we gifted him with the bewigged assortment. (Our
bedroom was very stinky from contact cement. I slept woozy one night a year ago!)
So what Marty wanted for his birthday this year was a big ork ball game.
Twenty people were there at the height of it. We fed pizza and cake to 18
afterward. Some of them are in the library now playing something in the dark. I
went to double check on the points and halftime, and slid open the door and
asked the darkness my questions, and three different voices gave answers. I
thanked them and shut the door. They didn't ask why I wanted to know.
I love these kids!
Sandra
<< is ork ball a game that the kids learned to play or is it something that
Marty and Co. created? >>
Marty made it up.
Turns out there had been a similar game made up by my husband and a couple of
his friends when we were in our early 20's and kids were far in the future,
but they only played it a couple of times, and in SCA armor, with SCA swords.
Marty might've heard Keith talk about it and forgotten or something, I don't
know. But he didn't name it, I told him what the name of the game Keith had
played years before had been.
What Marty had said was "I'm thinking we could play a game with boffers, and
a ball with hair, like a head, and..." and he went off on details and I zoned
out thinking how very weird that Keith (whom Marty is SO much like) had been
so excited about the very same game like 25 years before that.
The rules evolved after several sessions and have settled, I think.
The boffer swords are built with pvc water pipe (I don't know measurements,
but I'm guesing 3/4") covered with foam insulation (made for that pipe) and
then covered with duct tape, and the end padded with more foam and more duct
tape. The end of the hilt is taped over so the PVC isn't dangerous.
The balls were birthday gifts last year. When he said he wanted to play it,
Keith and I secretly made him three orc balls (Marty chooses to spell it "ork
ball" who knows why) with smallish playground balls, like four-square balls,
but in different colors.
One of those is still around, but its original clown wig is worn to a nub,
and Marty put another wig on it, only on the side of its face. I'll try to
upload a picture I took of it today, and some other orkball pictures in a bit. I
borrowed a camera and need to learn how to use it anyway.
So there are two shields on the ground (wooden shield blanks my husband had;
I know not everyone will have such things, but you could use two anythings,
like bases).
Teams are five people, usually. Six today, four in a pinch, but ideally
five, with alternates if there are extra people.
They play to seven points. When there are seven total points, that's
halftime. When one team has seven points, that's game. The seven comes from SCA
business of 25 years ago, involving the seven dwarves. (I was Snow White TWICE,
and was in the newspaper once for it.)
So...
Any kind of passing is fair. They can throw it, kick it, carry it, or bat it
with the boffer.
Any kind of catching is fair. Tapping it with the boffer and catching it as
it falls, picking it up off the ground, catching it whole or by the hair,
taking it away from someone else American football-style.
You can hit another player with a boffer. They started off only hitting the
carrier, but that rule changed. If you're the carrier and you're hit, you
have to drop the ball. Someone else can pick it up. If you're hit and you're
not carrying, you can hit back, but nobody "has to die" (in boffer-fighting
terms, there's no accepting a blow as a wound or a death, because you weren't a
legal target). If you were carrying and you're hit, you let the ball go back
into play, and you can't play again until you resurrect yourself by touching
both shoulders to the ground.
I was there today and saw some kids somersault, and some just kind of throw
themselves on their backs and roll over to the other side, get up and go again.
There's a goalie. They switch around who's going to be goalie. Poor Arik,
who's 14 or 15, already a big guy and a good and experienced player, today
made four goals--two for his team, and two for the opponents, when he was goalie.
He let a ball through, and he bounced the ball off another player, back into
the goal.. It happens.
And... Some kids have gotten really angry because they got hit too hard.
Kirby twisted his ankle a few weeks ago and had to miss a day of karate
(missed his own class, missed a class he teaches). Occasionally frustration breaks
out, but they've so far always found ways to make peace and stay friends.
Holly, our walking calendar, noted that they had had their anniversary a
couple of weeks ago. They had played first with a wigless ball, and then on
Marty's birthday last year we gifted him with the bewigged assortment. (Our
bedroom was very stinky from contact cement. I slept woozy one night a year ago!)
So what Marty wanted for his birthday this year was a big ork ball game.
Twenty people were there at the height of it. We fed pizza and cake to 18
afterward. Some of them are in the library now playing something in the dark. I
went to double check on the points and halftime, and slid open the door and
asked the darkness my questions, and three different voices gave answers. I
thanked them and shut the door. They didn't ask why I wanted to know.
I love these kids!
Sandra
[email protected]
I tried to upload photos but got
Failed to resize image. Image you are uploading maybe corrupted.
rats.
Sorry
Sandra
Failed to resize image. Image you are uploading maybe corrupted.
rats.
Sorry
Sandra
Jenny E.
Wow, Sandra...
Thanks for all of that! What an amazing game they have created....it was all really interesting. Do you mind if I forward all this to my local group? Maybe it will inspire some of the kids here. Has Marty ever thought of trying to market the game in some way?
Jen :o)
Mom to Beck (8) and Dane (5)
Learning the natural way every day!
Thanks for all of that! What an amazing game they have created....it was all really interesting. Do you mind if I forward all this to my local group? Maybe it will inspire some of the kids here. Has Marty ever thought of trying to market the game in some way?
Jen :o)
Mom to Beck (8) and Dane (5)
Learning the natural way every day!
----- Original Message -----
From: SandraDodd@...
In a message dated 1/11/04 8:24:12 PM, mom2jrjedis@... writes:
<< is ork ball a game that the kids learned to play or is it something that
Marty and Co. created? >>
Marty made it up.
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Jenny E.
Bummer...well, if you ever do get them uploaded I would love to see them!
Jen
Jen
----- Original Message -----
From: SandraDodd@...
To: [email protected]
Sent: Sunday, January 11, 2004 8:51 PM
Subject: Re: [AlwaysLearning] Ork Ball
I tried to upload photos but got
Failed to resize image. Image you are uploading maybe corrupted.
rats.
Sorry
Sandra
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[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
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In a message dated 1/11/04 11:12:09 PM, mom2jrjedis@... writes:
<< Has Marty ever thought of trying to market the game in some way? >>
I don't think so.
As long as he's just playing with friends, there's no legal liability. If he
were to start a league or something, that would be a legal danger. If
someone got hurt...
So it just needs to be a friendly game among friends.
What keeps them safe, for one thing, is that most of these kids have been in
the SCA, and the boffer rules are based on what they're used to there. There
are places on the body where you just don't aim. Below the knee, hand, face,
head. And when they've played with kids who aren't used to SCA combat
conventions, they have to explain that, and sometimes they have to say "WE MEAN IT,
don't do that."
There are probably other things I'm not mentioning that kids who just read
about it wouldn't know but kids who see it as an add-on game to "playing
boffers" their whole lives would just understand.
So it might not export well at all.
Sandra
<< Has Marty ever thought of trying to market the game in some way? >>
I don't think so.
As long as he's just playing with friends, there's no legal liability. If he
were to start a league or something, that would be a legal danger. If
someone got hurt...
So it just needs to be a friendly game among friends.
What keeps them safe, for one thing, is that most of these kids have been in
the SCA, and the boffer rules are based on what they're used to there. There
are places on the body where you just don't aim. Below the knee, hand, face,
head. And when they've played with kids who aren't used to SCA combat
conventions, they have to explain that, and sometimes they have to say "WE MEAN IT,
don't do that."
There are probably other things I'm not mentioning that kids who just read
about it wouldn't know but kids who see it as an add-on game to "playing
boffers" their whole lives would just understand.
So it might not export well at all.
Sandra