Hobbies And Interests
Origin
Grifball was originally developed by Rooster Teeth Productions, a Texas company known for producing "machinima" or films using in-game graphics engines from popular video games. The concept was born from a gag used in the fourth season of their popular "Halo-" based machinima series "Red vs. Blue," when the character Sarge exclaimed that shooting the character Grif off a ledge was "the best game since Grifball." The team soon developed a multiplayer game-type for "Halo 3" known as "Grifball," and based on rules created during the show itself for what was jokingly declared by Grif as "the laziest game-type in the world." The game-type would later be ported to "Halo: Reach" for continued play.
Number of Players
Grifball features two teams with four players each for a total of eight players. All players are armed with only energy swords or gravity hammers, with no ranged weapons allowed.
Object
The object of Grifball is fairly straightforward -- get the bomb, also known as the ball and plant it at the opposing teams goal to score a point and end the round. The first team to gain the majority of points for the game's rounds (three out of five, for example) wins the match.
Rules
The round begins with the bomb at center of the court and both teams at their respective ends. Both teams rush to get the bomb for the "tip-off" and whichever team gains it goes on the offensive. The player with the bomb must plant it at the opposing team's goal to score a point. Typically, Grifball games consist of five timed rounds or nine untimed rounds, with the first team to earn the majority of points declared the winner.
Player Positions
There are several player positions in Grifball. The Trick Runner carries the ball and scores points, dodging opposing players. They also organize the team's play strategy with call-outs to teammates. Tanks bowl over any player who gets in their way, and distract the opposing team's Defenders. Defenders have to keep track of opposing Trick Runners and actively take them out to prevent the other team from scoring. They also make calls to their teammates to alert them when the Trick Runner is getting through or to organize their defense. Hybrids are versatile players capable of handling any job, tanking and defending as necessary and running when they have to.
League Play
Grifball has earned a strong enough following that, as of publication, there are at least two Grifball leagues in North America. Grifball.com features both professional and amateur league play, including a regular season and tournament play. GrifballHub's Good Games League also takes on teams for competitive play. International leagues including the European Grifball League, can also be found online. All league activity is organized online by their respective league hosts.
Forge World
Forge World is a feature of "Halo: Reach" that allows players to create custom maps for various gameplay modes. This allows players to also create custom Grifball courts and arenas, to give their teams a distinct "home field." Grifball courts must follow certain specifications to count as play-friendly, and in some leagues only officially sanctioned maps are allowed for use.