Campus Recreation

Intramural Dodgeball

Rules

Players
Teams will consist of 6 players. Substitutions may only be made in the case of injury. All players must wear athletic shoes to be eligible to participate.

Field and Equipment
The playing area shall be a rectangular surface 60’ x 30’. The playing area shall be marked with sidelines, end lines, attack lines and a center hash mark. There shall be at least 3 feet of unobstructed space outside of boundaries.

Forfeits
Teams not ready to play at the scheduled location five minutes past the scheduled game time shall automatically forfeit that contest. All teams must be signed in and ready to play at game time or they receive a forfeit. Four players are the minimum required to avoid a forfeit. In order to claim a forfeit, a team must have the correct number of players present and ready to play. If neither team is able to field a team, a double forfeit will be declared. All forfeits will be considered a played game. If a team forfeits two games during regular season play, the team will be dropped from the league. Any team unable to attend a scheduled contest should notify the Student Coordinator at least one (1) working day prior to the scheduled game to prevent a forfeit. Any player that arrives to a scheduled game after the game has started must go to jail and may only enter the game if a teammate releases the player from jail.

Boundaries
All players must remain in boundary lines unless going to retrieve a ball. Teams may only retrieve balls that go out of bounds on their own side of the court. When retrieving a ball, players must pass through the end line and immediately re-enter the playing area through the end line. A player not immediately re-entering the playing area will be declared out. A player may be handed a ball, provided the player receiving the ball remains completely within their team’s field boundaries. A player may not enter or exit the court through the sidelines at any time, including to avoid being hit or attempting to catch a ball. Players must not have any part of their body cross the center line and contact ground on the opponents’ side of the court.

Beginning the Game
Matches will begin with a coin flip and winning team will have a choice of sides to begin the match. Teams will alternate sides after each match. Four balls are placed on the center line, two on each side of the hash mark. Players take a position behind their end line. Following a signal by the official, teams may approach the center lines to retrieve the balls. Teams may only retrieve balls placed to the right (as they face the center line) of the hash mark. If balls remain on the center line after a team has retrieved and moved their balls beyond the attack line, those balls may be retrieved by either team. Once a ball is retrieved at the opening rush, it must be taken beyond the attack line before it may be legally thrown at an opponent.

The Game
The object of the game is to eliminate all opposing players by hitting an opposing player with a ball thrown below the shoulders or by catching a ball thrown by the opponent before it hits the ground. When throwing a ball at the other team, a player may not (1) hit a player in the head with a ball or (2) step over the division line. A violation of these rules results in the player going to jail, and the player struck by the ball remains in the game. However, if a player purposely dives in front of a ball or ducks and is hit in the head, that player will be sent to jail. A player may block a thrown ball with a ball being held, however a ball deflecting off a held ball remains live until it hits the ground. It is illegal for any team to have possession of all balls for more than 10 seconds. The penalty a 10 sec. violations is stoppage of play and the balls divided evenly between the teams.

Declaring a Winner
The first team to eliminate all opposing players will be declared the winner. If neither team is eliminated at the end of regulation, the team with the greater number of remaining players will be declared the winner. If there are an equal number of players on each team, the game will go to an overtime period. In all overtime periods, the first team to legally eliminate any opponent will be declared the winner.

Jail
A person struck by a legally thrown ball must go to jail. Jail is located along the sideline of each team’s half of the court. All players in jail must remain seated on the bench at all times. If a ball rolls into the jail area, a player in jail may throw it to a teammate on the court. Players are released from jail when a teammate catches a legally thrown ball before it hits the ground. Catching a ball while in jail does not release a player from jail. Players must re-enter the court from the backline in the order in which they were sent to jail. The last player of a team remaining in the game may release their entire team from jail if a basket is made in one of the opponent’s three basketball hoops.

Timing, Time-outs
A five minute time limit has been established for each game. Each team will be allowed one 30 second time out per game. All players are in jeopardy until the Court Official recognizes and signals a time out or end of regulation time. All live balls in flight at time of official’s signal (to end regulation time or begin a time out) remain live, and may eliminate an opponent.

Overtime
If an equal number of players remain after regulation play, a 2 min. sudden death over time period will be played. All overtime periods will begin with an equal number of “balls in hand” behind a teams end line. The first team to eliminate an opposing player will be declared the winner. No time outs allowed during over time. At the end of each overtime period, if no players have been eliminated, an additional player from each team (max of 6) will be placed back into play.

Officials
Rules will be enforced primarily by the honor system. The official will rule on any situation in which teams cannot agree. THE OFFICIAL’S DECISION IS FINAL.

PDF version of the Dodgeball Rules.

For any questions, please call or email Campus Recreation (310) 506-4490.