Whiffle Derby

By Joel on May 27, 2008 in family, fun, and how to.

While visiting my Grandparents' home this weekend, my brother Nathan and I created a new family-friendly game called Whiffle Derby. We played it for several hours yesterday, and flushed out the rules pretty well. Here it is for you to enjoy with your family.

Overview

Whiffle Derby is an easy-paced game where 2–6 players compete to score the most runs in 3 innings of play. Total play time is about 15 minutes.

Setup

You need one home plate, one whiffle bat, three whiffle balls (although one will work), two markers which represent the boundary for zone one, and two more for zone two (lawn darts work great), and 2–4 lawn chairs (one for the catcher and three for the outfield positions). Zone one should be a straight line 50 feet from and perpendicular to home plate. Zone two should be an additional 25 feet out (75 from home plate). The pitcher's mound should be 25 feet from home plate.

Rules

Each batter gets three swings per inning. A ground hit which stops in zone one is a single (1 run), and a fly ball which lands and stops in zone one is a double (2 runs). Likewise, a ground hit into zone two is a triple (3 runs), and a fly ball which lands in the zone two is a home run (4 runs). Each player chooses and represents a MLB team, since they play all positions in one inning. After hitting, a player becomes the pitcher, then the outfielder, and then the catcher (in a 4-player game). If there are 5 or 6 players, there is a an additional outfield position (in zone two), and an infield position (before zone one).

Variations

  1. A batter wins an additional swing for each time they are hit by a pitch.
  2. One whiffle ball is considered the bonus ball, and all points for that ball are doubled.  This can be the first ball, the last ball, or a colored ball.
  3. If the hit ball makes contact with the zone marker, the points scored for that hit are tripled.
  4. For less experienced players, a handicap is available which doubles all points scored at the end of the game.
» Joel's blog | 2 comments

Comments

1. Charlie Raymond on Jun 2, 08 at 7:53 am

Hey Joel, That sounds great! What do the outfielders do? Do they just fetch hit balls? or can they get outs, or interact with the play at all?

2. Joel Stein on Jun 9, 08 at 10:28 pm

Charlie, great question, one perfectly oriented to your high level of energy. Our goal was to make it intentionally leisurely, so the role of the outfielder(s) is to confirm the zone in which the ball stops, and then field the ball back to the pitcher. They should then promptly return to their lawn chair and relax (and drink their beverage of choice).

We could add a variation which factored in some sort of defense, but I like the fact that scoring is solely dependent on how well you hit (and how agreeable your pitcher is). However, one idea that intrigues me... what if the outfielders had to stay in their chair until the ball came to a stop, but they could catch it (while sitting) for a 2-point penalty to the batter, or stop a grounder's forward motion for a 1-point penalty. Then there is still some control left in the hands of the batter. With this variation, a batter's score could never go below zero. What do you think?

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