Six-Square
Created | Updated Feb 25, 2003
Six-Square is an energetic and highly enjoyable game played by upper and middle schoolers. Someday the range of this game will be the entire world. For now, to bring it out of anonymity, I humbly present this entry on the most beloved game, Six-Square.
Oh, one more thing. I do not claim to be extremely accurate. There are a lot of intricacies of Six-Square that I do not claim to know. That being said, let us move on.
Origins and Location
Six-Square is somewhat akin to four-square, a game that, while not unknown to the Roeper community, is known as a horrible game, the mere mention of which offends the Six-Square Gods.
As far as I have been able to find, Six-Square is only known to exist within the community that attends or has attended the Roeper School, or those who have had direct contact with a student of said school. This phenomenon is best explained by the fact that the evil game1 is well-known and well-established in the community at large, whereas Six-Square is not.
Court
The court is arranged as such. A typical court of the dreaded game is extended in any direction by adding a pair of squares on to one side of said court. The squares are then arranged as such:
_ _ _
|_|_|_|
|_|_|_|
King is positioned in the upper center square.
Fifth is next to him, on the upper-left square.
Fourth is directly below fifth, in the lower-left square.
Third is to his right, in the lower center square.
Second is positioned in the lower-right square.
First is above second, placed in the upper-right square.
Rules
The rules are myriad and generally confusing. Although they have never been codified or written down, they are widely known and are passed down from class to class, albeit sometimes with minor changes. These changes became evident to me when playing against a member of the graduating class of 1987.
Generally accepted as rules these days are the following:
- Serves must bounce in your Square and then in the square of the servee.
- Serves can go to whatever square the server wishes, as long as Rule 1 is observed. Generally, though, the serves are directed to Second or Fourth. Many players will get annoyed if you serve to other squares.
- Every time the ball bounces in your square it must then be touched by a part of your body (or clothes, but no hair) before it bounces in another person's square.
- If the ball bounces twice in your square, you are out. The only exception to this is if you are the servee. In this case you get another serve. You can only be the servee when the ball is being served.
- Carrying the ball, even for a second, is not allowed. A carry is defined as follows:
1. Holding the ball in your hand for any length of time except as the server.
2. Standing on the ball.
- Kicking the ball is allowed and encouraged (if you can control the kick.)
- Walls are always considered in, and the ball is in until it touches the ground outside of the six squares.
- "Out" in terms of where the ball lands is defined as follows:
1. The outside line of any square.
2. Anywhere outside the confines of the court, excepting walls (as these are used to ricochet off of, and the ball will never come to rest on a wall's surface, as gravity will move it to the ground.)
- Any time the ball goes out after someone has hit it but before it has bounced in someone's square, they are out. If it bounces in a square and then leaves the court, the person whose square it bounced in is out.
- If the servee puts the ball out or does not like what has happened he may ask for a "No Serve." If granted by the King, the servee is granted another serve and the first one is disregarded.
- You cannot play other people's balls. If it bounces in your square or on a line bounding your square, you can play it. Otherwise, hands off unless someone's out.
- Outside lines of the court are out. Lines inside the court, bounding the other sides of squares, are a different matter. If they are played the play continues. If they are not played, the play stops immediately and nobody gets out.
Some Tips, Tricks, and Traditions
As the ball whizzes towards you, one is apt to think "What can I do?" In this section I intend to answer that question. The first piece of advice I have for the beginner in Six-Square is DON'T PANIC!
First, if the ball is coming directly at you, you have a few choices:
Dodge in some way
Don't move.
The first is obviously the best idea, as the second causes the dragging out of an old rule known as "Points". This rule hearkens back to a time when points were given for hitting varions parts of an opposing players anatomy. (Ow!) These points are now reduced to a rule stating that if you get hit by the ball before it's bounced in your square you're out. This rule is rigorously enforced. In fact, it is common to aim for an opponent who is not paying attention during the game.
The serve being recieved, the player in second may hit the ball to First or Third. This is called a Mini-Ping. If he hits it to Fourth, it is called a Ping. If he hits it to Fifth, it is called a Gnip (hint: read it backwards.)
Hitting the ball back and forth between Second and Fourth is called a Ping-Pong. A Ping-Pong between Second and Fifth is a Gnip-Gnop (again, read it backwards.)
The Pingdeath
In the case that a dispute breaks out between two players, any other player may take the ball, put one or two fingers up on his hand, conveniently hidden behind his back, and yell "Pingdeath!" upon which the concerned parties yell out a number, either "One!" or "Two!" The person who says the correct number first starts with the ball. The caller of "Pingdeath!" drops the ball in the winner's square, and he hits it into the other player's square. The players volley the ball back and forth between their squares until one of them fails to return the ball correctly to their opponent's square. This person is the loser. They go to First (or to the end of the line if more than six are playing.)
And that is all you need to know as a beginner. I think. Enjoy, and may the Gods of Six-Square smile upon you.
This entry will be updated frequently. I hope.
1That is, four-square
