Ladder Ball is played with 2 or more players or teams. Each player has 3 "golf ball bolas". A bola is 2 golf balls attached by a nylon rope. The object of the game is to wrap your bolas around the steps of the ladder. The ladder consists of 3 steps, a top, middle and a bottom step. Being a relatively new and grassroots game, it goes by many names and has a diverse array of tales for how each was created. Some of these names are: Balls Awesome, Ladder Ball, Hillbilly Golf, Testicle Toss, Dog Balls, and many others. There is also a patented version of the game called Ladder Golf.

The Playing Field

Prior to game play a line must be set 5 paces from the ladder (if playing with one ladder). This is the called the toss line. The official toss line is 15 feet away but most people measure 5 paces from the game ladder to set the toss line. If playing with two ladders, place them 15 ft. away from each other and each team will throw from behind there ladder.

Equipment

The items needed to play are two ladders and a set of three bolas per team. Each ladder has three rungs, each rung scoring a different point value. The balls on the bolas are often golf balls, but may be any uniform weight. They are sometimes plastic balls, tennis balls or rubber balls. Teams are distinguished by having their own color.The ladder (rungs) may be plastic pipe, wood or other materials.

Construction of the game is relatively easy and can be put together with the following:

16’ – ¾" PVC pipe

6 – ¾"PVC Elbow joints

6 – ¾" PVC "T" joints

12’ – 3/8"Nylon rope

12 – Solid core balls (six each of two different colors.)

How to Play

Ladder Ball is played in rounds, each round consists of all players tossing 3 bolas. A coin toss is used to decide which player or team will toss first. The first player must toss all 3 bolas before the next player is able to toss his or her bolas.Bolas can be tossed in anyway the player chooses, as long as they are tossed individually and can be bounced off the ground.The winner of the round earns the first toss in the next round.

Games are played to an exact point total of 21.In order to win, a player must be the only one to score exactly 21 points after the completion of a round. If a player goes over the exact point total, that players points for that round do not count.

In the case of a tie, the players that tie will play as many overtime rounds as needed until one player ends a complete round 2 points ahead of the other player. The 2 point rule only applies in overtime rounds. During regular play any player can win as long as that player is the only one to score an exact total of 21 points at the end of that round no matter how many points the other players have.

Scoring

After all teams have tossed all their bolas, scoring is determined by the bolas that is still hanging from the steps. Players can knock-off bolas during the course of the game, in fact knocking-off other players bolas is encouraged and a good way to play defensively. Bolas that is knocked off during play does not count as points. Only bolas that are left hanging after all bolas are tossed are counted as points.

One common method of scoring is to have the rungs be one, two and three points. In one variety the top is worth 1, middle is 2, and bottom is 3. Points are tallied at the end of each round, after all teams have thrown their bolas. The bolas suspended on the ladder score the points for that rung, often with the goal of getting at least 21 points to win. Players can score an optional bonus of 1 point by hanging all 3 bolas from the same step or by hanging a bola on all 3 (1-2-3) steps in one round. The highest amount of points available per player is 10. This is accomplished by hanging all 3 bolas on the top (3 point) step.

Four players can play Ladder Ball by alternating play each round. Players simply alternate turns with teammates. Extra bolas can also be purchased so up to 4 players can play individually on the same ladder or a second ladder can be purchased for team play. With multiple ladders 2 players on opposite teams would be on one side and the other 2 opposing players would be at the other game ladder. One side would toss all bolas and the other team would toss them back. Same rules apply.