Part combat, part field hockey and part capture the flag, Holonball (named after its creator, former R.A.G.E. Battling director Del Holon) is a fast and wild hybrid sport that has become extremely popular with the younger battling set. Though it's existed in unofficial form for well over a decade, the game's popularity has become so great that a professional Holonball league was established two years ago, and many combat schools across the nation have also added it to their lists of extracurricular activities.


THE SETUP

The game is played on a grass field 85' wide and 200' long, divided into two zones. At each end there is a raised platform called "home base", with a built-in goal container at the center that is 4' in diameter. In the center of the field is a large circular depression with another, larger goal (8' in diameter) in the middle.

There are two teams of 10 players, though only six may be on the field during play. Three of the active players are called "chargers", one of which is designated team captain. The other three are known as "crashers", who are equipped with wide wooden sticks resembling a slightly smaller version of a hockey goalie's stick (although Cubones and Farfetch'ds are permitted to use their bone club or leek in place of these sticks if they so prefer).

Team captains start on their team's home base with a holonball, which is about the same size and weight as a soccer ball. The remainder of the team can position themselves anywhere on their side of the field that isn't the home base or the center goal area.


GAMEPLAY AND SCORING

The object of the game is to be the first team to score at least 21 points. Points are scored by getting your team's holonball into either the center goal (1 point) or the opponent's home goal (3 points), or by stealing the opponents' holon ball and getting it into your team's home goal (5 points). No points are scored for putting the opponents' ball into the center goal or putting your team's ball in your own home goal (duh!).

The game starts at the referee's signal, with each team captain holding their team's holonball at home base. The captain and the two other chargers can run with the ball, throw it to another charger, or attempt to score. Crashers are not allowed to pick up or hold their team's ball if it is dropped, but they can bat it to a teammate with their stick, or kick it like a soccer ball. Crashers CAN pick up and carry the opponents' holonball however, which is their primary method of scoring. They may also try to bat the ball into a goal if they want, but this is much easier said than done. Chargers can pick up either team's ball freely, but they can't hold both balls at the same time. If they have one and pick up the other, one of them must be passed to a teammate immediately or else a foul is called.

After a team scores, play stops and both teams return to their respective sides to set up for the next round. During this downtime teams have 30 seconds to make a substitution if they want, however only one player may be swapped out and the captain cannot be substituted. After 30 seconds the referee gives the start signal for the next scoring round, and the game continues in this fashion until one side scores 21 or more points.


ROUGH STUFF

This is the main reason the game has gained popularity so quickly over the last couple years; where other sports disallow or heavily discourage fighting or using combat moves during a match, Holonball has no such restriction (within reason, of course). Trying to knock down or even KO an opposing player is just as viable a strategy as simply blocking their goal attempt or stealing the ball. Full contact rules are in effect, crashers are allowed to use their sticks to trip or knock over opposing players, and most combat moves may be used by any player as they see fit. It should be noted that while helmets and pads are not required equipment for this game, they're definitely recommended.

However, there are limits as to just how rough a player can get. Hitting a downed opponent, either intentionally or accidentally, will result in a foul and score penalty, as will excessive roughness or fighting after the ref has stopped the round. Furthermore, any player causing a serious injury to an opponent is immediately ejected from the game, and may be barred from playing in future games depending on the circumstances. Holonball is a very aggressive sport, but treating it like a deathmatch is not tolerated in any manner.

If a player is KO'ed, they are replaced by a reserve player when the current scoring round ends. If the team captain has been KO'ed, then an on-field charger is "promoted" to captain and a reserve player takes their place on the field. If a team runs out of reserve players, then they will have to play shorthanded for the remainder of the match. Players cannot switch roles once they have taken the field, and if a team does not have any chargers left then they must forfeit the match. Thus, it's in a team's best interests to make sure they don't get too beaten up as a match goes on.


FOULS AND PENALTIES

If a player commits a foul, the referee will stop the scoring round immediately. Depending on the severity of the foul, a penalty is assessed in the form of either points taken away from the offending team, or added to the score of their opponents. The opposing team's captain is allowed to decide which of the two they want to happen in most cases, which adds another layer of strategy to the game; if it's early in the match and your team is still in good shape, it might be better to knock points off the other team's score. If it's late in the game and you're falling behind or your teammates are wearing down, boosting your team's score instead might be the better route.

If a player fouls three times in one match, they are ejected from the game and replaced by a reserve player if one is available. If four players on the same team foul out, that team forfeits the match.

Penalty-inducing fouls are:

* Accidentally hitting a downed opponent: 1 point penalty
* Intentionally hitting a downed opponent: 3 point penalty
* Illegal possesion of both holonballs: 2 point penalty
* Excessive roughness: 1 point penalty per player involved on offending team
* Fighting after ref stops the round: -1 point per player involved for both teams
* Injuring an opposing player (intentionally or not): -5 to offending team, +5 to opposing team

Even though it's possible for a team's score to go over 21 from penalties, a match cannot be won by a penalty. This means that the team still must make another goal if their score goes over 21 to actually win. Because of this, there have been matches where a team had close to 30 points resulting from penalties and yet still lost, all because they couldn't score that final winning goal before the other team made up the difference!


(Casi =  intruder)