What changes when BALL enters competition

The base game does not change. Competition adds clocks, records and comparison criteria so that two asymmetric halves can produce a fair, auditable result.

BALL does not replace the scoreboard with a formula. It first asks who scored more touchdowns. Only when the score is not enough does the Ball Clock distinguish offensive efficiency or defensive dominance.

The Ball Clock may be deliberately manipulated. Real Time may not. That tension creates secondary objectives without allowing one player to appropriate the physical time of the competition.

1. Match structure

Two symmetric halves. Each half is a complete opportunity and allows at most one touchdown.

A touchdown immediately ends the half, whether it is scored by the trainer who started as ATK or by a trainer who recovered the ball during that half. No new series begins after a touchdown.

2. Ball Point (PB): the strategic clock

PB does not measure seconds or squares. It measures relevant changes in the state of the ball.

Each legal action that effectively changes the ball square, its carrier, or its state of control adds 1 PB. A single action adds at most 1 PB, but one turn may add several PB if it chains distinct ball actions.

A Hand-off does not add one PB for every intermediate piece in the chain. The complete action ends at the final legal receiver and is worth 1 PB. If that receiver then moves, passes or performs another Hand-off, each new action adds its own PB.

3. PBATK and PBDEF: every PB has two faces

Every PB is recorded simultaneously from both sides of the matchup. There is never an orphan PB.

When a PB belongs to one trainer’s attack, that trainer adds +1 PBATK and the opponent adds +1 PBDEF. Players may accumulate both counters during the same half because possession can change several times.

At the end of a half, both counters remain recorded, but the outcome decides which reading matters: the scorer is evaluated through PBATK; the non-scorer contributes the defensive PBDEF reading. In a 0-0, both are compared through Defensive Balance.

4. Recovery: Continuity or Defensive Restart

A recovery is not only a change of owner. It opens an immediate decision about geometry, role and ball time.

The choice is declared at the instant of recovery, before using the new situation to prepare another decision, and is irrevocable.

5. The two clocks and the turn limit

The strategic clock may stop. The physical competition clock may not.

• When time expires, no new action may begin.
• A legal action declared before the signal may be completed without opening another action.
• Unused PA automatically convert to PE, 1 PA = 1 PE, as a competition exception.
• A substantive referee consultation pauses the relevant clocks.

Competitive draft · evaluation base for V6
The unlock phase provisionally has 30 additional seconds. If the trainer does not resolve all mandatory unlock decisions, the opponent receives 30 seconds to choose the remaining legal options. If that also does not finish the phase, the referee closes it with an immediate legal resolution.

6. Final Drive: pressure at the end of the half

The extension is not neutral time: it deliberately increases energy, calculation and branching.

• After completing the turn that started before 40:00, the ball possessor may declare Final Drive only with at least 2 PE and at least 1 Player Card in hand.
• Maximum 20 additional minutes of Real Time.
• The first new turn of Final Drive always belongs to DEF.
• Provisional limit: 180 s per turn. There is no fixed number of turns; the 20-minute total limit controls the phase.
• At the beginning of each own turn, the trainer receives +1 PE.
• Touchdown: immediate end of the half. Recovery: apply Continuity/Defensive Restart and Final Drive continues while time remains.
• At 20:00 no new turn begins; a turn already started may conclude under its 180 s limit.

If, at the end of a turn, a trainer has no Player Cards in hand, that trainer may recover at most 1 previously used card. If used, the opponent may also recover 1 card from their discard, even if they still hold cards, immediately before their next turn.

7. How the match is decided

Not every tied score means the same thing. BALL asks a different question depending on what happened on the board.

8. Round organization

Competition attempts to equalize not only the rules, but also the playing context.

All first halves in a round begin on one common signal. No table starts its second half independently. The second half begins on a new common signal after the last active first half —including any Final Drive— has ended and at least 10 min have passed from that moment. Trainers who finish earlier receive a longer break.

The purpose is for all tables to face each half under a comparable environment: the same stage of the round, similar noise, tension and general pressure.

9. Refereeing, conduct and external assistance

• The PB counter must remain visible; any discrepancy is corrected when it occurs.
• Strategically keeping the ball still is legal. Consuming Real Time without playing, delaying resets or artificially extending unlocks is stalling.
• No strategic help from spectators, devices, analysis engines, AI or BALL Academy is allowed during play or the break.
• Phones may be used as timers if the competition permits it, without external assistance.
• Continuity/Defensive Restart must be declared clearly and audibly.
• An illegal action is reversed if the prior state can be reconstructed; otherwise the referee restores the nearest legal state without creating advantage for the offender.

Provisional scale: warning → loss of current turn → loss of possession → loss of match. Sanctions must be proportional, documented and reserved for repeated or serious violations.

10. Breaks, fatigue and cognitive conditions

BALL does not claim that 40 minutes is a universal biological concentration limit. Match length and breaks are design decisions informed by evidence, not physiological constants.

• Move away from the board and change focus for most of the break.
• Stand up and perform light movement if space allows.
• Maintain normal hydration and accessible water.
• Reduce noise if it is bothersome; earplugs are allowed if official signals remain audible.
• Closing the eyes or calm breathing is a personal preference, not a guaranteed advantage.
• There is no obligation to eat, sleep or follow a specific ritual during a 10-minute break.
• Between complete matches, provisionally allow at least 20 min before that trainer’s next match.

11. Competition kit · print and PDF

No accounts, signups or public competition listings. This page is a toolbox for organizing physical competitive play.

The annexes are part of the same print document. The Print button produces the complete rules followed by every sheet in one print job. Downloadable PDFs come from the same source and reuse the BALL Rulebook layout.

Printing directly reuses the editorial grammar of the BALL Rulebook. Navigation, controls and web UI are not printed.