Rules and Guidelines

BACKYARD GAME RULES For the Backyard Players

What You’ll Need

• Official Flag Flap Ball® and Flag Flap Ball® Flags. You can purchase these on shopflagflapball.com 
• A place to play such as an open field, park,  backyard, or football field. 

How to Play

• Gather 4+ of your friends & family, a Flap Ball, and some FFB Flags. Split into 2 equal teams.
• Pass the ball to your teammate(s) however you’d like! Just be safe and have fun. 
• Try to keep the ball between your team as long as you can before getting your flag pulled. You can only pull a flag from someone holding the ball. 
• Was your flag pulled? Drop the Flap Ball on the ground where the flag was pulled for the other team to pick it up.
• Now the other team gets to pass the Flap Ball and you get to try to pull their flag!
• Play as long as you'd like. The team with the most pulled flags, WINS!
• One more thing, you only get a point for pulling a flag if that player is holding the ball. 
• At the end of the game, aka when you get tired or dinner is ready, whichever team has the most points…WINS!

OFFICIAL RULES For Players Who Are Serious About Winning and Wanting a Challenge

What You’ll Need

• Official Flag Flap Ball® and Flags. You can purchase these on shopflagflapball.com 
• Team Leader, designated time keeper, and team stopwatch. 
• A place to play such as an open field, park,  backyard, or football field. 

Setting Up

• Teams must have the same number of players on the field to start.
• Field size or field boundaries are not required per the FFB rules and guidelines. 
• Teams will determine boundaries to allow location flexibility.

Speed Testing 

• Teams must be speed tested for proper team placement. If a team agrees to have slower speed players, it is allowed. However, we suggest not having faster team members playing out of their team’s speed range.
• Any player running a faster speed than when they started should be celebrated and form a new team.
• If a team chooses to play a team faster or slower in speed than them, it is their gain or loss recorded.

The Flags 

• All team players are required to have a Flag Flap Ball® official Flag during play. 
• Team players must have the flag placed on their backs for minimal physical contact. 

How to Play

The key of this game is to keep the ball within your team for the most minutes during the 60 minute game. The winner will have the most tracked minutes at the end. Let’s break it down…  

• Play in 15 minute quarters. Play 4 quarters with 3 minute breaks in between. That is a total of 60 minutes of healthy fun! 
• Team I will start with the Flap Ball. They will pass the Flap Ball between team-members, avoiding the other team from pulling their flag while holding the Flap Ball. 
• Team Leaders, or designated time keepers, will keep “score” by using a stopwatch that tracks the minutes and seconds the Flap Ball is held for their team. 
• You can pass the Flap Ball however you want! No rules here. Just be safe and have fun. 
• When a flag is pulled from the player’s back holding the Flap Ball, the player should immediately drop the Flap Ball on the ground where the flag was pulled and leave the field. Yup, they are “out”. 
• The other team will pick up the Flap Ball and will be given a 3 second head start. The Team Leaders will count down this 3 second head start. Keep it simple by saying… “3, 2, 1.” 
• When the other team possesses the Flap Ball, the time starts. Remember, the goal is to keep the ball within your team as long as you can. 
• Continue to repeat this until the game is over. 
• One more thing, when a team member is out, they are out for the remainder of that quarter. Players cannot be replaced during a 15 minute quarter, only during the 3 minute intermission.
• You can switch team members, but you can’t add. This means if you are down to 4 players and the other team has 7, run faster!
• So what happens if in the middle of the game there is 3 against 1? The 1 team member may run faster than the other 3! Keep playing until all flags are pulled from either team. 
• 1 against 1? Run away from each other until the time runs out?:) 

Scoring 

• Referees are only required when requested by teams. 
• Both teams must have a team leader, or designated time keeper, that will keep score throughout the game.
• Final game scores are agreed upon by the team leaders only.
• Games will be scored and recorded using minutes and seconds.

FAQ How to Know my Speed 

Some things to consider: 

• Teams must be speed tested for proper team placement. 
• If a team agrees to have slower speed players, it is an option. However, faster team members are recommended to only play with others in their recorded speed range. 

• Speed comes in many forms. Running, walking, rolling, riding, or skipping.  
• If you feel yourself getting faster than you had before, test yourself again and celebrate your success! 

How to find your speed:

1. Speed Testing will be conducted through a traditional 40 yard dash, or 120 feet,  in the form of approximate seconds. 
2. Ask someone to be your time keeper. Ready, set, go!
3. Collect your time in approximate seconds. Using the chart below, identify which speed range level  you are in. 
4. Find a few of your friends or family that play in your same speed range and go have some fun! 

Suggested Team Speed Grouping  

1-5 Speed Ranges 6-10 Speed Ranges 11-15+ Speed Ranges

Patent Pending