Timeball is football combined with time travel. Such an obvious idea I couldn’t believe no one else had already thought of it. Or maybe someone did and I went back in time and stole their idea….?
The video below provides an explanation and demonstration of the game, or you can read how to play below.
HOW TO PLAY TIMEBALL
There are two ways to play Timeball – with or without a working time machine. If you do not have a time machine you can just pretend the time travel happened. Both ways of playing are explained below.
OVERVIEW
Time ball is a game of football in which players appear on the pitch at different times throughout the game. It could be said that it’s a game of two halves. But actually, to be accurate from a time travel perspective both halves of the game are actually the same half, which players travel back in time to replay over again.
First form two teams with three or more players on each team. You can either have one goalie for each team, or if you don’t have enough players you can use just one goalie who is a neutral player whose job is to defend the goal against both teams. You also need a referee to keep an eye on the game. As explained later, multiple referees can be useful.
The goalies stay on the pitch the whole time. The other players only play for part of the match, because they only arrive on the pitch from their time machines partway through the game.
The steps of the game are as set out here. Each step is explained below.
GETTING READY
Each team should divide themselves into two groups – players who will play both halves (around two thirds of the team), and players who will only play the second half. Each team must have the same number of players in each group. As an example you might have three players on each team with two playing both halves and one only playing the second half.
Before the first half, each team huddles together to decide how to program their time machines. They need to decide which time period each first half player will be in the game for. You can adjust how long a game of Timeball lasts but for a first game I suggest each half is 2 minutes long, and each player appears on the pitch for a duration of 45 seconds. So the teams must decide at which time in the first half each of their first half players will materialise from their time machine. (Teams don’t have to decide on the second half timings yet). Each team tells the referee their chosen timings in secret, who writes up a schedule on a piece of paper for when each player will arrive in the game, then gets a stopwatch ready. The referee’s schedule should also include the exit time for each player (45 seconds after the arrival time) so that the referee can keep track easily and make sure players leave the pitch when their 45 seconds is up. I suggest the referee writes the schedule of arrival and exit times in chronological order from the start of the game.
If you have enough people, it can be helpful if the referee has a support team. For example, one referee could monitor the arrival and departure time of players, one could monitor the game like a normal football referee, and one referee could be the “ball referee”. Depending on how strictly you’re following Timeball rules, it can be important to keep a close eye on where the ball is at all times. Or one referee can just do their best to keep an eye on everything.
Now the game is ready to begin. At the start of the game, none of the players have arrived at their time machines yet, so it’s just the goalie on the pitch.
All first half players now get into the time machine and program themselves to appear at their chosen time in the future. (If you don’t have a time machine you can skip this bit and just pretend you did it.)
An example of how the timings might look for a game with three players on each side (plus a goalie each) is shown below. Only the referee knows all these timings at the start of the game. Each of the teams knows their own timings but not the other team’s.
PLAYING THE GAME
The referee shouts “Go!”, starts the timer, and the game starts. You may notice that the game is not very active at the start, as the only players on the pitch are the goalies, and the ball remains on the centre spot. Don’t worry, this is normal.
When the first player is scheduled to arrive they appear from thin air on the pitch, using time travel, in any position on the pitch that they choose, (If you don’t have a time machine, instead the referee can just shout, “Freeze!” to pause the game, the player walks on and gets in position where they want, then the game restarts.)
If you do not have a time machine, and are just pretending, be careful to make sure that the ball freezes in position at the moment the game is paused for an authentic timeball experience. (This is where a ball referee comes in handy.)
When the next player is scheduled to arrive on the pitch, again they either materialise from their time machine, or the referee shouts Freeze and they walk on. It is important that any players already on the pitch freeze in position when the referee shouts freeze, until the game restarts.
When a player’s time is up they disappear from the pitch (again the referee can shout freeze if you don’t have a time machine, and the player can then walk off).
It goes without saying that it is vitally important that the referee keeps track of when each player on each team must appear and disappear. Any mistakes could cause a paradox and disrupt the space-time continuum.
SECOND HALF
When the first half is complete, the teams gather again at half-time to decide how to use their time machines to change the course of history and replay the first half. Remember the second half is actually a replay of the first half, which is replayed by travelling back in time. So those players who have already entered the game in the first half cannot change the time they arrive on the pitch, that’s in the past. But the remaining players on each team who are playing only the second half can now go backwards in time to enter the game at any point for their 45 seconds of play. When making their decisions teams should consider what they know about when the players from the other team appeared in the first half.
Each team tells the referee secretly when their second half players are going to enter the game, and the referee updates the schedule of arrival and exit times.
Then the referee resets the stopwatch, the goalie takes the field again, and the second half players get in the time machine and program it so they will arrive in the game at their chosen time.
In the second half it’s the same rules, but with the extra players on each team also entering the game.
An example of how second half timings might look is below.
At the end of the game, the total goals across both halves are added up, and the team with the most goals is the winner.
THE WORLD OF TIMEBALL
Hope you give Timeball a try! Its the best time travel football game I know of.
You can play Timeball with different numbers of players on each team and different lengths of time on the pitch, have a play around.
If you video a game of Timeball, then you can cut out the segments when the time is frozen to create an authentic time ball video with full realistic time travel effects. Please get in touch to share your Timeball videos.
Happy Timeballing!