Talk:2663: Tetherball Configurations

Is anyone else reminded of the "classes of a lever" sort of classification? Where the load, fulcrum, and force are permuted. I know that's not explicitly connected to this comic, but it feels like a similar vibe, since you've got 4 (or 3 out of the 4) elements, and you're just changing the order they're oriented relative to each other. Also, tempted to delete the above comment because it's neither relevant nor signed. Dextrous Fred (talk) 03:52, 25 August 2022 (UTC)

Ground-rope-ball is arguably a playable cooperative configuration. Player 1 whirls the ball above her head like a bola; Player 2 attempts to hit the ball and get it to reverse direction. Play continues until the ball hits the ground. The final score is equal to the number of reversals. 172.70.93.43 06:29, 25 August 2022 (UTC)

Ground-rope-ball is actually quite legit - I have one of these somewhere in the basement... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2FT0Z95kN4w Elektrizikekswerk (talk) 06:59, 25 August 2022 (UTC)

How does that base stay on the ground? --NeatNit (talk) 07:52, 25 August 2022 (UTC)

It's quite heavy. You could have the same result by somehow connecting the rope directly to the ground. Elektrizikekswerk (talk) 08:35, 25 August 2022 (UTC)

Ground-rope-ball (GRB) definitely looks good. If you just place it in a playground and let some kids mess around, I guarantee they will eventually come up with rules that make for a fun game. It might not be Tetherball, but it's gotta be worthy of at least 4 stars. --NeatNit (talk) 07:52, 25 August 2022 (UTC)

Not agreeing that it would work in any way related to Tetherball. But a call stuck in the ground like this would definitely get kicked by kids. So as a game it might be used, gut not as Tetherball. --Kynde (talk) 08:27, 25 August 2022 (UTC)

Though I take your point that the original comic probably intends the meaning of the rating as being "how good AS tetherball" I disagree that it's that bad at being tether ball. There is still a ball, it is tethered and you can even kick it and have it orbit back towards you. Nbrader (talk) 12:20, 25 August 2022 (UTC)

I feel like this comic missed some opportunities:

• Pole-Rope-Pole: Nunchuks
• Ground-Pole-Rope-Pole-Ground: Tightrope
• Pole: This configuration could be used at the same time as the above for added stability

I'm sure there are more!Nbrader (talk) 12:20, 25 August 2022 (UTC)

In Denmark I never played this game, but often played Totem tennis (tether tennis or swingball). Had to find out what it was called in English first before I could write it here. --Kynde (talk) 08:27, 25 August 2022 (UTC)

I always assumed that tetherball/swingball was effectively the same whether entirely freely pivoting/rolling-over or as the helical-track system (which just automated the 'scoring' system, and undeniably triggered the top to pop up when either limit of travel was reached) that I recall from my teen years. Not sure if it was branded to Mookie Toys, but was definitely more than a decade before the 1993 date that this article appears to suggest the helix-version was created (by some interpretations*) so it could have been amongst the properties it says they bought at that time.

(* - I'd check exactly what it should mean and rewrite that article accordingly, but my mobile IP at any given moment is almost always on Wikipedia's no-editting list, so I'd need to wait to be tethered to a landline broadband again, and by then I'll have forgotten...)

I also recall a 'ground weight'-tethered version (with optional peg-holes for further immobilisation if placed upon peggable ground, like your average lawn) in the box of sports equipment taken on cub-/scout-camps, which was full of many other (and often not very Health-And-Safety-compatible) outdoor 'toys' and sports equipment like lawn-darts and several rather antique-looking boxing gloves. Can't recall any branding. 172.70.91.78 09:03, 25 August 2022 (UTC)

In wikipedia it mentions something I think which is similar: "An early variant described in Jessie H. Bancroft's 1909 book Games for the Playground... involves a tethered tennis ball hit by racquets, with similar rules of the game." It sounds like this would be a rather dangerous version, with kids swinging racquets wildly in close quarters. Are there a lot of racquet-related injuries? Gbisaga (talk) 11:42, 25 August 2022 (UTC)

In France, we have "Jokari" which is pretty similar to the first scenario, except that the rope is a rubber band, played by two people. It's a bit like tennis but without the net and with a ball that comes back. Totally playable. The article on English Wikipedia is not the same thing. 172.71.130.29 10:17, 25 August 2022 (UTC)