ISO Standards: Game Balls

We’d like to bring an important topic to the attention of our WLBOTT visitors: the standardization of game balls.

Image	Details
	Marble Size (metric): ~16–25 mm diameter Size (inches): ~0.63–0.98 in diameter Description: Glassy pocket-universe; excellent for games, collecting, and disappearing under furniture.
	Jacks Size (metric): ~20–30 mm diameter Size (inches): ~0.79–1.18 in diameter Description: Small rubber sphere. Exists solely to be dropped and immediately lost.
	Bingo ball Size (metric): ~38–45 mm diameter Size (inches): ~1.50–1.77 in diameter Description: Numbered omen-spheres; famously capable of summoning loud joy from quiet rooms.
	Table tennis ball (ping pong) Size (metric): 40 mm diameter Size (inches): 1.57 in diameter Description: Featherlight and bouncy; deeply vulnerable to ceiling fans and overconfident smashes.
	Golf ball Size (metric): 42.67 mm diameter Size (inches): 1.68 in diameter Description: Dimpled aerodynamic little planet; engineered for long flights and longer searches.
	Lacrosse ball Size (metric): ~63 mm diameter Size (inches): ~2.48 in diameter Description: Dense rubber comet; beloved by sticks, feared by shins.
	Tennis ball Size (metric): ~67 mm diameter Size (inches): ~2.64 in diameter Description: Fuzzy optimism sphere; equally at home in sport and in a dog’s triumphant mouth.
	Baseball Size (metric): ~73 mm diameter Size (inches): ~2.87 in diameter Description: Stitched authority; a classic projectile with nostalgia baked into the seams.
	Softball Size (metric): ~97 mm diameter Size (inches): ~3.82 in diameter Description: Bigger than baseball; still capable of rearranging a day if it arrives uninvited.
	Bocce ball Size (metric): ~107–115 mm diameter Size (inches): ~4.21–4.53 in diameter Description: Lawn-game gravitas in resin form; rolls with the calm confidence of an elder.
	Shot put Size (metric): ~110–130 mm diameter (varies) Size (inches): ~4.33–5.12 in diameter Description: Solid metal inevitability; technically a ball, practically a physics lecture.
	Volleyball Size (metric): ~210 mm diameter Size (inches): ~8.27 in diameter Description: Air-filled teamwork orb; encourages cooperation and dramatic sand poses.
	Soccer ball Size (metric): ~220 mm diameter Size (inches): ~8.66 in diameter Description: The people’s planet; universally beloved and universally second-guessed.
	Basketball Size (metric): ~240 mm diameter Size (inches): ~9.45 in diameter Description: Loud bounce, grippy skin; the court’s orange declaration of intent.
	Bowling ball Size (metric): ~216–218 mm diameter Size (inches): ~8.50–8.58 in diameter Description: Finger-holed gravity ally; rolls with purpose and occasional toe-threatening enthusiasm.
	Medicine ball Size (metric): ~350 mm diameter (varies) Size (inches): ~13.8 in diameter (varies) Description: Fitness disguised as punishment; excellent for workouts and humility.
	Pushball Size (metric): ~1,800 mm diameter Size (inches): ~70.9 in diameter Description: Colossal team-bonding sphere of doom; requires many athletes and very forgiving insurance.

Jacks / Knucklebones

Knucklebones, also known as scatter jacks, snobs, astragaloi (singular: astragalus), tali, dibs, fivestones, jacks, jackstones, or jinks, among many other names, is a game of dexterity played with a number of small objects that are thrown up, caught, and manipulated in various manners. It is ancient in origin and is found in various cultures worldwide.

The name “knucklebones” is derived from the Ancient Greek version of the game, which uses the astragalus (a bone in the ankle, or hock) of a sheep. However, different variants of the game from various cultures use other objects, including stones and metal cubes.

Wikipedia / image by Pieter Bruegel the Elder – Google Art Project, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=85928434

Pushball

Pushball is a game played by two sides on a field usually 140 yards (130 m) long and 50 yards (46 m) wide, with a ball 6 feet (1.8 m) in diameter and 50 pounds (23 kg) in weight. Occasionally, much heavier balls were used. The sides usually number eleven each, there being five forwards, two left-wings, two right-wings and two goal-keepers. The goals consist of two upright posts 18 feet (5.5 m) high and 20 feet (6.1 m) apart with a crossbar 7 feet (2.1 m) from the ground. The game lasts for two periods with an intermission. Pushing the ball under the bar counts 5 points; lifting or throwing it over the bar counts 8. A touchdown behind goal for safety counts 2 to the attacking side.

“Pushball on horseback” variations continued in Europe, and recently resurfaced as a growing equine activity in the United States, with variations including “horse soccer”, “equine soccer”, and “hoofball”. The various games provide great fun for both horse and rider, while serving as a valuable training tool that can be enjoyed by one or more horsemanship team players. The most important safety factor (aside from basic horsemanship foundation and equine communication skills) requires that the ball be at least as tall as the mount’s breastbone. Some play with a durable 48-inch-diameter (1,200 mm) cageball – a tough bladder caged inside a separate nylon cover, available from sporting goods suppliers.

A description of the rules can be found in the Spalding book Push Ball: History and Description of the Game, with the Official Playing Rules published in 1903 by Spalding’s Athletic Library.

Wikipedia

Lacrosse

Lacrosse is a contact team sport played with a lacrosse stick and a lacrosse ball. It is the oldest organized sport in North America, with its origins with the indigenous people of North America as early as the 12th century. The game was extensively modified by European colonists, reducing the violence, to create its current collegiate and professional form.

In the traditional aboriginal Canadian version, each team consisted of about 100 to 1,000 men on a field several miles/kilometers long. These games lasted from sunup to sundown for two to three days straight and were played as part of ceremonial ritual, a kind of symbolic warfare, or to give thanks to the Creator or Master.

Wikipedia

Note: I was under the impression that Lacrosse was played by the Aztecs using human skulls. Gemini corrected this wrong assumption.

No, the Aztecs did not play a sport that was mechanically similar to lacrosse (which uses a netted stick to catch and throw a ball).

The most famous Aztec sport, Ullamaliztli (often just called the Mesoamerican Ballgame), was played primarily using the hips, elbows, or knees to strike a heavy rubber ball. Using the hands or sticks was generally forbidden in the standard version of this game.

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There was no Aztec sport where a human skull was used as the actual ball in regulation play.

The game you are likely thinking of is Ullamaliztli (the Aztec ballgame), and while it didn’t use a skull as a ball, it is easy to see where the confusion comes from. The game was heavily associated with death, and skulls were visually present in the artwork and architecture surrounding the court.

Here is the reality versus the myth:

1. The Myth (The “Skull Ball” Origin)

The idea of playing with a human head comes primarily from the Popol Vuh, the creation myth of the Maya (who predated and influenced the Aztecs).

• The Story: In the myth, the “Hero Twins” travel to the underworld (Xibalba) to play the ballgame against the Lords of Death. In one dramatic scene, one of the twins is decapitated, and the Lords of the Underworld use his head as the ball.
• The Reality: This was a supernatural story, not a rulebook for human players. It would be physically impossible to play the game with a human skull; it would shatter immediately upon impact with the heavy stone courts or the players’ protective hip yokes.

2. The Symbols (Why you might have seen this image)

Aztec art frequently depicted skulls and severed heads in relation to the game to symbolize the high stakes (human sacrifice).

• Carvings: Some stone carvings show balls with skulls engraved on them, or a skull “inside” the ball. This was symbolic, representing that the ball contained the “soul” or energy of a sacrifice, or that the game was a battle between life and death.
• Tzompantli (Skull Racks): Real human skulls were present at the games, but they were on display, not in play. The Tzompantli (a massive rack displaying thousands of skulls of sacrificial victims) was often located directly next to the ballcourt.

3. The Real Ball

The actual ball used in Ullamaliztli was an engineering marvel in itself:

• Material: Solid, cured rubber (latex from the Castilla elastica tree mixed with morning glory juice).
• Weight: It weighed between 8 and 10 lbs (roughly equivalent to a bowling ball).
• Danger: Because it was so heavy and moving at high speeds, being hit in the head or stomach by the rubber ball could be lethal on its own, which is why players wore thick leather girdles and hip protectors.

Gemini

[ed. note: the word “decapitation” will get you booted off of NightCafe. Ask me how I know.]

Semi-Sequitur: Baseball’s Popularity Among the Elders

Within our WLBOTT community, there are a group of highly respected Elders who take their baseball very seriously. Just to give you an idea – they know how to calculate a pitcher’s ERA in their heads!