Knockout (game)

Knockout (or Gotcha/Lightning/Killer/Crash/Fireball/Dynamite/Bump) is a basketball activity. The objective of the game is to make shots in order to survive elimination and, in turn, to eliminate other players. The basic rule of the game is if the trailing player makes a shot before the leading player, the leading player is eliminated. The winner of the game is the last remaining player.

Rules

Knockout is a basketball game with the following requirements:

• Two players or more in a single-file line, typically starting at the free-throw line
• Two basketballs, held by the first two players in line

The structure of the game is defined as follows:

• The first player in line begins the game by taking an initial shot
• As soon as the first player has taken the initial shot, the second player may step up to the line and take his or her shot
• If a player's initial shot does not go in, he or she may rebound the basketball and attempt to make a basket from any location (most often, a layup would be attempted because it is an easier shot to make than a standard jump shot)
• Once a player makes a basket, he or she must pass the ball to the next person at the front of the line and then go to the end of the line. The person at the front of the line may take his or her shot immediately upon receiving a ball.
• If any player does not make his or her shot before the person behind them, he or she is "knocked out" and is out until a new game starts.
• The order of the players cannot change during the game except by shrinking in size as players are knocked out.
• The game continues until everyone is knocked out except for one final player, who is deemed the winner.

Variations

Some variants of knockout allow you to use your basketball to knock the ball away from the person shooting(Bump), therefore enabling you to knock that person out. However, the ball cannot be in grasp of the person; you cannot just go up to the person and knock his ball away. Also, once you have made the basket, you cannot knock your opponent's ball away for the next person's sake. That's the next person's job. Some variants even allow a player to shoot their ball through the bottom of the hoop, knocking the other person's ball off course, preventing his or her ball from entering the hoop. This is dangerous however as you could miss and give your opponent the opportunity for a knock, or you could just throw it really far, making you run from your own mistake.

The game is most commonly played from the free-throw line, however variations of the game are played from the 3-point line, or even the half-court line. Another variation is to start at the foul line, then the final three play from the 3-point line. The game includes various widely used terminology, such as the term "kiss of death", meaning that a player has eliminated the player in front of him or her with his first shot, and "swift vengeance", meaning that the second-place player from the previous game has eliminated the previous first-place player on his or her first turn. But you can not go behind the person in front of you. If there are two people left in the game, the person has two lives and if they get one out they have one more life. However, if the person behind you makes it in, you go behind the person that was behind you before.

In other variations, you would start from the free-throw line, then once a person is out, you would move the line back a step, or much further(depends on the players). Once you are out, you may come back in the game by catching someone's ball, but only if it hasn't hit the back board or anything.

Another way to play is Ultimate style. If a player is knocked-out, they are out until the player who got them out is out and that you can switch balls in this game.

Formal use

Knockout is a simple group activity to learn and hence used in many physical education classes. It can improve free-throw shooting, rebounding, and quickness as players are pressured to make baskets in an efficient manner.

Largest Games

On April 8, 2011, the world's largest Knockout game in history took place on the campus of Grace College in Winona Lake, Indiana at the Orthopaedic Capitale Center. The competition was held as a fundraiser for Jeremy Mohr, a senior who was paralyzed in an accident late 2010. 383 participants took part and the game lasted one hour and 58 minutes. The top two contestants were Grace College students Tim Price and Abraham Kane.

Formerly, this record had been held by Iowa State University and was broken on April 8, 2011 with 360 students in Ames, Iowa at the Hilton Coliseum.

See also

Variations of basketball