Draft:Flaeball

The official National Sport of the U.D.O.M is Flaeball, but baseball is the most popular sport. Flaeball is similar to baseball, a bat-and-ball game. It is played with a paper or plastic (sometimes leather) ball and a paddle or blunt bat. A player, called a tosser, throws the ball towards another player, called the clubber, who tries to hit the ball as far as possible. When the clubber hits the ball, any one of 4 other players on the field has 2 seconds to grab the ball, otherwise the team on offence is awarded a point. The offence is awarded an additional point for every 2 second interval that the defense has not yet picked up the ball. A player on defense can also catch the ball in the air. If the defense gets to the ball within 2 seconds after it hits the ground, no points are awarded, and the offence gets a "mark." 3 marks and the teams switch sides. If the clubber misses the ball when he swings at it, he gets a "take". 4 takes and it counts as a mark. If the clubber doesn't swing at all, and the ball is tossed in a place where hitting it is impossible, the clubber gets a "credit." 4 credits and the offence is awarded a point. If a clubber hits the ball over the fence of the playing field, it is called a "10-run", and the offence is awarded 10 points. A 10-run is sometimes informally called a "10-shot," "10-dinger", "10-scorer", "Longshots", or "10 buck (or glide) bills".

History

Flaeball was first played in 2018 when the U.D.O.M hosted a contest among citizens to create a game that would be used as the nation's national sport. The creator of Flaeball chose to stay unknown, so no one really knows for sure who first played it. In 2022, the Professional Flaeball League was added to the Intermediate League Sports family of sports leagues, and created teams in the United States, Canada, and, of course, the United Districts of Macawainia. In 2024, Flaeball was added to the official list of games recognized as legitimate sports by Opportunity Computing and thus got it's own Masquerade page.