Morley Games

How To Play: Brindledorph

 

For quick access, click on the section below:
Equipment • Field • Description of the Game • Rules of the Game • General Positioning of the Players

 

Equipment 

1. One volleyball
2. Brooms which have the straw section cut off just below the lacing
3. Eight markers (poles) approximately four feet high, made from ends of broom handles anchored in cement molds

 

Field

The field has no boundaries. There are two goals at either end of the field, 50-75 yards apart. Each of the goals is formed from four poles set approximately 10 feet apart. (See diagram on next page)

 

Description of the Game

There are two teams of 6-8 players each. Each player holds a broom and attempts to score by hitting the volley ball through the goal. A unique aspect of the game is that scores may be made through the front or the back of the goal.

 

Rules of the Game

1. How to move the ball: the ball may be hit with the broom; the ball may not be moved in any other way.

2. Scoring: There are three (3) ways to score:

• Hit the ball through either of the openings “A” in your goal which is defended by the opposing team (a team’s offensive direction). This counts 2 points. (See diagram on next page)
•  Hit the ball through opening “B” in your goal which is defended by the opposing team (a team’s offensive direction). This counts 3 points. (See diagram below)
• Hit the ball through openings “A” or “B” from behind the goal by the team defending that goal (that teams’ offensive direction). This counts 1 point. (See diagram)

 

 

 

General Positioning of the Players

To begin the game, a coin is tossed and the winning team captain may make the choice of which teams will begin with possession of the ball or direction of attack. The team captain who loses the toss then gets the remaining choices of direction of attack or which team gets possession of the ball.

How To Play: Frazleerham

 

For quick access, click on the section below:
Equipment • Field • Description of the Game • Rules of the Game • Violations and Fouls • Substitutions • Advantages of the Game

 

Equipment

1. Two square pens (rhams) made of wood 10-12 feet in length on each side.  The top of the pen is 2 feet from the ground. (PVC pipe and elbows were used in 2006 to construct two rhams.  At least one alumnus designed a portable rham to take to college with him.)
2. Two large round buckets, about 14” tall, make up the goal within the rham held by the frazsnapper.  A round bucket is crucial for this game. (Trash cans were originally used.)
3. One soccer or volleyball.

 

Field

The field has no boundaries.  The only official dimension is the placement of the pens 60 yards apart from the back of one rham to the back of the other rham.  Any variation which suits the players, the number of players, and the conditions is encouraged. 
 

Description of the Game

Frazleerham is a fast moving field game involving running, throwing, catching and physical contact.  A unique aspect of the game is that the goalie (frazsnapper) does the scoring by catching the ball in the bucket, while inside the rham.  The rest of the team distributes themselves around the field to their own best advantage.

1. Players: There are two teams of 8-11 players.  Each team has a player, known as the frazsnapper, positioned inside the rham at the opposite end of the field with the round bucket.
2. To begin the game: T A coin toss is used to select receiving the ball first or which side of the field to defend.  The captain of the team winning the coin toss chooses possession of the ball or defense of one end of the field.  The captain of the team losing the coin toss selects the remaining choice, i.e. direction of the attack or which team gets possession of the ball.  (Tradition dictates that the captain winning the toss first be given the choice of the coin or a surprise.  It is important that the surprise be more enticing than the coin.  The losing captain then gets what is left over.  The surprise is frequently something the entire team can share.  You are encouraged to think of surprising surprises.
3. The game is started by the frazsnapper of the team with possession of the ball, punting from within the rham towards his/her own players at the opposite end of the field.
4. Initial positioning of the players:  Each team positions itself behind an imaginary line running through the front of the rham they are defending (the rham containing the frazsnapper of the opposing team).
5. The game ends at an agreed upon time (usually 8 minute quarters, running time, excluding stoppage time for injuries and referee explanations).

 

Rules of the Game

Scoring

Each score is worth one point.  There are two ways of scoring:

1. 1.    Receive the ball by catching it and then bouncing it off of the ground from outside the rham over the railing of the rham and having your frazsnapper catch it in the bucket.  This is known to connoisseurs of the game as the Direct Indirect Method.
2. 2.    Receive the ball by catching it and then bouncing it off some part of your own body from outside of the rham, from the knee up or from the elbow up, over the railing and into the bucket held by your frazsnapper.  Similarly, this is known as the Indirect Direct Method.

Moving The Ball

1. The ball may be passed or punted.  
2. A player may not run while in possession of the ball, nor may a player dribble by hand or by foot down the field.  Two to three steps are allowed to halt forward momentum if receiving the ball while running.  
3. Most teams divide  themselves among defenders, mid-fielders and attackers with liberal overlapping.
4. Time outs: No time outs are permitted to be taken by players.  Referees may call time outs for injuries or for rules explanation.

Defense

1. A defender may tackle the ball at anytime.  
2. Physical contact is allowable, if in the referee’s judgment, the contact is clearly part of the tackling of the ball.  
3. A defensive player may not tie up the offensive player.  Any defensive player wrapping both arms around an offensive player from behind is considered to be tying up the player.  Defense of a player must be from the front, not from behind the offensive player or from the side.

Rules for the Frazsnapper

1.  Frazsnapper may not play the ball with his/her hands at any time. 
2. Frazsnapper involves self in offense by catching passes in the bucket or by passing out of the bucket to a teammate.
3. Frazsnapper may scoop up a loose ball inside the rham.
4. Frazsnapper may use his/her feet on a loose ball inside the rham either to scoop up the ball or to kick the ball outside the rham.
5. Frazsnapper may leave the bucket inside the rham in order to join the offense.  No one else may become the frazsnapper during that time.
6. Frazsnapper may use outside of bucket to deflect the ball.
7. After a score the Frazsnapper promptly gets the ball to the referee, who punts or throws the ball, with the objective of having the ball land as close to midfield as possible.  The ball is now in play.
8. A score is made when the Frazsnapper catches a “shot”, as defined above, while s/he is standing in the rham.  The ball may be outside the rham when caught, but it must have passed over one side of the rham before being caught.

 

Violations and Fouls

Violations (1-9) and fouls (10-12)

1. Moving the ball in any manner other than throwing or punting.
2. Unnecessary roughness, i.e. a player has fouled another player rather than playing the ball.
3. A tie-up between two opposing players results in the ball being thrown up in the air and becoming a free ball.  Move 15 yards further out from the rham if in the proximity of the rham.
4. Delay of game violations or moving the ball further and further away from the normal playing area may result in the ball being awarded to the other team.
5. Field players breaking the vertical plane of the rham, preventing offensive players from passing or shooting, or impeding defensive players from blocking a shot or pass also are violations.  Reaching under the rham with one arm up to the shoulder is permitted though.
6. Warding off another player while in pursuit of a loose ball with one’s body or arms is not permitted.
7. Passing to yourself.
8. Dangerous punting, i.e. while someone is reaching for the ball or at another player.
9. Restricting the movement or motion of another player by encircling them with one’s arms or legs.
10. Individual repeatedly committing egregious fouls or deliberately being rough.
11.  If in the vicinity of the rham a possible scoring situation is interrupted by a violation, a foul may be called.
12. Showing bad sportsmanship towards an opposing player or a fellow teammate.  This includes, but is not limited to, cursing and abusive language.

Penalties for violations and fouls

1.    At the point of the violation or after 15 yards have been marked off due to proximity of rham, the ball is given by the referee to a member of the non-offending team to be put back into play by throwing or punting it.  The player restarting play may not be guarded.

2.    For fouls a foul shot may be awarded.  The referee walks off five long strides from the front edge of the non-offending team’s rham.  A shot is then attempted by bouncing the ball off of one’s thigh.  No player may stand in the lane created between the shot taker and the front of the rham.  If the shot is missed, no one may go after the ball until the referee blows the whistle once.

 

Substitutions    

Free substitutions are permitted at anytime during play.

 

Advantages of the Game

1. Elaborate equipment is not required.
2. Flexible number of players needed to play the game.
3. The game can be played on fields of varying sizes.
4. The skills involved are gross motor skills and as a result the game can be successfully played by people of varying ages and skill levels.
5. The game can be co-ed even though it may not sound like it.
6. The game can be played in almost any weather, including snow, because of the lack of the need for boundaries.  Furthermore, it is a good outdoor winter sport.

How To Play: Friedlefrappe

 

For quick access, click on the section below:
Equipment • Field • Description of the Game • Rules of the Game • Penalties • Advantages of the Game

 

Equipment

1. Two brooms
2. Two long-handled crab nets
3. One red rubber playground ball six inches in diameter
4. Two towers six feet high
5. Two rhams

Field

The rhams are placed side by side, touching, with a tower exactly in the center of each.  There is a chalk line oval drawn on the ground around the rhams, as a scoring boundary. Otherwise, there are no boundaries. (See diagram below)

 

Description of the Game

There are two teams of six players each. (Eight can be used. Six makes it official.)  Inside each rham, there is a Friedlfrapper holding a broom. There is a Friedlsnatcher from the opposite team standing in the tower, holding a crab net. The four other players try to score by throwing the ball into their own snatcher’s net, and prevent the opposite team from doing so.

Initial position of the players: the eight running players must remain outside the rhams. The two Friedlsnatchers are in their towers, and the two Friedlfrappers stand within the rham of the opponent’s snatcher.

To begin the game a coin is tossed by the referee with one of the captains calling, and the winner may choose whether or not to start with the possession of the ball. 

The game begins when the starting team’s frapper throws the ball to one of the runners.

There are four eight-minute quarters running time (except for injuries, referee warnings or explanations).

 

Rules of the Game

 

Scoring

Each team scores when its Friedlsnatcher catches the ball in its own crab net, except when violations occur on the scoring play.  The ball must be thrown from the player’s hand to the crab net without touching the ground.  However, the ball may bounce from the rham, or the tower, or another player, or a broom, but not the ground.  No score is made, therefore, when the snatcher scoops a ball from the ground.  (See snatcher, rule 3)

If the ball is thrown to the net from inside the chalkline, one point is scored; if thrown from outside the line, two points are scored.

If the ball is hit by your frapper’s broom into your net, five points are scored.

 

Moving the ball

Players move the ball by:

1. Running with the ball in one hand (except across the chalk line).
2. Passing the ball (players may catch the ball with both hands). 
3. In order to move the ball across the chalk line, it must be passed.

Defense

The ball may be grabbed at any time.  Players must play the ball and not the person.  Teams usually play player-to-player defense, with the four runners all playing defense or all playing offense, depending on who has the ball.  Some teams prefer zone defense, dividing the oval field into quadrants.

Rules for the Frapper

1. Except for the 5-point score play, the frapper plays a wholly defensive position.
2. The frapper’s objective is to deflect a ball (with the broom) from going into the opposite team’s net, which is of course held in the tower directly above said frapper.
3. The frapper, who must always stay inside the rham, may reach out of the rham with the broom to hit or move the ball into the rham, into the air, or to another player, provided such play is not considered dangerous.
4. The frapper may touch the ball only with the broom, with one exception: after scoring, the frapper receives the ball, handed by the snatcher.  The ball is put back into action in the same manner as the initial play.
5. The frapper and snatcher may not use their net and broom dangerously.

Rules for the Snatcher

1. The snatcher may touch the ball only with the net except after a score is made, at which time, he/she immediately takes the ball out of the net and promptly hands it down to the opposite team’s frapper. (See rule #4 for frappers)
2. The snatcher may interfere with the frapper’s attempt to get a ball on the ground inside the rham by reaching down with the net to scoop up the ball or to push it out to a player.
3. If the snatcher scoops the ball from the ground into the net, this is not a score, and the ball must be flipped directly from the net, and can’t be touched in any other way by the snatcher.
4. The snatcher must have one foot on the platform at all times.
5. The frapper and snatcher may not use their net and broom dangerously.

Rules for the Runners

1. Players may not run with two hands on the ball.
2. Players may not kick the ball, dribble with hands or feet, or pass to themselves.
3. Players may not run across the chalk line while holding the ball.
4. After a score is made, the ball must be in the possession of a player on the outside of the chalk line before another score is made.
5. Players may not attack other players directly, or prevent a player’s movement except by grabbing the ball.
6. Players may not hold the ball against their bodies.

 

Penalties

The referee blows the whistle to stop the play, and awards the ball to a player of the opposite team at approximately the locations where the violation occurred.  The chosen player must stand and pass the ball.  He/she can’t be guarded, and may not attempt to score.
Chalk line rules

1. Players may not run over the chalk line with the ball. 
2. The ball must be passed over the chalk line.
3. Players may not stand on the chalk line.

 

Advantages

1. Elaborate equipment is not required.
2. Flexible number of players needed to play the game.
3. The game can be played on fields of varying sizes.
4. The skills involved are gross motor skills and as a result the game can be successfully played by people of varying ages and skill levels.
5. The game can be co-ed even though it may not sound like it.
6. The game can be played in almost any weather, including snow, because of the lack of the need for boundaries.  Furthermore, it is a good outdoor winter sport.

How To Play: Hoop-A-Doop

For quick access, click on the section below:
Equipment • Field  • Description of the Game •  Rules of the Game • Violations

 

Equipment

1. At least 30 thin used bicycle tires called hoops
2. Four doops: tall vertical poles seven feet high, set in cement inside of car tires (see photo)
3. Four gates: 2x2’s (see photo)
4. One handkerchief (flag) per player

 

Field

The field contains five marked circles and no outside boundaries.  The center circle is 15 feet in diameter. The four doops are arranged with one at each corner of an unmarked square 50 feet apart, but can be adjusted for the age group.  The gates are placed about 3-4 feet in front of the doops diagonally inside the square.

Description of the Game

There are two teams of six.  Each person begins the game with a handkerchief hanging out of his/her back pocket as in flag football.  Scoring is done by throwing a hoop (bicycle tire) over one of the doops while retaining the handkerchief.  Each team has two doops at opposite corners, and any hoops on those doops add to that team’s score.  The game is composed of four ten-minute quarters.

 

Rules of the Game

1.  To begin the game, a coin is tossed by the referee with one of the captains calling, and the winner chooses whether or not to start with possession of the first hoop.  The game begins when the team with possession passes the hoop.

2. The initial position of the players: the player with possession of the first hoop stands inside the circle.  The other players are outside the circle.
3. Players attempt to throw the hoop over their doops while retaining their handkerchiefs.  Scoring is cumulative, e.g., the first hoop on a doop equals one point; the second hoop on the same doop equals two points, etc.  The hoops remain on the doops until the end of each quarter, at which point they are removed.  After each score, the referee gives a new hoop to an opposite team member within the circle.
4.  Players move the hoop by running with the hoop in hand or passing it to another player.  Players may hold the hoop with one or two hands.
5. Defense: the main goal of defense is to pull the handkerchief out of the pocket of an opposite team player holding the hoop.  As the defensive player succeeds in getting the handkerchief, he/she yells, “FLAG” and drops the handkerchief.  The player whose handkerchief has been pulled must immediately drop the hoop and replace the handkerchief in his/her back pocket.  Anyone may grab the hoop off the ground then.  Players also may try to grab the hoop from someone’s hand.  In the event that players of opposing teams are holding on to the hoops, they may continue to do so until one person grabs the hoop, or the flag of one of the two players is pulled.
6. The gates serve as inanimate defensive objects since they prevent players from running directly at their doops.
7. Teams usually do not divide into offensive and defensive players.  When a team has the hoop, they all are offensive, and when the opposite team has the hoop, the first team is defensive.

 

Violations

1. Players must yell “FLAG” when they pull a flag or the play does not count
2. Players may not yell “FLAG” if they don’t pull a flag.
3. A player must not continue to hold onto the hoop after her/his flag is pulled
4. Knocking down a gate is a violation
5. Unnecessary roughness is a violation

How To Play: Nurdley Bawl

 

For quick access, click on the section below:
Equipment • Field  • Description of the Game • Advantages

 

Equipment

• Nurdle (an adjustable batting tee about 3 feet high)
• Nurdle bat (a little league hardball bat sawed off 17 ½ inches from and including the knob)
• Ball (hard sponge ball about the size of a hardball)

 

Field

The field is similar to a softball field except the angle at home plate is 40 degrees.  The 2 bases are approximately 60 feet down each foul line from the nurdle.  (See diagram, page 35.)  The bunt line as shown in the diagram is drawn from a point 40 feet from the nurdle down one foul line to 40 feet from the nurdle down the other foul line.

 

Description of the Game

Regular baseball (hardball) rules apply with the following exceptions:

1. Each team has four members, usually first base, third base, short field, and long field.
2. There is not a pitcher or catcher.
3. There is no second base.
4. The ball is put in play by being hit from the nurdle by the batter.  No batter may put the ball in play until the fielders indicate they are ready.
5. Each batter has only one swing per turn; therefore one strike puts a batter out.  If the ball is hit, baseball rules apply, with two exceptions: 

• Any foul ball is out.
•  A fair ball which does not go beyond the bunt line is out.  However, a fielder may play the ball inside the bunt line, in which case the ball is in play.  As with any caught fly ball, a runner may tag and advance after a foul fly is caught.  (Smart players, therefore, do not catch foul balls.  Even smarter players help the fielder to know whether the ball will fall fair or foul.)
• No stealing of bases is allowed.  Runners must be on base when the ball is hit.
• The game is played in 10 innings. (That’s what makes it nurdley!)
• Substitutions: Free substitutions so long as no player is at bat more than he/she is in the field and vice versa.  

 

Advantages of the Game

1. The field takes less space than a regular softball field, and can be set up anywhere the grass is mown, e.g., large yards.
2. Because there is no pitcher and only one strike, the game is speeded up, and everyone is more involved.
3. It can be played with only eight total players, e.g., a neighborhood gang.
4. A team’s success depends on each person’s skill more than on the pivotal position of pitcher.

 

 

How To Play: Rondoturf

For quick access, click on the section below:
Equipment • Field  • Description of the Game • Scoring

 

Equipment

1.    Five croquet wickets
2.    A post
3.    Three stakes arranged in a triangle at each wicket
4.    One basketball
5.    One softball

 

Field

The Rondoturf green consists of a circle about ten feet in diameter and a concentric circle of five wickets and a post.  At each wicket three stakes are arranged in a triangle.

 

Description of the game

Rondoturf is a distant, circular relative of croquet. The wickets and the circle are manned by the six-person teams.  The players in the circle attempt to deflect with a basketball the softball which is bowled by the players at the wickets.  If the softball is deflected, a point is scored, the teams rotate, and the softball changes hands.  If the ball goes through a wicket, the team in possession of the ball continues in the same direction, as they may also do if the center stake is struck by the softball.  Hitting this stake enables that team to take a shot at the post; such a hit is worth two points from one wicket away, four from two wickets away, and six from the farthest wicket.  

 

Scoring

1.    If the softball is deflected a point is scored.
2.    Hitting the post is worth two points from one wicket away, four from two wickets away, and six from the farthest wicket.