# Dodgeball versus Bombardment **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 1, 2005, 7:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dodgeball-versus-bombardment/282539 "2005-01-01T07:18:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2005, 7:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dodgeball-versus-bombardment/282539/1 "2005-01-01T07:18:06Z")
Happy New Year! My wife and I watched “Dodgeball” tonight. Much funnier than I thought it would be! Actually, IMHO, hilarious! Then we got into a debate. I was born in S.E. Wisconsin, and to me the game in the “Dodgeball” movie was a game we called “Bombardment”. It was identical to bombardment in everyway, except we used basketballs (and them sonsofbitches _REALLY_ hurt!:eek: ) I grew up in the 60’s and 70’s, and to us Dodgeball was a game similar to bombardment, except it was played in a circle. You tried to peg the saps with the almighty red “school ball” (greatest ball ever made;)) And if you did they were out. If they caught the ball, you traded places with them and went into the circle. Half the kids were in the circle, half were out with the balls. My Italian love doll says I’m nutz, that even in Europe “Dodgeball” is what they played in the movie. Maybe some of you know what I’m talking about. Was the game in the movie the pure form of dodgeball, or was it something else, like bombardment? ---
**Author:** ![HelloKitty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ecccb3/32.png) [@HelloKitty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HelloKitty)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2005, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dodgeball-versus-bombardment/282539/2 "2005-01-01T16:31:30Z")
I haven’t seen the movie yet, but I am with you…there is a distinct difference between Dodgeball and Bombardment. Dodgeball: Always played in a circle, outside in the playground. I can’t remember how we decided who was throwing the balls and who was dodging them, but I think we would choose teams and flip a coin to determine who started on the outside. Bombardment: One team are throwers, the other team lines up against the wall and tries to avoid getting bombarded. Bombardment had many more balls than dodgeball and since we played in the gym you had to be careful of getting hit by a ricochet. In either game, the ball that would hurt the worst was one that was about half inflated…those suckers would STING!! And the hard throwers could get a better grip to peg you. ---
**Author:** ![ParentalAdvisory](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/53a042/32.png) [@ParentalAdvisory](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ParentalAdvisory)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2005, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dodgeball-versus-bombardment/282539/3 "2005-01-01T16:57:48Z")
> [@HelloKitty](#): > > Dodgeball: Always played in a circle, outside in the playground. I can’t remember how we decided who was throwing the balls and who was dodging them, but I think we would choose teams and flip a coin to determine who started on the outside. > > Bombardment: One team are throwers, the other team lines up against the wall and tries to avoid getting bombarded. Bombardment had many more balls than dodgeball and since we played in the gym you had to be careful of getting hit by a ricochet. Dodgeball for us was never played in a circle, but in the gymnasium, on the basketball court. Much like it was in the movie, with regular rubber kick balls. Bombardment for us was similar to your example. Just a half court type deal in the gym, with regular rubber kick balls. ---
**Author:** ![MaddyStrut](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/dbc845/32.png) [@MaddyStrut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MaddyStrut)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2005, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dodgeball-versus-bombardment/282539/4 "2005-01-01T17:29:12Z")
Dodgeball for us was what was played in the movie. We never had any game called Bombardment. We also played with the red kickballs. This was in Indiana and Michigan in the mid to late 70’s. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2005, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dodgeball-versus-bombardment/282539/5 "2005-01-01T17:34:06Z")
In my Jr. High, dodgeball and bombardment were pretty much the same thing. It was played on a double basketball court on rainy days. As I recall, they used volleyballs in the game. Those gym teachers were fucking nuts if they thought a skinny, 95 pound, late bloomer like me was going to face off against a 180 pound near adult while he threw a ball at me as hard as he could. I would hide in the corner for the first few minutes and then slink off to the side with the people who had been called out earlier. Haj ---
**Author:** ![Antigen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/848f3c/32.png) [@Antigen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antigen)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2005, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dodgeball-versus-bombardment/282539/6 "2005-01-01T17:42:30Z")
Those red kickballs! Remember that weird “boing” sound they make when you bounce them? Do they still make those? I have to buy one now. And throw it at my little brother. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Roland\_Orzabal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c2a13f/32.png) [@Roland\_Orzabal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roland_Orzabal)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2005, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dodgeball-versus-bombardment/282539/7 "2005-01-01T19:31:46Z")
For us, Dodgeball in elementary school was the in-a-circle variety, while Dodgeball in junior high/high school was what some are calling Bombardment. We never played anything that we called Bombardment. In high school, we played something that we called German Dodgeball, which is similar to Bombardment, except that players who are “out” go stand against the wall behind the opposing team, and may catch any balls that enter this “prison” and throw them at the enemy. I miss Dodgeball. I was almost always the last one standing on my team, not because of any outstanding athletic skill, but because of two other factors: 1) I was a “nerd”, so the other team ignored me until they’d picked off the big threats, and 2) I never actually tried to catch the ball; I would just dodge, run to the back, retrieve a ball that was just lying there, and then chuck that. Meanwhile, the “good” players would try to be badass and perform one-hand catches and other manner of showoffiness, and would end up getting themselves out as often as not. ---
**Author:** ![iampunha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/74df32/32.png) [@iampunha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iampunha)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2005, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dodgeball-versus-bombardment/282539/8 "2005-01-01T20:41:40Z")
> [@ParentalAdvisory](#): > > Dodgeball for us was never played in a circle, but in the gymnasium, on the basketball court. Much like it was in the movie, with regular rubber kick balls. Bombardment for us was similar to your example. Just a half court type deal in the gym, with regular rubber kick balls. Me too, except the balls weren’t rubber but a heavy-ish foam that bounced rather well for non-rubber. And we never played Bombardment. ---
**Author:** ![Snooooopy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Snooooopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snooooopy)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2005, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dodgeball-versus-bombardment/282539/9 "2005-01-01T21:29:16Z")
I loved bombardment, even though I was not a terribly athletic child and, therefore, served primarily as target practice for the big kids. It was banned at my elementary school when I was in third or fourth grade, leaving VBB (a strange hybrid of volleyball, baseball and basketball) as our most interesting recess sport. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2005, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dodgeball-versus-bombardment/282539/10 "2005-01-02T03:31:54Z")
Grade school, 1970s rural Illinois: “Bombardment”, played with rubber playground balls in the gym with two teams on opposite sides of the basketball court. I don’t think we ever finished a game because the gym teacher had instituted a special rule: if a ball was caught in flight, not only was the thrower out but everyone who had been hit by a ball thrown by that person were allowed back in. Middle school, 1980s New York State (NYC commuting area): “Dodgeball”, played with rubber playground balls in the gym with two teams on opposite sides of the basketball court. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Big\_Cheese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8baadc/32.png) [@The\_Big\_Cheese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Big_Cheese)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2005, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dodgeball-versus-bombardment/282539/11 "2005-01-02T16:18:13Z")
i grew up in Brookfield and Waukesha WI (SE Wis) and ‘bombardment’ is familiar-but I remember we called it by another name–\*\*Crackerball. \*\* It was played in the whole gym, there was no out of bounds and we played with about 4 or 5 balls. Games didn’t last all that long, you could throw it at anyone you wanted to. it was my favorite game. A girl, Wendy, got hit in the knee and it popped her knee joint out and we couldn’t play after that.