Official Dabney Jai-Alai Rules


Front facing white: See attached photocopy. All colored regions are FFW (including Karma Dot in the center of the wall facing north)

Ball: A reasonably new tennis ball.

Red Bricks (RB): Red bricks on the lowest level of the courtyard, 2 drainage grates, cement surronding grates.

Vegetables: Tree shrubs, humans not currently receiving, anything not dead.

Metal: Anything made of metal, plastic, or roof tile, and basically any other random obstacle, including the world map.

Wall: Courtyard walls facing south, east, west, pillars, anything not defined above.

Ground: Any horizontal surface not so far defined, excluding horizontal surfaces of cornices. Note, if the the ball rebounds upwards, it is grounded, except in the case of FFW.

Thrower one whose turn is to attempt a legal throw

Receiver One whose turn is to attempt a legal catch.

The passive one who cannot lose a point in this turn

Legal Throw Leaves the hand of the thrower, hits any number of walls, hits FFW, hits any number of walls, then hits the RB or touches the receiver. This has to occur without hitting metal, plastic, or ground.

Legal Catch The ball may be touched with only one side of the body (split left/right) during a legal catch. Once the legal throw has hit the FFW, any number of walls and either RB or the receiver it is the receivers responsibility to make the catch. At this time the thrower beomes the passive and the passive becomes the receiver. The ball may hit the player (on his playable side) or a wall any number of times after the ball first hit his body or the RB, as long as in this sequence the ball does not hit metal, ground, or plastic. Upon catch the receiver becomes the thrower and is subject to the rule of a legal throw.

Error: Failure to make an attempted legal serve, throw, or catch

Play: constituted from the time a legal serve is made till an error has occured

match: the time constituted from serve till win


Match Play

Players: 2.

Volley: series of 3 legal throws and 2 legal catches (alternating between throw and catch), ending in an error. The winner of the volley is the player who does not make an error.

Serve: Opening throw of a point made from the northwest corner of RB. First service of a match is decided by a volley, and subsequently goes to the player who did not commit a error in the last play.

Point: a point goes to a server who does not commit an error on the play that the server serves.

Win: The first player to reach fifteen points before his opponent has acquired fourteen points is the winner. If a match reaches the score 14-14 the winner is the first player to get two points more than his opponet.


Line Play

Players: 2 or more.

Rally: Begins with a legal serve and ends with an error. Serve: Opening throw of a rally made from any where in RB. First service of a match is decided by the player who finds a ball first or by the player who was the last out in the previous game. Subsequent serves go the player prior to the player that committed the error.

Elimination: A player accummulates a strike when they commit an error. When a player has received a certain number of strikes they are eliminated from the line. In subsequent games the line order is determined by last-out, first-in.

Win: The last player left in the line is the winner.