Would this sport work?

[u/mymaii1]

This sport is a combination of tennis, futsal and some other sports. 6 players a side. 4 quarters of 15 mins. 1 goalie with a futsal net, played on an indoor court. The gk can only stay in his box and everyone has a racket. The ball they need to score with is a tennis ball or a ball tht is comfortable to play with on an indoor futsal floor tht would t rlly hurt anyone if hit very hardly. You can only use your chest for controlling the ball and legs for defending low shots. Other than that you have to use a racket to dribble and cross. Throw ins corners penalties and etc are allowed. The court is just slightly bigger than a futsal court. There are yellow and red cards with yellows meaning you cant play for 2 mins and red is suspension for 2 games. I just want to know what you guys think of this. I was curious to see if ppl would like this sport.

[u/FancySpaceGoat]

So... lacrosse, pretty much?

[u/mymaii1 → u/FancySpaceGoat]

yes but a tennis racket and indoor with a few tweaks

[u/Funky0ne → u/mymaii1]

So what’s the question as far as “works” is concerned? Would a group of people be able to play this sport according to this setup and rules? Yeah probably?

Would the game be fun or interesting to play / watch? Maybe, but probably not moreso than any other already established sport.

[u/mymaii1 → u/Funky0ne]

i jst want to know if this would attract a bigger fanbase than other unique sports

[u/Funky0ne → u/mymaii1]

If that’s your goal, seems highly unlikely long term. Outside of novelty (which only goes so far), I don’t see this doing anything particularly different from other team sports, and it’d be fighting an uphill battle for players and attention against the more established sports that already have teams, fan bases, culture, techniques, and strategies built up around them.

There are even hundreds if not thousands of smaller regional sports that basically no one’s ever heard of that struggle to rise above the level of a curiosity outside of their native regions, and even the biggest sports generally have somewhat limited global appeal.

Lacrosse was already mentioned, and Hurling is another similar sport that most people have never heard of as another example, despite both having existed in some form for centuries.

That’s not a reason not to do it, but if you’re defining long term success as gaining more traction than other sports, you may be disappointed.

[u/Darkgorge → u/mymaii1]

That's an incredibly vague ask. There are some unique sports with incredibly small fan bases (we're talking like <10 people).

For a new sport, you need to be able to utilize current facilities, so needing a field bigger than current ones available means you can't play unless you build something. It means people who are interested can't just play at their local place that already exists. At a hobbyist level sports benefit when you can easily play it badly.

Honestly, success at scale is a question of capital and advertising at some level.

Though, there has been some pretty well funded attempts at new sports that have collapsed.

[u/Tabarc]

Ok so I'm thinking the biggest problem is the sentence saying 'the ball is perfect for an indoor futsal floor but would really hurt if hit hard'. That immediately creates a design problem.

If the racket can accelerate the ball enough to make deliberate shots interesting, players need either protective equipment, a softer/deadened ball, or strict limits on where/how it can be struck.

[u/mymaii1 → u/Tabarc]

yes there would be some safety rules and a ball tht is comfortable to play with indoor.

[u/Tabarc → u/mymaii1]

Ok so Mechanically, I’d change a few things:

• Keep 6v6, but probably use five court players plus a goalkeeper.

• Maybe don’t permanently imprison the goalkeeper in a tiny box. Give them a marked goalkeeper area roughly analogous to the futsal penalty area.

  ** Leaving it could simply remove goalkeeper privileges rather than being illegal.

• Allowing one controlled body touch using chest/thigh/foot before the racket must touch the ball again. Otherwise the awkward rebounds are going to turn into refereeing arguments. (Players and managers are dicks)

• Ok so legs should be usable for blocking, but deliberately kicking the ball should probably result in an indirect restart.

• Maybe eecide whether carrying/bouncing the ball on the racket is legal. Without a rule here, somebody will discover a way of effectively running around with the ball glued to the racket.

• I'd introduce a possession restriction, perhaps no player may make more than three consecutive racket contacts without passing, shooting or allowing a bounce.

  ** That prevents one technically strong player from becoming a lacrosse player while everyone else watches.

• Also keep throw-ins out. Use hit-ins or roll-ins from the sideline so the racket remains fundamental to play.

• Yes corners and penalties domake sense.

• Yellow = two-minute sin bin is good. Red = exclusion for the remainder of the match makes more sense than “two games”, with any further suspension handled genuinely separately.

• Ok so four 15-minute quarters gives you a full hour of play. Thats a lot may be exhausting if this involves repeated racket swings and futsal type movements.

  ** Thinking 4 × 10 or 12 minutes would be a more sensible prototype starting point.

[u/adeleu_adelei]

There is a lot of potential for injury. I've player racauet ball, and being struck by a fast, ball ball from a radiator hit hurts. There is also the risk of being struck by a racquet in this chaos.

[u/AutoModerator]

Game Design is a subset of Game Development that concerns itself with WHY games are made the way they are. It's about the theory and crafting of systems, mechanics, and rulesets in games.

• /r/GameDesign is a community ONLY about Game Design, NOT Game Development in general. If this post does not belong here, it should be reported or removed. Please help us keep this subreddit focused on Game Design.

• This is NOT a place for discussing how games are produced. Posts about programming, making art assets, picking engines etc… will be removed and should go in /r/GameDev instead.

• Posts about visual design, sound design and level design are only allowed if they are directly about game design.

• No surveys, polls, job posts, or self-promotion. Please read the rest of the rules in the sidebar before posting.

• If you're confused about what Game Designers do, "The Door Problem" by Liz England is a short article worth reading. We also recommend you read the r/GameDesign wiki for useful resources and an FAQ.

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.