This is a list of ball

games A game is a structured form of play, usually undertaken for entertainment or fun, and sometimes used as an educational tool. Many games are also considered to be work (such as professional players of spectator sports or games) or art (such ...

and ball sports that include a

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 ...

as a key element in the activity, usually for scoring points.

Ball games

Ball-play of the Women, Prairie du Chien SAAM-1985

Ball sports fall within many sport categories, some sports within multiple categories, including: *

Bat-and-ball games Bat-and-ball games (or safe haven games) are field games played by two opposing teams. Action starts when the defending team throws a ball at a dedicated player of the attacking team, who tries to hit it with a bat and run between various safe ar ...

, such as

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

and baseball. *

Invasion games In sport, a goal may refer to either an instance of scoring, or to the physical structure or area where an attacking team must send the ball or puck in order to score points. The structure of a goal varies from sport to sport, and one is plac ...

, such as

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

and basketball. * Net and wall games, such as volleyball. ** Racket sports, such as tennis, table tennis and badminton. * Throwing sports, such as dodgeball and bocce. ** Cue sports, such as pool and

snooker Snooker (pronounced , ) is a cue sports, cue sport played on a Billiard table#Snooker and English billiards tables, rectangular table covered with a green cloth called baize, with six Billiard table#Pockets 2, pockets, one at each corner and o ...

. ** Target sports, such as golf and bowling. * Hand and ball-striking games, such as various

handball Handball (also known as team handball, European handball or Olympic handball) is a team sport in which two teams of seven players each (six outcourt players and a goalkeeper) pass a ball using their hands with the aim of throwing it into the g ...

codes, rebound handball, and four square.

Popular ball games

Games that are similar and have a common reference are grouped under the primary name such as bowling, football and hockey.

A - E

* Angleba * Apalachee ball game ** Crossminton *

Bandy Bandy is a winter sport and ball sport played by two teams wearing ice skates on a large ice surface (either indoors or outdoors) while using sticks to direct a ball into the opposing team's goal. The international governing body for bandy is ...

** Rink bandy ***

Rinkball Rinkball is a winter team sport played on ice with ice skates and is most popular in Finland, where it is known as ''kaukalopallo''. This ball sport originated in Sweden in the 1960s and from there landed in Finland in the 1970s. The objective ...

* Baseball **

Baseball5 Baseball5 (B5) is an internationally played safe haven game with many of the same rules as baseball and softball, which is governed alongside those sports by the World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC). The game revolves around two teams ...

* Basketball **

3x3 (basketball) 3x3 basketball (pronounced ''three-ex-three'') is a variation of basketball played three-a-side, with one backboard and in a half-court setup. According to an ESSEC Business School study commissioned by the International Olympic Committee, 3x3 ...

** Wheelchair basketball * Basque pelota **

Frontenis Frontenis is a sport that is played in a 30 meter pelota court using racquets (a tennis racquet or a similar frontenis racquet) and rubber balls. It can be played in pairs or singles, but only pairs frontenis is played in international competit ...

** Jai alai ** Xare * Beach tennis * Bossaball * Boules ** Bocce **

Bocce volo ("flying boules"), or ("Lyonnais boules"), is a boules-type game. In ', the balls are thrown overhand (palm down) and are metal. In standard ', the wooden or plastic balls are tossed underhand (palm up) and rolled. ', as it is called for short ...

** Boccia ** Bolas criollas **

Bowls Bowls, also known as lawn bowls or lawn bowling, is a sport in which the objective is to roll biased balls so that they stop close to a smaller ball called a "jack" or "kitty". It is played on a bowling green, which may be flat (for "flat-gre ...

or "lawn bowls" **

Jeu provençal ' ('game of Provence'; also known as ', "boules of Lyon") is a French form of boules. In Italy, the sport ', which is played with bronze balls, follows a similar set of rules.

** Pétanque **

Raffa (boules) Raffa (also known as raffa bocce or roundup), is a specialty, both male and female, of boules. It is governed by '' Confederazione Boccistica Internazionale'' (CBI). Along with pétanque and bocce volo, it is one of the three specialties proposed ...

* Bowling ** Candlepin bowling ** Carpet bowls ** Duckpin bowling ** Five-pin bowling ** Nine-pin bowling ** Ten-pin bowling ** Irish road bowling *

Brännboll Brännboll (), known as rundbold in Denmark, Brennball in Germany, and sharing the names slåball and brentball with longball in Norway, is a bat-and-ball game similar to longball, played at amateur level throughout Sweden, Finland, Norway, Denma ...

British baseball Welsh baseball ( cy, Pêl Fas Gymreig), is a bat-and-ball game played in Wales. It is closely related to the game of rounders. In the tradition of bat-and-ball games, baseball has roots going back centuries, and there are references to "ba ...

* Broomball *

Canoe polo Canoe polo, also known as kayak polo, is one of the competitive disciplines of kayaking. The sport is also known simply as "polo" by its players and supporters. Each team has five players on the pitch (and up to three substitutes), who compete ...

* Cestoball *

Codeball Codeball is an individual sport combining the gameplay of golf and football. Rules Codeball is played on a fairway consisting of usually 14 bowls, similar to the holes in golf. A six-inch rubber ball is kicked from a marked kickoff area, and once ...

Cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

''(see

cricket ball A cricket ball is a hard, solid ball used to play cricket. A cricket ball consists of a cork core wound with string then a leather cover stitched on, and manufacture is regulated by cricket law at first-class level. The trajectory of a crick ...

)'' ** Backyard cricket ** Twenty20 ** Kwik cricket **

Vigoro Vigoro is a team sport, played mainly by women in Australia, that originally combined elements of cricket and tennis, although in its current form it may be more similar to cricket and baseball. History The game was invented in 1901 by English ...

* Croquet ** Roque * Cue sports (also knowns as ''billiards'') ** Carom billiards ** English billiards ** Pool (or pocket billiards) **

Snooker Snooker (pronounced , ) is a cue sports, cue sport played on a Billiard table#Snooker and English billiards tables, rectangular table covered with a green cloth called baize, with six Billiard table#Pockets 2, pockets, one at each corner and o ...

Cycle ball Cycle, cycles, or cyclic may refer to: Anthropology and social sciences * Cyclic history, a theory of history * Cyclical theory, a theory of American political history associated with Arthur Schlesinger, Sr. * Social cycle, various cycles in s ...

* Dodgeball *

Downball Downball (occasionally known as wallball) is a multiplayer game where players take turns hitting a tennis ball with their hands against a wall until a player misses a shot and is eliminated. The last player left is declared the winner and the nex ...

F - K

* Fistball * Fives * Flag football *

Flickerball Flickerball is a group sport played with an American football in similar situations to dodgeball, such as Gym Class/PE (Physical Education) classes. It is played in a group of 6 to 40 players who are equally divided into two teams. The teams sep ...

Football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

** Association football (soccer) *** Futsal ***

Indoor soccer Indoor soccer or arena soccer (known internationally as indoor football, fast football, or showball) is five-a-side version of minifootball, derived from association football and adapted to be played in walled hardcourt indoor arena. Indoor socc ...

***

Beach soccer Beach soccer, also known as beach football, sand football or beasal, is a variant of association football played on a beach or some form of sand. Whilst football has been played informally on beaches, the introduction of ''beach soccer'' was an a ...

Australian rules football Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an oval field, often a modified cricket ground. Points are scored by k ...

Calcio fiorentino ''Calcio Fiorentino'' (also known as ''calcio storico'' "historic football") is an early form of football ( soccer and rugby) that originated during the Middle Ages in Italy. Once widely played, the sport is thought to have started in the ''Piaz ...

** English public school football games **

Gaelic football Gaelic football ( ga, Peil Ghaelach; short name '), commonly known as simply Gaelic, GAA or Football is an Irish team sport. It is played between two teams of 15 players on a rectangular grass pitch. The objective of the sport is to score by kic ...

Gridiron football Gridiron football,"Gridiron football"
''Encyclopædia Britannica''. Ret ...

*** American football *** Canadian football *** Indoor football **** Arena football **

Football tennis Football tennis, also known as futnet (in Czech and Slovak nohejbal and Soccer Tennis USA), is a sport played with a football. The sport is played indoors or outdoors on a court divided by a low net with two opposing teams made up of one, two o ...

** International rules football ** Medieval football games ** Rugby football *** Rugby league *** Rugby union **** Rugby sevens *** Beach rugby ***

Underwater rugby Underwater rugby (UWR) is an underwater team sport. During a match two teams try to score a negatively buoyant ball (filled with saltwater) into the opponents’ goal at the bottom of a swimming pool. It originated from within the physical f ...

*** Wheelchair rugby **

Underwater football Underwater football is a two-team underwater sport that shares common elements with underwater hockey and underwater rugby. As with both of those games, it is played in a swimming pool with snorkeling equipment (mask, snorkel, and fins). The ...

Volata Volata ("flow") is a code of football developed and promoted by Italian fascists for a brief period during the late 1920s and early 1930s, in an attempt to displace sports with non-Italian origins, such as association football (soccer) and rugby u ...

* Footvolley * Four square * Goalball * Golf ** Mini Golf * Half-rubber *

Handball Handball (also known as team handball, European handball or Olympic handball) is a team sport in which two teams of seven players each (six outcourt players and a goalkeeper) pass a ball using their hands with the aim of throwing it into the g ...

American handball American handball, known as handball in the United States and sometimes referred to as wallball, is a sport in which players use their hands to hit a small, rubber ball against a wall such that their opponent(s) cannot do the same without the bal ...

** Australian handball ** Beach handball ** Field handball **

Gaelic Handball Gaelic handball (known in Ireland simply as handball; ga, liathróid láimhe) is a sport where players hit a ball with a hand or fist against a wall in such a way as to make a shot the opposition cannot return, and that may be played with two ( ...

* Hooverball * Hockey **

*** Rink bandy ****

** Field hockey ***

Indoor field hockey Indoor hockey is an indoor variant of field hockey. It is similar to the outdoor game in that two teams compete to move a hard ball into the goal of the opposing side using hockey sticks. Indoor hockey is played on a smaller area and between sm ...

** Floor hockey ***

Floorball Floorball is a type of floor hockey with five players and a goalkeeper in each team. Men and women play indoors with sticks and a plastic ball with holes. Matches are played in three twenty-minute periods. The sport of bandy also played a role ...

*** Roller hockey ****

Roller hockey (quad) Roller hockey (in British English), rink hockey (in American English) or quad hockey is a team sport played on roller skates. It is the only quad skate team sport in existence where two teams face-off against one another at the same time. Two t ...

** Street hockey *

Hurling Hurling ( ga, iománaíocht, ') is an outdoor team game of ancient Gaelic Irish origin, played by men. One of Ireland's native Gaelic games, it shares a number of features with Gaelic football, such as the field and goals, the number of p ...

* Jai alai *

Jokgu Jokgu (namely Korean-style footvolley) is a sport which combines aspects of association football and volleyball. History Jokgu was invented by members of the Republic of Korea Air Force in 1960 as a way to promote exercise on military bases. Jokg ...

Jorkyball Jorkyball is a format of two vs two football. It is played in a by cage on artificial turf with the possibility of using the walls to pass, dribble, and score. As in football it is played only with the feet and use of hands is forbidden. The ...

* Juggling * Kickball * Kick-to-kick (includes end-to-end footy) *

Kin-Ball Kimball, is a team sport created in Quebec, Canada in 1986 by Mario Demers, a physical education professor, in which the main distinctive characteristics are the large size of the ball (1.2m (48 inches) in diameter) and that the matches are played ...

* Klootschieten * Knuckleball *

Korfball Korfball ( nl, korfbal) is a ball sport, with similarities to netball and basketball. It is played by two teams of eight players with four female players and four male players in each team. The objective is to throw a ball into a netless bask ...

L - P

* Lacrosse ** Box Lacrosse ** Field lacrosse ** Intercrosse * Lawn bowls * Mesoamerican ballgame * Netball **

Fast5 Fast5 (originally called Fastnet) is a variation of netball featuring shortened games and goals worth multiple points. The new format was announced by the International Federation of Netball Associations (IFNA) (now the International Netball Feder ...

Newcomb ball Newcomb ball (also known simply as Newcomb, and sometimes spelled Newcombe (ball))As the game is named after Sophie Newcomb College, its name has been typically capitalized. is a ball game played in a gymnasium or court using two opposing teams ...

Padbol Padbol is a fusion sport created in La Plata in 2008, combining elements of football, tennis, volleyball and squash. It is currently played in Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Israel, Italy, Mexico, Panama, Portugal, Roman ...

Paddle ball Paddle ball is a one-person game played with a paddle and an attached ball. 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 tim ...

Paddle-ball Paddle-ball is a sport that is played on a court half the size of a tennis court, using paddle racquets amongst two players (single game) or in doubles with two teams consisting of two players. The Paddle-ball paddle is made of wood or graphite ...

* Paddle tennis * Padel * Paintball *

Palin The surname Palin is a name of British origin, either English or Welsh. Possible derivations include an anglicization of the Welsh patronymic ''ap Heilyn'' ("son of Heilyn") or a reference to the English placenames Poling, West Sussex or Sea Pallin ...

Pelota mixteca ''Pelota mixteca'' ("Mixtec-style ball") is a team sport similar to a net-less tennis game. The players wear sturdy, elaborately decorated gloves affixed to a heavy flat striking surface, using them to strike a small solid ball. The game has roots ...

* Pesäpallo * Picigin *

Pickleball Pickleball is an indoor or outdoor racket/paddle sport where two players (singles), or four players (doubles), hit a perforated hollow polymer ball over a net using solid-faced paddles. Opponents on either side of the net hit the ball back and ...

Polo Polo is a ball game played on horseback, a traditional field sport and one of the world's oldest known team sports. The game is played by two opposing teams with the objective of scoring using a long-handled wooden mallet to hit a small hard ...

Bicycle polo Cycle polo, bicycle polo, or bike polo (''polo-vélo'' in French; ''Radpolo'' in German) is a team sport, similar to traditional polo, except that bicycles are used instead of horses. There are two versions of the sport: grass and Hardcourt Bike ...

** Elephant polo ** Horseball ** Polocrosse ** Segway polo ** Yak polo *

Push ball Pushball is a game played by two sides on a field usually long and wide, with a ball in diameter and in weight. Occasionally, much heavier balls were used. The sides usually number eleven each, there being five forwards, two left-wings, two rig ...

Q - Z

* Quidditch * Racquetball *

Ringball Ringball is a traditional South African sport that stems from basketball and has been played since 1907. The sport is now promoted in South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, Lesotho, India, and Mauritius to establish Ringball as an international spor ...

* Rock-It-Ball * Rounders * Sepak takraw *

Shinty Shinty ( gd, camanachd, iomain) is a team game played with sticks and a ball. Shinty is now played mainly in the Scottish Highlands and amongst Highland migrants to the big cities of Scotland, but it was formerly more widespread in Scotland, an ...

* Sipa * Skee ball * Slamball * Softball * Squash * Stickball *

Stickball (Native American) Indigenous North American stickball is a team sport typically played on an open field where teams of players with two sticks each attempt to control and shoot a ball at the opposing team's goal. It shares similarities to the game of lacrosse. In ...

Streetball Streetball (or street basketball) is a variation of basketball, typically played on outdoor courts and featuring significantly less formal structure and enforcement of the game's rules. As such, its format is more conducive to allowing players ...

* Table football (foosball) * Table tennis (ping pong) * TagPro (esports) *

Tchoukball Tchoukball is an indoor team sport developed in the 1970s by Swiss biologist Hermann Brandt. Brandt was concerned about the number of injuries in sport at the time and as part of an educational study he wanted to create a sport that reduced in ...

* Team handball * Tee ball * Tennis * Tetherball *

Teqball Teqball is a ball sport that is played on a curved table, combining elements of sepak takraw and table tennis. Back and forth, the players hit a football with any part of the body except arms and hands. Teqball can be played between two players ...

* Ulama * Valencian pilota ** Escala i corda ** Galotxa **

Galotxetes Galotxetes ({{IPA-va, ɡaloˈtʃetes, also known as ''Galotxes'') is a modality of the Valencian pilota. As usual in the Valencian pilota, it's a handball game where players stand in front of each other. The differences with the main variant are ...

** Llargues ** Raspall **

Valencian fronto Valencian () or Valencian language () is the official, historical and traditional name used in the Valencian Community (Spain), and unofficially in the Carche, El Carche comarca in Región de Murcia, Murcia (Spain), to refer to the Romance lan ...

* Underwater sports * Volleyball **

Beach volleyball Beach volleyball is a team sport played by two teams of two or more players on a sand court divided by a net. Similar to indoor volleyball, the objective of the game is to send the ball over the net and to ground it on the opponent's side of the ...

Sitting volleyball Sitting volleyball is a form of volleyball for athletes with a disability. As opposed to standing volleyball, sitting volleyball players must have at least one buttock in contact with the floor during the game. History Sitting volleyball was inve ...

** Snow volleyball * Waboba *

Water basketball Water basketball is a water sport, which mixes the rules of basketball and water polo, played in a swimming pool. Teams of five players each must shoot at the goal with a ball within a certain time after gaining possession. History In the Nethe ...

* Water polo * Welsh handball * Wiffleball *

Wireball Wireball is a street game related to baseball, usually formed as a pick-up game, in urban areas of the United States. The equipment consists of a pimple or pensie pinkie ball and a convenient place in a street or driveway where an electric power li ...

Sport-related lists {{team sport