Roofball

Roofball is a sport where players from two teams line up and attempt to score points by throwing or punting a ball at a wall. The sport was created in 1910, with the first game being played in The United States of Quentin, in the city of Jameisville. The sport is widely popular, especially in the USQ, but also other countries such as The Protectorates of Allia, Bymaria, Carkhia, The United Villages of Southia, and many more. The two most popular leagues in Venturia are The Quentinian Roofball Organization and The Former Allian League.

Rules

An excerpt from the official QRO Official Rulebook: "Roofball is generally played in an arena, with a rectangular court, around 70 feet wide, and 70 feet in length, facing a wall, that is 20 feet high, with a small slanted section at the top. There are two teams of 11 players. The game begins with the opening tussle, which takes place over to the side of the court, with a small turf area. The tussling referee will line up the End Tussler, ET, from each team, facing each other. He will then toss up the ball in to the air, and the two players will tussle for the ball, with general violence illegal, such as biting, kicking, punching, or ripping. The player that possesses the ball first wins the ball for their team at the beginning of the game. So, the 11 players on both sides come out to the court, and the team that won the ball gets to be on offense first. The two teams will line up, spreading out across the court any way they want, and the Starterman, SM, will start the possession by lining up behind the line of offense, and, when the referee says, starting to run. They may run anywhere on the court, and may possess the ball for 17 seconds, no more. At one point, they must either overhand throw the ball or punt it towards the wall, and try to have it bounce off the wall, into one of their players hands. If the ball is punted by the SM, and hits the main section of the wall, then it is 20 points if any offensive player catches it directly off the wall, without it bouncing. If it is thrown overhand at the wall, and an offensive player catches it, then it is 10 points for them. If the ball is punted or thrown at the upper, slanted section of the wall, and bounces off into an offensive player's hands, then it is double the usual points for that team. If the ball bounces after it hits the wall, the point total is halved every bounce, until a player picks it up or the total reaches 0, or it bounces out of play. The SM cannot touch the ball after he has thrown/punted it towards the wall, only other offensive players. If the ball goes out of bounds at any point, it is dead, and the other team gets possession. The same thing happens after someone catches it, and points are awarded. The defensive players are not allowed to interfere with the ball while the SM is running towards the wall, or restrict the SM in any way until the ball has touched the wall. After that, however, they may swat, interfere with, or even catch the ball for points as they please. If this happens, and they catch the ball, they are awarded the same amount of points as said previous, and the ball is given to the other team for their possession. The game will go on for 10 dime periods of 9 minutes each. After the 5th dime period, there will be a halftime, and a rest for players for 15 minutes. Then play will resume with the team that won the opening tussle receiving the ball for possession. After all 90 minutes and 10 dime periods are up, the team with the most points at the time wins."

The stadium for Roofball is designed around the court. Usually it is a rectangular, but sometimes circular, building, very large in size. The court is at the bottom, with the wall usually on one side of the stadium. Since the wall is where the action takes place, that side of the stadium looking down over it does not have stands. Instead, there may be a variation of TV screens, scoreboards, or the team store. There is one section here, though, which is right on the top section of the wall. While it is the worst seats, it is usually and honorary row, with VIPs and the announcers. This section is indoors too. On the other side, and on the other 2 sides of the rectangle are stands, that go up and out with each row. Behind the court and the tussling area there is a bench area for each team, which leads down to locker rooms. On the outside ring of the stadium there are concessions, stores, and restaurants facing down on the field. There is always a large parking lot as well outside the stadium. There are some stadiums indoor, but many are outdoor, especially newer ones that want to preserve tradition.