Ball
A ball is a round object that is used most often in sports and games. Balls are usually hollow and spherical but can be other shapes, such as ovoid (only in a few special cases) or solid (as in billiards). In most games using balls, the play of the game follows the state of the ball as it is hit, kicked, or thrown by players. Balls are often used in ball dropping functions such as in the famous Times Square New Year's Eve ceremony.
Balls were used in ancient times by the early Egyptians, the ancient Greeks and Romans, and the Aztecs and earlier Mesoamerican peoples.
Popular ball games
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 cricket and baseball.
- Two-goal games, such as basketball and most forms of football and hockey.
- Volleying games, such as volleyball and tennis.
- "Target" games, such as bowling
- and so on
Popular ball games around the world include:
- Baseball
- Basketball
- Billiards (including snooker, eight ball and pool variations)
- Blitzball (fictional game)
- Bocce
- Boules
- Bowling
- Bowls
- Calvinball (see Calvin and Hobbes)
- Canoe polo
- Cricket (see cricket ball)
- Crockey
- Croquet
- Dodgeball
- Floorball
- Football:
- Footbag
- Four square
- Golf (see golf ball)
- Handball:
- Hockey:
- Hurling
- Jai alai
- Juggling
- Lacrosse
- Mesoamerican ballgame
- Native American Stickball (Toli)
- Netball
- Pétanque
- Polo
- Shinty
- Skeet ball
- Squash
- Stickball
- Tee Ball
- Tetherball
- Tennis (see tennis ball)
- Tennis Polo/Soccer
- Ulama game
- Volleyball
- Water polo