The sport takes place in a field/arena with a goal on each end. The size/shape/construction of the field and the goals don't really matter too much, but I envision something like and indoor football(soccer) court. Number of players would vary with field size, but I think a bare minimum of 6 on each side is necessary, 10-15 being more optimal. Things should be a bit crowded, but other than that it's the scoring system that makes most of this game, not the technical details.
2 teams, 2 goals, 1 goal for each team. The game is played with 4 balls.
Players may touch the balls with any part of their bodies, but may not move while touching the ball with any part of their body above the waist, and may not touch the ball above the waist, stop touching it, and then touch it above the waist again, unless another player has touched it in the intervening time. Basically, players may kick the ball around without limit, as per football(soccer), and may catch and throw the ball, but may not hold the ball and run with it or "dribble" it like a basketball. Deliberate physical contact between players is prohibited. These are the basic ball-handling rules for "Speedball", if you've ever played it.
The 4 balls are each one of 4 colors: Red, Green, Blue, and Black. They are basically the size and wieght of a volleyball, big enough to kick but small enough to throw. The objective of the game is to pass the Red, Green and Blue balls through your goal, whilst preventing the Black ball from passing through it (and therefore, attempting to pass the Black ball through your opponent's goal).
Scoring works as follows: each color of ball scores independently. So, Red balls are worth Red points, Green balls are worth Green points, and so on. Red, Green and Blue points are multiplied together to give total score. So, 1 Red, 2 Green, and 3 Blue would be worth (1*2*3) = 6 points. 2 Red, 2 Green, and 2 Blue would be worth (2*2*2) = 8 points. Obviously, scoring similar numbers of goals with each color of ball is better than scoring most goals with only one color. At least one goal must be scored with each color to have any points at all.
The Black ball is special. Each time it passes through your goal, you LOSE one point from your total score. So, 2 Red, 2 Green, 2 Blue, and 1 Black would be worth (2*2*2)-1 = 7 points. Essentially, the Black ball is being played backwards from the other balls--your goal must be defended against it.
The principal behind scoring is as though you are trying to create white light. By mixing Red, Green, and Blue light, you get white, and the more "white" your score is, the better you are doing. Black, being the absence of light, decreases your score by making it "darker".-- 5th Earth, Apr 23 2006 In play I imagine it would be a lot simpler. Get the colored balls through your goal, Get the black ball through their goal. Don't run while holding the ball. Kick it and run all you want.-- 5th Earth, Apr 24 2006 Can also have one ball that's cube shaped, just to add variety.-- phundug, Apr 24 2006 bun, though I'm worried about rule enforcement. All other sports have a way for the referee to remove the ball (puck, disc, etc.) from play while announcing the infraction. But in this game, if someone's off-side or fouled, does play continue with the other three balls while the penalty is applied to the fouled ball? Or does all action stop? (Who's deemed to have possession of the other balls when the action stops?)-- phundug, Apr 24 2006 I imagine a system of penalties could be worked out that wouldn't require the stopping of the game. The simplest solution would be to simply take a player out of the game for a duration corresponding to the severity of the infraction, like ice hockey. Having one less player could be a notable disadvantage.
Scenario: While play is ongoing, referee blows his whistle and calls out a player number. That player must stop what they are doing at once--if in possession of a ball, they place it on the ground to be retrieved by a member of the opposite team--and report to the ref to see what they did, without deliberately interfering with any other players. The referee makes them sit out of play for, say, 2 minutes, and then they reenter play. Failure to respond to a penalty call could result in progressively stronger penalties, like loss of points or forfeiture of the game.
There wouldn't be too many penalties--the basic ways of rulebreaking are violating the ball handling rules, or fouling--offsides just wouldn't work in this game, so players are free to roam, and if the arena is walled, out-of-bounds is impossible. A "shot clock" might be necessary to prevent stalling play by holding onto the ball without moving.
Incidentally, I imagine that whenever a goal is scored, a referee will retrive the ball and throw it to the center of the field, without stopping play. If the impartiality of the ref is questioned, use an aimed catapult. :)-- 5th Earth, Apr 25 2006 What about one ball that *changes* color every 30 seconds, and the rule of the game changes accordingly?-- phundug, Apr 26 2006 [Phlish], read more carefully. Second paragraph, I specify two goals, same as nearly every sport in the world.
I never said anything about "neighborhood children". By your argument, any sport is a gimick to sell something to children, be it bats, balls, or anything else. Did you have a deprived childhood? Anyway, If you want money-making schemes, this site has plenty of them explicitly stated as such. I'm just having fun.
Black ball gets a bad rap for the reasons laid out in the final paragraph. I'm not sure why you are complaining about it--what's this about black balls "always" getting a bad rap? I only know one other game off the top of my head that uses black balls--bowling--and black balls are supposed to be good in that game. Anyway, if you like, change the balls to cyan, magenta, yellow, and white, and use subtractive color theory instead.
[Phundug], you could, but part of the point of the game as I envisioned it is the mayhem caused by 4 balls in play at the same time, not all going in the same direction.-- 5th Earth, Apr 27 2006 I bun it just in hope to se4e a game actually played some day. Then it would all be clear to me.-- Altoidain, Oct 09 2014 With the scoring system as described, in even a mid-scoring game (with all of red,green,blue greater than or equal to 2) the black ball goals would be almost irrelevant. It would be better to subtract points from the colour components before multiplication. Perhaps subtract one third of a point from each? You might also want to clamp negative component scores to zero.-- Loris, Oct 09 2014 random, halfbakery