The game is played between two teams of jugglers, typically with between 3 and 10 people on a team. The field can be any convenient indoor or outdoor space, best 400 square feet or more. The goal lines are on opposite sides of the playing field, all the way across its distance. Side boundary lines also mark the field of play.

Each player carries two balls, one in each hand. One player starts out juggling three. He can pass his third ball to a teammate out of and into a juggle. The person who is juggling cannot move beyond a step without passing it.

The other team gains 'possession' (and thus the ability to score a goal) by blocking // catching a passed ball out of a juggle, when the ball goes out of bounds or falls to the floor, or when the team which has possession scores by passing a ball across the opposing team's goal line. If the ball goes out of bounds or hits the floor, play resumes at the point where the ball left control. Body contact, chains, knives, guns, nuclear bombs, et cetera are only by prior agreement; the usual rule on blocking is that you can only approach to about a step of the person who is juggling. You cannot legally hold two balls in a single hand during play, nor can you legally pass more than one ball. You can, of course, steal the ball from the guy juggling it, assuming that you're able to do so out of a juggle.

I've also played this as "Keep Away" where the object is simply to pass the ball between team members with the other team attempting to block.

The great thing about this game is that marginal jugglers can still be competitive. It also improves your ball-handling skills rapidly, since you have to work under pressure. I'm open to playing a few rounds in the Space this winter on Tuesdays.

Hey! Maybe we could play Field Ball on unicycles! W0w!

-- Charles Shapiro (written 10-26-2005)