Waterball (World Guide, Game) (Patreon)

Waterball

Waterball is a traditional fey’li beach sport that has existed since the dawn of recorded history. It combines the best aspects of volleyball, dodgeball, and water balloons into a fun game that just about anyone can play. There are two major traditional variations of the game, and one new version with a biogel peril twist.

Traditional waterball is a two or four player game, typically played on natural beach sand. Equipment is a standard natural rope and cloth waterball net 1.4 meters high and 3 meters wide, and a supply of 25 natural goli fruit skin bladders, filled with water, and tied like a normal modern water balloon. More or less goli bladders can be used should a longer or shorter game be desired, though there should always be an odd number. By fey’li tradition, waterball is played nude, though in more prudish locations the skimpiest culturally acceptable bathing suit is worn.

Modern waterball is a two or four player game, played on either natural beach sand, or in specially built sand patches. It uses the same sized net, though with modern materials. Rather than goli fruit bladders, modern waterball uses synthetic rubber bladders. These are a bit tougher than goli fruit bladders, but are very consistent in quality. 25 are standard, including for all official matches, though as with traditional waterball, game duration can be varied. Modern waterball can be played nude, though the Interstellar Waterball Association mandates minimum bikini style swimsuit for all official competitive events.

Mitanni waterball is a new variation on the game, introduced by the planetary-local Mitanni Waterball Association and promoted by Gelitech. A special exhibition league has been established, independent of the IWA, and games are typically played by four players, two mitanni, and two challengers. The former are typically fairly skilled waterball players, while the latter are generally locals who volunteer to play against them. The same net is used as in modern waterball, though the 25 synthetic rubber balls vary in toughness to make the game less predictable and more fun to watch. Mitanni waterball is always played in the nude.

The rules of all variations of waterball are fairly simple. The net is anchored into the sand, and both teams lay out their playing field. Each side is a rectangle extending one meter to each side of the net, and then back way from the net twenty normal walking strides of the tallest player on that team. The boundaries can be marked however the players like, though in official matches the boundaries are typically marked by dragging a narrow hoe through the sand.

Once the boundaries are set, the team with the shortest player gets to go first. Ties are broken with a coin toss or other method of random determination.

Each round of waterball consists of the serving team tossing the waterball underhand over the net. The objective of the receiving team is to try to catch the ball without breaking it. If the ball is caught intact, the catcher will then serve the ball back from the location in which they caught the ball. This goes back and forth until the ball bursts.

If the ball bursts in a receiving team’s playing area, be it on an attempted catch, body contact, or on hitting the sand, the serving team gets one point. If the ball bursts in the serving team’s playing area, or on contact with the net, the receiving team gets a point.

A waterball match ends when the match supply of waterballs is used up. The winner is the team with the highest score.

In official IWA matches, each win in a match between IWA recognized teams adds a point to their season roster. The top 5% of teams on each homeworld, or among roughly equivalent sets of colonial worlds, compete to represent their planet/colonial are in the next year’s Grand Tournament.

Mitanni waterball matches are played ‘for keeps’, and the finale of each is often just as entertaining as the match itself. The two members of the losing team allow their arms to be bound behind their backs, in the net itself. The winners then get to spray them with Gelitech’s Instant InflatoGummy. The resulting inflatogummies are then pulled from the net and tossed to the spectators, as much to excite as to dare another pair of players to challenge the winners. Matches typically continue until the mitanni players are all beaten, or the exhibition’s supply of 500 balls runs out.