Tournament of knights rules and tactics

Tournament of Knights

Tournament of Knights consists of the following pieces:

6 black balls + 6 red balls

2 red Knights and their Lady,

2 black Knights and their Lady,

9 flags

3 elastic lengths; 2 black and one red.

The game in brief:

A simple easy-skill game of throwing for all ages and abilities. The object is to "capture"(knock down) your opposing team's Lady and so win the tournament. By managing to get one of your balls in each of the triangles (not quite so easy as it would appear!) you move to the battle throw position from where you may attempt to first knock down your opponents knights who protect her, and then the Lady herself.

The game is played outdoors between 2 to 12 people in 2 teams.

Before you start:

Set out the knights, their Ladies and the triangles with corner flags.

Prepare the tournament arena on an even surface, preferably grass. The size of the arena can be changed according to the level of difficulty, but the triangle in the middle must always be smaller than the other two. Choose 2 teams, the Black Knights and the Red Knights One team is made up of between 1 to 6 players. The red team has the Red Knights and Lady and the 6 red balls. Depending on the number of players the balls are divided between the team members.

To start the game:

Toss a coin to decide which team starts. The team that starts will throw all their 6 balls onto the arena.

These will be left there until the second team has thrown all their balls.

First throw:

The players stand behind the baseline and try to get one ball in EACH of the triangles (you can stand anywhere you like behind this line). All ways of

throwing are acceptable and a ball is counted as "in" if more than half of it is within the elastic lines denoting the triangle area. When both teams have completed all 6 throws, the first "joust" is done. The ball, or balls, inside the triangles will stay. The rest will be returned to their correct teams for the next

"joust". If one team has managed to get more than one of their balls in the same triangle they must remove them for use in the next "joust"- only ONE ball of their team colour needs to remain in the triangle.

"Battle" throws:

The "jousts" continue until one team has managed to get one of their balls in each of the triangles. They have then achieved the advantage and can move to the "battle" position on baseline 2. Their remaining balls of the current throw can be made from here towards the opponent’s knights and queen. (You may stand wherever you like on this baseline to make your throw.)

To win the "Tournament":

To win the tournament you must knock down your opposing teams Lady, but first you must knock down the 2 opposing teams knights who are protecting her. If by mistake you knock over the Lady first, your team has dishonourably disgraced itself !! As a penalty your team must loose your battle position and

must remove all your balls from the arena and triangles. If you have any balls left over from the current throw you cannot now throw them. The Lady is replaced upright. If a knight is knocked down he remains "fallen".

The "disgraced" team must now start all over again (from baseline one) to get one of their balls in each of the triangles and achieve the "battle" position again.

(You may pre determined how many rounds to win the tournament of knights)

When balls hit each other:

It is allowed to hit your opponent’s balls to move, or remove them from the arena or triangles. The only exception is when the Lady is knocked down before her knights in error and that team must remove all their balls from the arena, thereby giving their opponents the advantage of a clear field.

That is why it is important not to remove balls from the arena until both teams have thrown.

When the opposite team has the "battle" position:

The opposing team can then throw their balls to knock out your balls from whichever triangles you may be in. If you are in all 3 triangles, they need only knock out one of your balls so that you then loose your "battle" position. You will then have to return to baseline 1 to achieve the battle position again on your next throw and get 3 balls in 3 triangles. If this happens, and you have already knocked down one of their knights it should however remain "fallen"

Once in "battle " position you can choose which baseline you wish to make your throw from, and this can alter from one throw to the next, from one of your teams players to the next within the same 6 ball play.

Tactics:

You do not have to have a "battle" position to knock out your opponent’s balls from the triangles. You can do this from baseline one in the "jousts".

If for example your opponents have knocked down both your knights and in the next throw could most likely manage to knock down your Lady with their next 6 balls- in your throw you should aim to remove one, (or all 3) of their balls from the triangles so that they loose their "battle" position and must return to baseline one and try again to get their balls into the triangles and retrieve their lost "battle" position.

The game is played outdoors between 2-12 people in 2 teams.

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