# Sports with three or more teams on the field **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [June 16, 2016, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sports-with-three-or-more-teams-on-the-field/757525 "2016-06-16T14:20:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![boffking](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/858c86/32.png) [@boffking](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/boffking)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2016, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sports-with-three-or-more-teams-on-the-field/757525/1 "2016-06-16T14:20:31Z")
Are there any sports that are played with three or more teams at once? I am not asking about tournaments or individual sports. Three or more teams competing on the field at the same time. Maybe track relays? Or I guess you could play paintball/airsoft with as many teams as you want. ---
**Author:** ![kferr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/71e660/32.png) [@kferr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kferr)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2016, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sports-with-three-or-more-teams-on-the-field/757525/2 "2016-06-16T14:55:02Z")
Pretty much any type of racing, whether running, swimming, cycling, or motorsport. ---
**Author:** ![buddha\_david](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ee7513/32.png) [@buddha\_david](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/buddha_david)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2016, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sports-with-three-or-more-teams-on-the-field/757525/3 "2016-06-16T16:28:11Z")
If you count video games as “sports”, many PvP tournaments (such as Minecraft Ultra Hardcore) will field several teams at once. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2016, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sports-with-three-or-more-teams-on-the-field/757525/4 "2016-06-16T18:29:16Z")
> [@kferr](#): > > Pretty much any type of racing, whether running, swimming, cycling, or motorsport. Yacht racing is a good example of a team racing sport. ---
**Author:** ![Casey1505](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dc4da7/32.png) [@Casey1505](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Casey1505)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2016, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sports-with-three-or-more-teams-on-the-field/757525/5 "2016-06-16T18:59:47Z")
Golf, if captain and crew format. But I guess that falls under tournament? ---
**Author:** ![russian\_heel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f05b48/32.png) [@russian\_heel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/russian_heel)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2016, 6:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sports-with-three-or-more-teams-on-the-field/757525/6 "2016-06-17T06:49:24Z")
I always wondered what it would be like if you had a soccer field shaped like an X with four teams defending a goal at each end of the X at once? Or a three team baseball game or cricket match? ---
**Author:** ![Mr\_Zox](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Mr\_Zox](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr_Zox)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2016, 7:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sports-with-three-or-more-teams-on-the-field/757525/7 "2016-06-17T07:24:19Z")
43-man Squamish, perhaps? > **[Tom Koch | 43-Man Squamish](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Koch#43-Man_Squamish)** > > In 1965, Mad #95 included "43-Man Squamish", written by Koch and illustrated by George Woodbridge. The absurdist article detailed the convoluted rules of an imaginary sport, and made enough of an impression to be mentioned in both men's New York Times obituaries, including the first sentence of Koch's. > In the article, new terminology is introduced with no explanation; much of the humor derives from the reader's half-successful attempts at gleaning a meaning from context. Exactly what everyone on... ---
**Author:** ![Quercus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/7ab992/32.png) [@Quercus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quercus)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2016, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sports-with-three-or-more-teams-on-the-field/757525/8 "2016-06-17T13:58:24Z")
Probably closest is mass road bicycle racing (not time trials, not track/dirt events), Tour de France style. Multiple teams on the road at once, and they really are teams, even if in theory there’s an individual winner. The best cyclist in the world on his own would get crushed by a cooperating team of barely professionals. And – especially in a multiple-stage race like the Tour de France --there is occasionally real strategic thinking about whether the enemy of your enemy is your friend or another rival that has to be defeated, etc., arguments about whether both parts of an alliance are doing their fair share, etc.