Ball game

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The ball game snooker in progress. Red ball about to be potted.

A ball game is a game played with a ball. Someone who plays a ball game is known as a ballplayer.

There are many popular games or sports involving some type of ball or similar object. These games can be grouped by the general objective of the game, sometimes indicating a common origin either of a game itself or of its basic idea:

• Bat-and-ball games, such as baseball, table tennis and cricket.
• Racquet and ball games, such as tennis, squash and racquetball.
• Hand and ball-striking games, such as various handball codes, rebound handball and 4 square.
• Two-goal games, such as basketball and all forms of football, hockey or lacrosse.
• Volleying games, such as volleyball and beach volleyball.
• "Target" games, such as bowling and lotball.
• The original "Ball Game", whose objective is to keep the ball constantly moving but not allowing it to bounce twice upon the ground without being struck between bounces.
• And so on.

Popular ball games from around the world include:

• Baseball (in North America, a game of baseball is often referred to as a "ballgame")
• Basketball
• Basque pilota
• Jai alai
• Bocce
• Boules
• Bowling
• Bowls
• Canoe polo
• Carpetball
• Cricket (see cricket ball)
• Croquet
• Cue sports (also knowns as billiards, including carom billiards, English billiards, pocket billiards or pool, and snooker, among many other variations)
• Dodgeball
• Downball
• Floorball
• Footbag
• Football:
  • Association football (soccer)
  • Gridiron football
    • American football
    • Canadian football
  • International rules football
    • Australian rules football
    • Gaelic football
  • Rugby football
    • Rugby league
    • Rugby union
• Football tennis
• Four square
• Golf (see golf ball)
• Half-rubber
• Handball:
  • American handball
  • Australian handball
  • Gaelic Handball
  • Team handball
• Hockey:
  • Field hockey
  • Floorball
  • Ice hockey
  • Rink hockey
• Hooverball
• Hurling
• Juggling
• Kick-to-kick (includes end-to-end footy)
• Lacrosse
• Lotball
• The Mesoamerican ballgame
• Netball
• Newcomb ball
• PaddleBall
• Paintball
• Pelota mixteca
• Pétanque
• Polo
• Quidditch (fictional game from Harry Potter)
• Racquetball
• Rapid ball
• Rounders
• Sepak takraw
• Shinty
• Skee ball
• Softball
• Squash
• Stickball
• Stickball (Native American)
• Streetball
• Table football (foosball)
• Tchoukball
• Tee ball
• Tetherball
• Tennis
• Tennis polo/toccer
• Ulama
• Valencian pilota
  • Escala i corda
  • Llargues
  • Raspall
  • Valencian fronto
• Volleyball
• Water basketball
• Water polo
• Wiffleball
• Wireball