Playing period is a division of time in a

sport Sport is a physical activity or game, often Competition, competitive and organization, organized, that maintains or improves physical ability and skills. Sport may provide enjoyment to participants and entertainment to spectators. The numbe ...

s or

game A game is a structured type 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 video games) or art ...

s, in which

play Play most commonly refers to: * Play (activity), an activity done for enjoyment * Play (theatre), a work of drama Play may refer also to: Computers and technology * Google Play, a digital content service * Play Framework, a Java framework * P ...

occurs. Many games are divided into a fixed number of periods, which may be named for the number of divisions. Other games use terminology independent of the total number of divisions. A playing period may have a fixed length of game time or be bound by other rules of the game.

Description

The playing period is a division of time in a

s or

s, in which

occurs. Many games are divided into a fixed number of periods, which may be named for the number of divisions (e.g., a half or a quarter). Other games use terminology independent of the total number of divisions (e.g., sets or innings). A playing period may have a fixed length of game time or be bound by other rules (e.g., three outs in baseball or a sudden-death goal in overtime).

Common periods

Halves and quarters

Basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

and

gridiron football Gridiron football ( ),"Gridiron football"
''Encyclopædia Britannica'' ...

are among the sports that are divided into two ''halves'', which may be subdivided into two ''quarters''. A fifth overtime "quarter" may be played in the event of a tie at the end of the fourth quarter.

Periods

Floorball and

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey in North America) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an Ice rink, ice skating rink with Ice hockey rink, lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. Tw ...

games are typically divided into three ''periods''. A fourth period of overtime may be played in the event of a tie at the end of the third period.

Innings

Cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

and

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

games are divided into '' innings''; within each of the innings, there are further subdivisions of play known as deliveries or pitches. In

limited overs cricket Limited overs cricket, also known as white ball cricket, is a version of the sport of cricket in which a match is generally completed within one day. There are a number of formats, including List A cricket (8-hour games), Twenty20 cricket (3-h ...

, each of the innings lasts until either all but one of the players on the batting team are

out Out or OUT may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Films *Out (1957 film), ''Out'' (1957 film), a documentary short about the Hungarian Revolution of 1956 *Out (1982 film), ''Out'' (1982 film), an American film directed by Eli Hollander *O ...

, or a certain number of legal deliveries have occurred. Additional short innings, which are also limited in the number of legal deliveries, are played if necessary to break ties. In baseball, each inning consists of each team batting until three players on the team are

. Additional innings may be played if the game is tied after the ninth or subsequent innings. In variations of tag such as kho-kho and atya-patya, there is a time limit for each inning, and if the game is tied, additional innings may be played on a basis akin to sudden death.Kho Kho, a kabaddi-like sport linked with Indian epic Mahabharata - know all about it
https://olympics.com/ Utathya Nag

Ends

Curling Curling is a sport in which players slide #Curling stone, stones on a sheet of ice toward a target area that is segmented into four concentric circles. It is related to bowls, boules, and shuffleboard. Two teams, each with four players, take t ...

contests consist of a number of ''ends'', where each player on each team throws all of their stones.

Sets

Some sports, like

volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Summ ...

tennis Tennis is a List of racket sports, racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles (tennis), singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles (tennis), doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket st ...

are divided into a predetermined number of "sets", and the match ends when a team or individual wins the required number of sets (e.g. winning 3 sets in a best of 5). A set is usually won when a number of points is achieved by one of the competitors (25 points in volleyball or 6 games in tennis, for example), though further rules, like having a 2 points advantage, might be imposed.

References

{{reflist Sports terminology Units of time