It’s ‘Rollerball’ on ice – with less risk of serious injury and death

Twenty years from now, when NBC has somehow ruined the winter Olympics simply because that’s what it does and when the International Olympic Committee is looking for a breath of fresh air, both should look no further than Basinball.

Basinball features two opposing teams equipped with ice skates, helmets and pads skating around a large basin-style arena, with banked walls covered in ice. In the center of the arena is a rotating circular set of bars which players can grab onto and launch themselves about the sides of the playing area. High above these bars is a hanging hoop which represents the object of the game: to put a ball through it in order to score points.

Sure, this game sounds pretty ambitious, maybe it even sounds a little bit like the apocalyptic “Rollerball” to you cynics. But don’t fear; Basinball has a limited contact rule and doesn’t have motorcycles flying about the course. However, snowmobiles were considered.

Each team has eight players that carry scoops, little baskets with handles that are the only things allowed to carry the ball. The scoops must also be used to throw the ball, with three different point totals being awarded. The totals depend on whether the player is at the bottom, middle or highest points of the embankment and are three, two and one respectively.

The game is played in two 25-minute halves and is decided by five minute overtimes if necessary.

So what makes a great Basinball player? Certainly the ability to skate is important, but self-awareness is also paramount: 15 other players are flying around the basin in various directions with eight of them trying to take the ball from the handling player and put it through the hoop.

The best Basinball players possess a keen sense of awareness and more finesse than aggression. Since contact is limited, stealing the ball requires that players be more clever and timely than brutal and overpowering. Strategy for scoring the ball becomes all the more important.

The game was designed to create this type of voluntary chaos that values a person’s ability to be quick, keen and conscious; keeping your wits is as important as keeping the ball.

So strap on those ice skates, freeze over a skating bowl and play some Basinball. Just watch out for the people flying around. And the missed shot that’s about to land on your head.