Know people who love dodgeball? Invite them to play!
Dodgeball rules
The Pnock Out Pneumonia tournament is intended to provide a fun venue to fight back against the devastating effects of pneumonia. We expect that everyone will play in the good spirit that it is intended.
Below, we have outlined rules and guidelines of play. All games will have referees, and referees decisions are final.
Good Luck!
Team Eligibility:
Teams will be made up of up to 15 players, with a maximum of eight men. Ten players will compete on the court during a game. When a player is out, one of the remaining five will be allowed to join the game.
The Game
The object of the game is to eliminate all opposing players by getting them “OUT”. This may be done by:
Hitting an opposing player with a LIVE thrown ball below the shoulders.
Catching a LIVE ball thrown by your opponent before it touches the ground. A team that catches a LIVE ball thrown by the opposing team wins the right to return an out player to the game. (If 10 players are already on the court, the team automatically defaults on this right.)
Definition: LIVE: A ball that has been thrown and has not touched anything, including the floor/ground, another ball, another player, official or other item outside the playing field (wall, ceiling, etc.)
How to play the game:
Game begins by placing the dodge balls along the center line – 3 on one side of the center hash and 3 on the other.
Ten players then take a position behind their end line. Once a player is eliminated, one of the five remaining players may enter the match.
Following a signal by the official, teams may approach the centerline to retrieve the balls. This signal officially starts the contest.
Teams may only retrieve the 3 balls to their right of the center hash.
Once a ball is retrieved it must be taken behind the attack-line before it can be legally thrown.
Only 10 people from each team are allowed on the court at one time. Once all players have had the chance to play in the match, a team may redeem a life token to bring in a player who was eliminated (see more information about life tokens below), or bring a player in by catching a LIVE ball.
How to save lives:
Participants will be able to fundraise for extra LIVES for their team, which will be distributed at registration in the form of life tokens.
Life: To signify the lives we are saving with this competition, each team will be able to acquire immunity or a second ‘life’ for players to return to the game, if they are eliminated.
There are two ways in which a team can acquire extra lives for the competition:
For every extra $100 a team raises for the Pnock-Out competition, they will be granted an extra life
For every 100 signatures a team gets on their petition, they will be granted an extra life for the Pnock-Out competition
All life tokens will be provided to participants before the games begin, and participants can choose how they want to disburse them amongst their teammates. Strategize carefully. All purchases of lives must be made before the tournament begins and all distribution of life tokens must happen before a match starts. Extra lives may not be used during the final two minutes of play.
Calculations of life tokens will be made the Friday before the tournament begins. All additional fundraising after noon on the Friday before will help save children’s lives, but will not add additional lives in the tournament.
How to win the game:
The first team to legally eliminate all opposing players will be declared the winner of that contest.
The first round and the final round will be played best of three contests. The middle rounds will be single elimination.
A 10-minute time limit has been established for each contest. If neither team has been eliminated at the end of the 10 minutes, the team with the greater number of players remaining on the court will be declared the winner.
Tiebreakers:
If at the end of ten minutes, both teams have the same amount of players on the courts, the team that has the most ‘life tokens’ remaining wins the game
If both teams have the same amount of life tokens remaining, a sudden death face off occurs. Play resumes with the remaining players on the court. The first team to lose a player loses the match.
Where to play the game:
The game may be played indoors or outdoors.
The playing field shall be a rectangle at least 50 ft long and at least 30 ft wide, divided into 2 equal sections by a center-line and attack-lines 3m from, and parallel to the centerline.
During play, all players must remain within the boundary lines.
Players may leave the boundaries through their end-line only to retrieve stray balls.
They must also return through their end-line.
Other important rules of the game:
5-Second Violation:
In order to reduce stalling, a violation will be called if a team in the lead controls all 6 balls on their side of the court for more than 5 seconds.
This also applies to teams that are tied.
Rule Enforcement:
During matches, rules will be enforced primarily by the "honor system" with oversight of two referees.
Players will be expected to rule whether or not a hit was legal or whether they were legally eliminated.
All contests will be supervised by two referees who will rule on any situation in which teams cannot agree and whose decision is final – NO EXCEPTIONS
Referees:
Each team will be assigned to referee one game (that they are not playing in) per round of play. Any player on team can serve as a referee, but it is the team captain’s responsibility to ensure that there is a representative in place. Failure to referee your assigned games will lead to automatic disqualification.
**All rules are subject to change at any time at the discretion of the Best Shot Foundation.
