Playing area
The chosen place must be a plain, straight, wide and long street, measuring 70 m at most. If one of the sides is upset the downside will be assigned to the "rest", the same if one of the sides is wider. Street is limited by two lines: the ''banca'' line and the rest line which mark the end of both sides. There is also another line, the fault line which signals the point the ball must surpass when serving, at 40 m from the ''rest''. In case one of the playing teams is clearly stronger they may ''give some steps'', that is, to allow the ''banca line'' to be a bit more advanced in order to compensate for the stronger opponent serve. Spectators may sit on the sidewalks and behind the street end lines.Ball
''Llargues'' are played with a badana ball, which can be played without any protection. Since this sport is practiced on the streets and the bounce is very irregular this kind of ball almost does not bounce. They are cheap, so it does not matter if any ball is lost on the roofs, at another street or in any balcony (which happens often). Also, streets have plenty of irregularities such as borders or traffic signals, and many places with a different rebound (walls and doors, ground or gutter lids), that cause strange effects to the trajectory of the ball; those unexpected directions are somehow minimized by the soft rebound of the ''badana ball'' since it is made of moulding materials. Another reason to use this ball is its slowness and softness, so that it is proper for amateur or casual players. The badana ball is made of rags withRules
Two teams formed by 4 or 5 players try to attain a certain score (usually 10 points) by throwing each other a ball with the hand so that the opposing team is not able to send it back. Not so long ago there was another scoring system called "up and down" (a pujar i baixar), where the team who was losing subtracted points to the winner. Teams wear red and blue T-shirts, with red being the colour of the team allegedly stronger or favoured in the betting. Players receive a name depending on their position on the street: * The banca is in charge of beginning every ''quinze'' by serving, from one side of the street. * The rest, from the other side of the street, is who usually returns the banca' serve. Both players are the stronger pilotaris. * The is in the middle of his midfield, his purpose is sending the ball as far as possible. * The punter is in front of the opposing team or into their midfield, he must block the ball or throw it to the non-protected places. Every point consists of four ''quinzes'': 15, 30, ''val'', and ''joc''. The team who wins the ''joc'' scores a point. The ''quinze'' begins when the ''banca'' serves: From the other side of the ''banca line'' the player must send himself the ball and (without any bounce) hit it to throw it so that it surpasses the ''fault line'' without touching the ground, then the opposing team may hit it back or block it so that it does not advance further. In ''llargues'' the ball must be hit with the hand when it is in the air or after its first rebound on the ground, to send it to the opposing team's field or behind the line that marks the end of the street. When the player blocks the ball he may touch it with any part of his body (but only after the second bounce), in that case a ''line'' is done on the ground (actually, a signal is placed on the sidewalk). It is the basic principle of the games of gain-ground. The main feature of ''Llargues'' are the ratlles (A palma
A palma is a ''Llargues'' variant where the only difference is the serve. Since there are so many good ''banques'', the serving is done ''a palma'' (with the palm), that is, the arm is extended long. This way, the serving strike is not so strong and teams are likely to be more equal.Perxa
The Perxa shares the same rules than the ''Llargues'' variant except for the serve. The serve is done from the ''fault line'' throwing the ball over a rope (as seen on the Galotxa variant) to a square drawn on the ground.See also
{{commonscat * International game Valencian pilota Games of gain-ground Sports originating in Spain