Polemic:  The sling is above all...simple.  Slinging-sports should reflect this with few rules and little gear, requiring only slingers, skill, and courage (or pain tolerance).  Games should be fast, with possibilities for multi-layered strategies and numerous adaptations for different fields, slinging-profiency and number of slingers.  Here, I am suggesting such a game.



The Field:  Sling-sport is played on a field with no side bounds, and is easily adapted to fit any traditional sports field.  Each team of slingers is assigned a base-area of equal size inside which opposing team members may enter to retrieve the "flag" but may not enter to sling.  At the beginning of each game, a "flag" (or any agreed upon object) will be placed at a location equidistant from the teams' base-areas.  There may be more than two teams.



The Goal: Be the only team with players left on the field or be the team that has carried the "flag" to the center of their base-area.



Projectiles:  Projectiles which must be of some agreed upon type must be uniform throughout the game.  Slingers may sling at any slinger that has not been struck, or yielded.  A player is out of the game when a live projectile strikes them, this includes "friendly fire".  A projectile is considered live after being slung until it hits the ground or is caught.



During Sling-sport Play...Players May:


  1. Move anywhere and sling at anything.
  2. Sling any approved projectile on the field.
  3. Carry up to three projectiles at a time.
  4. Catch live balls to prevent a strike.
  5. Out themselves by calling out "yield."
  6. Carry the "flag" anywhere on the field until struck by a live projectile.
  7. Once struck, a player must set down the "flag" if carrying it and walk away from the action.





During Slingball Play...

Players May Not:


  1. Sling inside the opposing teams base area.
  2. Carry more than three projectiles at any one time.
  3. Throw projectiles or the "flag."
  4. Carry the "flag" after being struck.
  5. Handle another slingers sling.
  6. Hit other players with their sling. (wielded as a mace)
  7. Sling anything except the approved projectiles. 
  8. Physically contact opposing team members. (no tackling, body-checking)
  9. Sling at outed or yielded players.
  10. Hide or remove the "flag" from play.

Yeah, sounds cool.  A lot like your average capture the flag paintball game but with slings.

Archery Tag has taken off quite well, but the bow is a precision weapon. And the bows are lower draw weight so it really doesn't hurt.

The hardest part will be hitting a moving man sized target.

Heck, I played Paintball on Saturday and made several long flanking runs and no one hit me because instinct is too follow, not to lead.

Shooting a marker is a lot easier than slinging too.

Concieveable, just difficult. 

This sounds like a great game as well!  Awesome!

Man, I sure would like to give this one or funda ball a try!  Gotta keep recruiting slingers..

SS, that's not all that smart.  A little exta on the throw and they will be digging a rock out of someones' skull.  And I kill rabbits and squirrels with blunt arrows, the blunts have gone all the way through.  The SCA has very strict rules for slings and arrows, if you don't want to take a chance on killing or injuring a friend, you need to check out their rules and regs and follow them.

I've played slinger vs slinger with a buddy with tennis balls,in a closed small sport field.
Huge fun,exciting, good practice at moving target,standing target.
Only if they were more slingers.

We used to play a somewhat similar game called "Balls". Yes, this is a family forum, and no, the name isn't even slightly off color - the game was centered around two connected balls.

The main centerpiece of the game was the "Balls" - two soft balls (packed cloth) tied together with about a foot of fabric between them (we tried to make a safe bola, which didn't work and used the failed bola for the "game ball")

People were armed with their choice of (soft) medieval weapons (swords, axes, flails, shields, spears...) but, alas, no missile or thown weapons.

Playing area:  Two trees, about 50-100 yards apart (any park will do).  No other restrictions.

Rules: 
(1) If you hit the enemy tree trunk with the balls (thrown or held in hand) your side wins.
(2) If you throw the balls and hit an enemy player, he dies (not easy if he has a shield).
(3) Weapons can also kill you (e.g. being hit with sword).
(2) if you "die" you have to go back to your own tree to "tag up" (Count to 10 slowly out loud while touching the tree) and be alive again.
(3) There are no more rules - anything else goes, for example you can block the thrown balls with your weapon (2-handed swords were popular for this).

Insanely fun and *incredibly* aerobic (you are either running or fighting all the time).

Mod for Slings:

You could do a sling version with a small target at each end of the field (I'd wrap two ribbons around a trunk, maybe 4 feet up in the air and maybe a foot apart - do that twice with trees about 50-100yds apart and you have a playing field)
Rules would be as follows:
1) hit the enemy target to win.
2) if you are hit you are dead and must tag up at your tree to be alive again.
3) tennis balls only.
4) head hits don't count.

Might need another rule, like "if you touch each other both are dead".  That would give the defenders an advantage and keep people apart from each other.