Basque ball or in Spanish, pelota vasca, is a group of ball games generally played by two teams hitting the ball against a wall.
The different types of Basque ball have been standardized by the International Federation of Basque Pelota. There are now 14 disciplines and 4 modalities of Basque ball all of which have their own fixed rules, court sizes, and official weights for the balls. The 4 modalities are the trinquete, the 30 meter wall, the 36 meter wall, and the 56 meter wall. The 14 disciplines are dependent on the use of the hand, the type of ball, and the type of racket. Of these 14 disciplines, 2 are open for both men and women players. The other 12 disciplines are only played by men.
Basque ball is most often played in a court with two walls (a front wall and a side wall) although there are games that use only one wall. Official international tournaments however always use 2 walls because the International Federation of Basque Pelota does not recognize courts with only 1 wall.
The general principle of Basque ball concerns two teams with two players each trying to score points by bouncing the ball against the wall. Both teams face the wall and the game starts when the serving team bounces the ball on the floor before propelling it towards the “playable” area of the front wall. The player must hit the ball in such a way that when it rebounds off the front wall it must land between the low line and the high line. The low line designates the low off area while the high line designates the high off area. The players may hit the ball so that it rebounds directly off the front wall into the playing floor or onto the side wall first before the playing floor. On the receiving end, the players may play the ball as soon as they can after it rebounds from the front wall. They do not have to wait for it to rebound from the side wall or from the floor. If they are not able to do this, they can let the ball bounce on the floor once before hitting it. The ball must not bounce on the floor more than once.
A team can score by hitting the ball well enough to make it bounce on the floor twice before the other team is able to hit it. They can also score by making the ball rebound from the wall, bounce off the floor, then out of the playing area. A team can also score if the opposing team is not able to bounce the ball off the front wall or if the opposing team hits the ball outside of the low off and high off areas.
Basque ball is played in several countries, mainly in Europe and in Latin America. It is most popular in Spain and in France. In Latin America, it is most often played in Argentina, Peru, Cuba, Mexico, Uruguay, and Chile. It can also be seen in several parts of the United States such as Connecticut, Rhode Island, Florida, and Nevada. In the United States however, Basque ball is more popularly known as Jai Alai and operated as an enterprise.
