View source for Butts Up

{{Short description|Children's playground game}}
{{Multiple issues|
{{refimprove|date=April 2016}}
{{Original research|date=April 2021}}
}}
{{Infobox Game|
italic title = no|
subject_name= Butts Up |
image_link= |
image_caption= |
players=3 or more |
ages=[[Preadolescence]] (9)and up |
setup_time=None |
playing_time=No limit |
random_chance=None |
skills=[[Running]], catching, throwing|
footnotes=
}}
'''Butts Up''' or '''Wall Ball''' is a North American [[elementary school]] children's [[playground]] game originating in the 1950s or earlier.{{Citation needed|date=July 2021}}. It is slightly similar to the game Screen Ball, and began in the 1940s or 1950s as a penalty phase of various city street games.{{Citation needed|date=January 2021}} Butts Up is played with a ball (such as a [[tennis ball]], [[handball]], or [[racquetball]]) on a paved surface against a wall, with a variable number of participants—usually more than three and often likely to exceed ten. Butts Up tends to be played during [[Recess (break)|recess]], before or after school. {{Citation needed|date=January 2014}}. Popular in New England is another frequent variation of wall ball that usually differs a lot from the more widely known 'Butts Up'.
Players determine the variations of the game prior to start of play. Some of the rules of the game very loosely resemble the rules of [[baseball]] and [[racquetball]].
==Names==
There are many alternate names for butts up, including "Butt Ball,"<ref name="tucker">{{cite book |last1=Tucker |first1=Elizabeth |title=Children's Folklore: A Handbook |date=2008 |publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group |isbn=978-0-313-34189-2 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7WVaMZAu2PEC&q=%22Butt+ball%22+game+ball&pg=PA75 |language=en}}</ref> "Fireball,"<ref name="bishop">{{cite book |last1=Bishop |first1=Ronald |title=When Play Was Play: Why Pick-up Games Matter |date=9 April 2009 |publisher=SUNY Press |isbn=978-1-4384-2604-4 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=A2xc-rivz5oC&q=%22Butt+ball%22+game+ball&pg=PA76 |language=en}}</ref> and “Chunkus.”<ref>{{Cite web |date=2023-09-15 |title=We Need To Talk About "Chunkus" {{!}} Defector |url=https://defector.com/we-need-to-talk-about-chunkus |access-date=2023-09-15 |website=defector.com |language=en}}</ref>
==Basic game==
Players line up facing a wall, one of them throwing a [[tennis ball]] or similar-sized ball against it. If the thrower fails to catch the ball on its return,<ref name="bishop"/> they must run and attempt to touch the wall - if another player can grab the ball and "hit them in the butt" with it before they reach the wall, the runner is out of the game until the next round. The game continues until two or three players remain.<ref name="tucker"/>
==References==
{{reflist}}
*Bailey, Guy. ''The Ultimate Playground & Recess Game Book'' (Educators Press 2001) {{ISBN|0-9669727-2-4}}
==Further reading==
*{{cite news|title=Letters|url=http://nymag.com/nymag/letters/15466/ |work=New York Magazine |date= January 9, 2006}}
==See also==
*[[Wallball (children's game)|Wallball]]
*[[Chinese Handball]]
*[[American Handball]]
*[[Pinners]]
[[Category:Children's games]]
[[Category:Street games]]
[[Category:Ball games]]
[[Category:Games of physical skill]]
[[Category:Wall-and-ball games]]
[[Category:Physical education]]