RULES AND POINTS OF PLAY.—Players may run forward of their first or succeeding line-up to catch the ball, but the line-up never comes forward of its first position. After a line has been forced backward, however, if the ball be caught anywhere between the last line-up and the first, the line moves forward to the new point. Should a ball roll on the ground, the point at which it stops rolling, or is stopped by the players trying to catch it, indicates the line at which they must take their stand. No ball scores a point, however, which rolls beyond the rear boundary line. When a party has been forced back to its rear boundary line, it must stand on that line thereafter, unless it should succeed in stopping the ball forward of that line, when it may move forward to the new position. No player may step over the boundary line.
SCORE.—One point is scored by the throwing party every time a ball is thrown beyond the opponents' rear boundary line. Five points constitute a game.
BOUND BALL
10 to 30 players.
Playground; gymnasium.
Tennis ball; hand ball.
This game somewhat resembles tennis, but is played over a lower dividing line, and the ball is batted with the hand instead of with a racket; it is always played from a bound, never "on the fly."
GROUND.—Boundary lines for the entire court should be outlined, measuring about fifty feet in length by twenty-five in width, though these dimensions are not invariable. The ground is then divided by a line into two equal parts. In a gymnasium balance beams may be set up for this purpose. Out of doors a board or log may be used, or the mere drawing of a line on the ground will suffice.
PLAYERS.—The players are divided into two equal parties which take their places on either side of the dividing line, scattered over their respective courts without regular formation.
OBJECT.—The game consists in batting a tennis or hand ball with the hand from one side to the other of the dividing line, after it has first bounded in one's own territory.