The tournament has double elimination.

THE TEAM

Teams will be made up of 6-10 players. Six (6) players will compete on a side; others will be available as substitutes. Substitutes may enter the game only during timeouts or in the case of injury.

THE GAME

The object of the game is to eliminate all opposing players by getting them "OUT". This may be done by:

1. Hitting an opposing player with a LIVE thrown ball below the shoulders.

2. Hitting an opponent in the head is an automatic out for the thrower.

2. Catching a LIVE ball thrown by your opponent before it touches the ground.

Definition: LIVE: A ball that has been thrown and has not touched anything, including the floor/ground, another ball, another player, official or other item outside of the playing field (wall, ceiling, etc)

BOUNDARIES

During play, all players must remain within the boundary lines. Players may leave the boundaries through their end-line only to retrieve stray balls. They must also return through their end-line.

THE OPENING RUSH

Game begins by placing the dodgeballs along the center line – three (3) on one side of the center hash and three (3) on the other. Players then take a position behind their end line. Following a signal by the official, teams may approach the centerline to retrieve 3 balls per each team. This signal officially starts the contest. Once a ball is retrieved it must be taken behind the attack-line before it can be legally thrown.

WINNING A GAME

Each game has 3 matches at 10 minutes each. The first team to legally eliminate all opposing players will be declared the winner of the match or the team with the most players actively playing on the court after a 10 minute period of time. In the case of an equal number of players remaining after regulation, a 1-minute sudden-death overtime period will be played. The team winning 2 of the 3 matches wins the game.

TIME-OUTS & SUBSTITUTIONS

Each team will be allowed one (1) 30 second timeout per game. At this time a team may substitute players into the game.

5-SECOND VIOLATION

In order to reduce stalling, a violation will be called if a team in the lead controls all six (6) balls on their side of the court for more than 5 seconds.

RULE ENFORCEMENT

During pool play or regular-season matches, rules will be enforced primarily by the "honor system"*. Players will be expected to rule whether or not a hit was legal or whether they were legally eliminated. All contests will be supervised by a court monitor*. The court monitor’s responsibility will be to rule on any situation in which teams cannot agree. THE COURT MONITOR’S DECISION IS FINAL – NO EXCEPTIONS.

*NOTE: During tournament play, All Semi-Final and Final Round matches will be officiated by no less than three 2 Officials. These officials will rule on all legal hits, out-of-bounds and 5-second violations.