Dodgeball Rules and Regulations of Play
TEAM AND PLAYERS
● Teams consist of 6 players on the court with other team members as substitutes.
● Teams must field at least 4 and no more than 6 players.
● A team must field at least 3 of its own players to begin a game.
● Teams must have at least 2 females on the court, and no more than 4 males at all times.
● If 1 female is fielded, the team may only have a maximum of 5 people on the court.
● If 0 females are present, the team must forfeit unless opposing team allows it.
GAMEPLAY ­ REGULATION GAMES
● Each Match is a best of 13 games. Win by 2, or first to 9 games.
● Each round is a maximum of 5 minutes.
● The team with the most players left at the end of the 5­minute round will win that round.
● If teams have an equal number of players at the end of the 5­minute round, there will be a 1­minute
overtime. Overtime is 3 on 3. Any 3 players from that round may play in the overtime in addition to
any players that were left at the end of the round.
● Substitutions are only allowed in between rounds.
BEGINNING OF THE GAME AND PLAY FORMAT
● The game will begin with the referee placing six balls on the centerline of the court. The Attack
Line will be the centerline of the court. Players must be behind the Attack Line when throwing the
ball at opposing players. Players will never be allowed to cross the center of the court for any
reason including attacking or retrieving balls.
● Teams will stand behind the back end line and await the referee to blow the whistle to start the
round. Teams may not leave until the whistle is blown. Each team has an assigned three balls and
may not retrieve opposing teams’ balls. Each person can only grab one ball and they may throw
the ball back to a teammate on the back line. The players cannot “attack” the other team until the
ball is taken behind the back line.
THROWS
● No throw may be made above the shoulders of a player on the opposing team. If a player hits an
opposing player in the head they will be called “out”. (This includes hitting a player’s hands if they
block their face in self­defense).
● If this action becomes persistent, the referee has the authority to ask the violating player to leave
the game/match. If a player is kneeling, ducking, or bending down and they are hit above the
shoulders, they will be called “out”.
● No unnecessarily hard throws, especially a man throwing at a woman.
● You will be ejected without warning if this happens.
ELIMINATION OF PLAYERS
● Any player hit by the opposing team’s ball, on the fly, will be eliminated. Eliminated players must
stand out of bounds, in a designated area, in the order that they were eliminated.
● If a thrown ball is caught by an opposing player, the player throwing the ball will be eliminated.
Additionally, the team that caught the ball will be allowed to bring back a player in the order they
were eliminated (starting with the first person removed).
● This also includes catching a deflected or ricocheted ball off of one of your teammates. However,
one ball can not eliminate two players, so if a ball ricochets off one person, stays in the air, and
hits another person, only the first player hit will be eliminated.
● Balls caught off of the wall, nets, etc. will not result in any elimination. In addition, balls caught off
the ricochet of a blocker ball will not result in any elimination.
● Throws at someone’s head (whether intentional or not) are not allowed. Anyone that strikes
another player in the head will be called out.
● Players may block the opposing player’s throw with their ball. If the ball is knocked out of their
hands while blocking it, that player will be eliminated.
● Teams may give their retrieved ball to another player to be thrown.
*Once a ball hits a “blocker ball”, the ball is dead and can’t be caught or eliminate a player on contact.
*If a ball ricochets of a player and is caught by another player, the player that threw the ball is out, and the
player that was originally hit is NOT out. However, the team that caught the ball does not get to bring
another player back into the game.
BALL RETRIEVER
● Each team must choose a designated ball retriever for each round.
● The ball retriever must wear a white pinnie and is the only player allowed out of bounds.
STALLING
● If a referee determines that a player or team is stalling, the referee will warn player or team. If the
stalling continues, the player or team will lose possession of all balls on their side.
NON­ROSTER SUBS
If a team will be short­handed, non­roster Subs must register online before the game and sign the waiver.
Go to www.bamsocialsports.com/sub and choose “Sub Registration”. The Sub must present their invoice
to the Umpire or League Manager before the start of the game. Failure to follow the sub registration
process may result in the disqualification of subs and forfeiture of the game.
*No non­roster subs will be allowed during playoffs*
Non­Roster Subs must check in with the referee/league manager before each game, the same person is
only allowed to sub 3 times during the season. If they want to play in more games than that they must
register for the team and pay for the season.
A team may play with a maximum of 3 subs. You may NOT have more than 6 players if you are using
subs except when needed to satisfy the gender rule.