Paper football (also called fingering football, flick football, tabletop football, thump football, or freaky football) refers to a

table Table may refer to: * Table (database), how the table data arrangement is used within the databases * Table (furniture), a piece of furniture with a flat surface and one or more legs * Table (information), a data arrangement with rows and column ...

-top

game A game is a structured type of play usually undertaken for entertainment or fun, and sometimes used as an educational tool. Many games are also considered to be work (such as professional players of spectator sports or video games) or art ...

, loosely based on

American football American football, referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada and also known as gridiron football, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular American football field, field with goalposts at e ...

, in which a sheet of

paper Paper is a thin sheet material produced by mechanically or chemically processing cellulose fibres derived from wood, Textile, rags, poaceae, grasses, Feces#Other uses, herbivore dung, or other vegetable sources in water. Once the water is dra ...

folded into a small triangle is slid back and forth across a table top by two opponents. This game is widely practiced for entertainment, mostly by students in

primary Primary or primaries may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music Groups and labels * Primary (band), from Australia * Primary (musician), hip hop musician and record producer from South Korea * Primary Music, Israeli record label Work ...

middle school Middle school, also known as intermediate school, junior high school, junior secondary school, or lower secondary school, is an educational stage between primary school and secondary school. Afghanistan In Afghanistan, middle school includes g ...

(junior high), and

high school A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., ...

age in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. Though its origin is in dispute, it was widely played at churches in Madison, Wisconsin in the early 1970s. The youth group at Grace Baptist Church held weekly events and competitions including monthly championships.

Gameplay

The game uses a piece of paper folded into a triangle, called the "ball". The starting player begins by kicking off the ball. To perform a kickoff, the ball is placed on the table, suspended by one of the player's hands with the index finger on the upper tip of the ball, then the player flicks the ball with the other hand's thumb and index finger. If the ball ends up flying off the table or hanging on the edge of the table, the kickoff is redone. If the ball lands on the table without reaching the edge of the receiving player's side, players take turns pushing it with a steady fast motion towards the opponent's side. The player scores points by getting the ball hanging on the edge of the opponent's side, called a touchdown. Every time a touchdown is scored, the player who scored has a chance to make a field goal, which has that player flick the ball as in the kickoff through the opponent's goal post, formed by placing both wrists parallel to the table on the edge, with the tips of both thumbs touching each other and both index fingers pointing straight upward. If the field goal is successful, the kicking player scores one point. The player who conceded points starts the next kickoff. The game ends based on the agreed-upon rules, be it time limit (the player with the most points when the predetermined amount of time has elapsed wins) or score limit (the first player to reach the predetermined score threshold wins).

References

External links

{{commonscategory Children's games Individual sports

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

Variations of American football

Gameplay

See also

References

External links