Wiffleball is great summer fun for all ages. What you need is about five, genuine wiffle balls, an aluminum lawn chair, and a wooden stickball bat or broom handle (with out the broom). Plastic wiffleball bats just won't do.

This is a game best played in a backyard where there’s a house that will keep most of the balls from being hit a mile away. This is how we played it in North Jersey (shout out to Henry Timzen).

The Rules: The aluminum lawn chair serves several related purposes. First it is homeplate and the strikezone/umpire. Any ball that hits the chair from the crossbar of the bottom front of the seat and up is a strike. This way you can have wicked curveballs sinkers and whatnots, and have a way of rewarding great pitching. Without the chair, you’ll have batters sitting there waiting on meatballs.

Set up the pitching mound about 15 feet away from the chair. It can’t be too far, or the balls won’t travel well; they’re light as a feather.

Then you have to mark off some distances. Use your best judgment. We said anything that didn’t make it past the pitching mound was a foul ball, unless the pitcher caught it while it was moving. Any grounder that was caught while it was moving was an out. A grounder that stopped past the pitchers mound, but before anyone could catch it was a single. If it hit the house below the siding, it was a double. If it hit the house above the siding but below the bottom of the second floor windows it was a triple. If it hit the house above the bottom of the second floor windows it was a home run. This included the roof, if the ball fell back on our side. If the ball went over the house, it was an “Over The House Home Run” which was automatically scored as a grand slam, no matter how many men you had on base.

Wiffleball (Jersey-Style)

We'd love to hear the games you played when you were young. Share them with your friends on GettingOutside.

Wiffleball (Chicago-Style)

Is just played wrong. :-) Sorry Dennis!