A New Game

Estimated reading time: 6 minute(s)

I play basketball on Wednesday mornings from about 8am till 9am. It’s an hour of playing hard and having fun. We have anywhere from just two players to one time we had five. Most commonly we have three. So, we have had to be slightly inventive in the format of our games. And, on occasion, no one but me will show up, so I have had to be even more inventive.

I came up with a game a while back that I thought was pretty challenging and fun for a solo player. Yes, basketball solitaire! I was solo again today, so I tweaked it a bit, and thought I would share my nameless game here. It could be called just Basketball Solitaire. Or, maybe 5-4-3-2-1. That’s kinda long.

You let me know what you think it should be called…

Nameless One-Player Basketball Game

• Object:
  Get as many points as you can in 20 turns. Best possible score is 100.
• Play:
  Play begins by taking a half court shot. If you make this shot, you get 5 points. As soon as you release the shot, follow it for your rebound. Wherever you get the ball, that’s where you shoot from. (For a more challenging game, dont’ dribble or set your shot. Just fire as soon as you have control of the ball.) If you make this shot, you get 4 points. Continue shooting wherever you grab the rebound, scoring one less point per shot attempt until you score. If your point value goes down to zero (by missing all 5 shots), proceed to the half court circle and begin again toward the other end of the court.

  A turn consists of up to 5 attempts to score. The game is divided into quarters. The action does not stop until five turns have been completed. After you have completed a quarter, you may shoot one (1) foul shot per turn where no points were scored. So, if you had two turns where you scored a zero (0), you may take 2 foul shots, which are worth 1 point each.

  Tally your score. Best score would be 25 points. After a break, continue with the next quarter. After four quarters, tally your score and try to beat it next time!

So, that’s the game. Have fun!