Paddle ball is a one-person game played with a paddle and an attached
ball
A ball is a round object (usually spherical, but can sometimes be ovoid) with several uses. It is used in ball games, where the play of the game follows the state of the ball as it is hit, kicked or thrown by players. Balls can also be used f ...
. Using the flat paddle with the small rubber ball attached at the center via an elastic string, the player tries to hit the ball with the paddle in succession as many times as possible.
The paddle (sometimes called a bolo bat) is similar in size and shape to a
table tennis racket
A table tennis racket (also known as a "paddle" or "bat") is used by table tennis players. It is usually made from laminated wood covered with rubber on one or two sides depending on the player's grip. Unlike a conventional " racket", it does not i ...
. It is usually made from either wood or plastic.
History
Created and patented () by William R. Lind in the 1920s, the paddle ball was one of the more whimsical products to follow the invention of soft rubber.
In 1937, the Fli-Back Company was founded in
High Point, North Carolina
High Point is a city in the Piedmont Triad region of the United States, U.S. state of North Carolina. Most of the city is in Guilford County, North Carolina, Guilford County, with parts extending into Randolph County, North Carolina, Randolph, ...
with the paddle-ball as their main product. The paddle
logo
A logo (abbreviation of logotype; ) is a graphic mark, emblem, or symbol used to aid and promote public identification and recognition. It may be of an abstract or figurative design or include the text of the name it represents as in a wordma ...
depicted a
cowboy
A cowboy is an animal herder who tends cattle on ranches in North America, traditionally on horseback, and often performs a multitude of other ranch-related tasks. The historic American cowboy of the late 19th century arose from the '' vaquer ...
playing paddle ball while riding a
bucking bronco
A bucking horse is any breed or either gender of horse with a propensity to buck. They have been, and still are, referred to by various names, including bronco, broncho, and roughstock.
The harder they buck, the more desirable they are for r ...
. In that year, the toy was featured in ''
Newsweek
''Newsweek'' is an American weekly online news magazine co-owned 50 percent each by Dev Pragad, its president and CEO, and Johnathan Davis (businessman), Johnathan Davis, who has no operational role at ''Newsweek''. Founded as a weekly print m ...
''. This first successful mass-marketing of the toy allowed the company to
diversify into other toys, including the
yo-yo
A yo-yo (also spelled yoyo) is a toy consisting of an axle connected to two disks, and a string looped around the axle, similar to a spool. It is an ancient toy with proof of existence since 500 BCE. The yo-yo was also called a bandalore in ...
and
spinning tops.
In the 1950s,
Duncan Toys Company
The Duncan Toys Company is an American toy manufacturer based in Middlefield, Ohio best known for its line of yo-yos. The company was founded in 1929 by Donald F. Duncan Sr. and purchased the Flores Yo-Yo Company from Pedro Flores, who brought ...
manufactured the "Hi-Li Paddle Ball Toy" that sold millions of units. The paddle reads “Duncan’s Official Hi-Li, Reg. U.S. Pat. Off., Champion No. 99.”
In 1972, the
Ohio Art Company
The Ohio Art Company is an American toy manufacturing company founded in 1908. Based in Bryan, Ohio, the company is principally engaged in two lines of business. The first line of business is the sales, marketing, and distribution of toys. The s ...
, the makers of the popular
Etch-A-Sketch
Etch A Sketch is a mechanical drawing toy invented by André Cassagnes of France and subsequently manufactured by the Ohio Art Company. It is now owned by Spin Master of Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
An Etch A Sketch has a thick, flat gray screen ...
, purchased th
Fli-Back Company They continued to make Fli-Back paddle ball games in
High Point until 1983.
In 2000, Yomega received a
trademark
A trademark (also written trade mark or trade-mark) is a type of intellectual property consisting of a recognizable sign, design, or expression that identifies products or services from a particular source and distinguishes them from others ...
for "Extreme 180° APB", their paddle ball featuring adjustable cord lengths and ball types.
In film
Paddle balls have been depicted in several
motion pictures
A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmosphere ...
. In an early demonstration of
3-D effects, the
carnival barker
A barker, often a carnival barker, is a person who attempts to attract patrons to entertainment events, such as a circus or funfair, by exhorting passing members of the public, announcing attractions of show, and emphasizing variety, novelty, beau ...
in ''
House of Wax'' is shown doing tricks with a paddle ball to gain the attention of potential customers. In ''
The Misfits'',
Marilyn Monroe
Marilyn Monroe (; born Norma Jeane Mortenson; 1 June 1926 4 August 1962) was an American actress. Famous for playing comedic " blonde bombshell" characters, she became one of the most popular sex symbols of the 1950s and early 1960s, as wel ...
is depicted provocatively whacking a paddle ball while wearing a polka-dot dress in a saloon in Dayton, Nevada. In ''
Blazing Saddles
''Blazing Saddles'' is a 1974 American satirical western black comedy film directed by Mel Brooks, who also wrote the screenplay with Andrew Bergman, Richard Pryor, Norman Steinberg, and Alan Uger. The film stars Cleavon Little and Gene Wilder. ...
'',
Mel Brooks
Mel Brooks (born Melvin James Kaminsky; June 28, 1926) is an American actor, comedian and filmmaker. With a career spanning over seven decades, he is known as a writer and director of a variety of successful broad farces and parodies. He began h ...
(in his cameo as the cross-eyed governor) and
Harvey Korman
Harvey Herschel Korman (February 15, 1927May 29, 2008) was an American actor and comedian who performed in television and film productions. His big break was being a featured performer on CBS' ''The Danny Kaye Show'', but he is best remembered f ...
use a paddle ball to great comedic effect. Korman's character performs tricks with relative ease and hands the paddle to Brooks, who can barely manage one hit. This was a deliberate
anachronism
An anachronism (from the Ancient Greek, Greek , 'against' and , 'time') is a chronology, chronological inconsistency in some arrangement, especially a juxtaposition of people, events, objects, language terms and customs from different time per ...
, as the paddle ball would not be invented until fifty years after the film was (mostly) set. In the
Pixar
Pixar Animation Studios (commonly known as Pixar () and stylized as P I X A R) is an American computer animation studio known for its critically and commercially successful computer animated feature films. It is based in Emeryville, Californi ...
/
Disney
The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...
animated movie ''
WALL-E
''WALL-E'' (stylized with an interpunct as ''WALL·E'') is a 2008 American computer-animated science fiction film produced by Pixar Animation Studios and released by Walt Disney Pictures. It was directed and co-written by Andrew Stanton, pro ...
'', there is a brief scene in a montage where the robot loses control of a paddle ball and is struck repeatedly in the head. The paddle ball ends up in the "Don't Keep" pile. In the
Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film and television production company, production and Distribution (marketing), distribution company and the main namesake division of Paramount Global (formerly ViacomCBS). It is the fifth-oldes ...
film
Sonic the Hedgehog (film)
''Sonic the Hedgehog'' is a 2020 action-adventure comedy film based on the video game series of the same name published by Sega. Directed by Jeff Fowler (in his feature directorial debut) and written by Pat Casey and Josh Miller, it stars B ...
, Sonic is seen with a paddleball, making fast hits before ditching the game. In the
DreamWorks Animation
DreamWorks Animation LLC (DWA, also known as DreamWorks Animation Studios and simply known as DreamWorks) is an American animation studio that produces animated films and television programs and is a subsidiary of Universal Pictures, a division ...
film
Over the Hedge (film)
''Over the Hedge'' is a 2006 American computer-animated comedy film produced by DreamWorks Animation SKG and distributed by Paramount Pictures (marking Paramount's first collaboration with DreamWorks). It is loosely based on the comic strip o ...
, RJ uses a paddleball by hitting it a few times, and then making the attached ball to get tied on the ceiling in order to go over Vincent to steal his food.
Records
The most paddle balls controlled simultaneously is 7 and was achieved by Steve Langley aka The Paddle Ball King on the set of ''Lo Show Dei Record'', in
Milan, Italy
Milan ( , , Lombard language, Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the List of cities in Italy, second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4  ...
, on 8 April 2011. Langley controlled all paddles for 10 seconds with all balls bouncing simultaneously.
The most people controlling paddle balls is 443 and was achieved by Steve Langley aka The Paddle Ball King, O.P. Earle Elementary School and Landrum Middle School (all US) in
Landrum, South Carolina
Landrum is a city in Spartanburg County, South Carolina, United States. The population was 2,376 at the 2010 census.
Landrum was founded in 1880 and incorporated in 1912. It is located just west of Interstate 26 between Spartanburg and Asheville ...
, US, on 30 November 2012.
The most people in a paddle
ball relay is 162 achieved by a team from
Nike Digital Sport (US) in
Las Vegas, Nevada
Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...
, US, on 20 February 2013. The attempt was held on the plaza of the
Fashion Show Mall
Fashion Show is a shopping mall located on the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada. It was developed by Summa Corporation and Ernest W. Hahn, the latter also serving as general contractor. Construction began on March 15, 1979, and the project wa ...
on the
Las Vegas Strip
The Las Vegas Strip is a stretch of Las Vegas Boulevard, Las Vegas Boulevard South in Clark County, Nevada, that is known for its concentration of resort hotels and casinos. The Strip, as it is known, is about long, and is immediately south of ...
. Each participant was required to have full control of their device before the next person was allowed to begin.
{{portal, Games
References
Games of physical skill
Physical activity and dexterity toys