How to Play Paper Football

For generations of children, paper football has been a simple, inexpensive way to deal with downtime during school. It's easy to learn yet addictive, and those who practice enough can develop quite the touch. Read on to learn how to play paper football.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Paper
• An opponent

1. Fold a standard letter-sized pieced of paper into a triangular "football."

2. The two players sit on opposite ends of a flat, smooth table.

3. To determine who plays first, each player takes a turn placing the football flat on the table hanging over the edge directly in front of him and propelling the ball towards the opponent by tapping it with his hand. The player whose ball lands closest to the opponent's edge without falling off gets to play first.

4. The player who ends up closest places the ball on the table in front of him--this time not hanging over the edge--and taps it toward the opponent by either flicking it with one or more fingers or by tapping forcefully on the table directly in front of the ball to propel it forward.

5. 
    
   Know a touchdown.

   If the ball comes to a stop hanging over the edge of the opponent's side of the table, the player who hit the ball scores a touchdown. This is worth six points.

6. 
    
   Here is an example of how to make field goal posts with your fingers.

   If a touchdown is made, the player who scored tries to make an extra point. The player who was scored upon forms a field goal post by holding his hands together on the table with both index fingers pointing inwards like two "guns" shooting each other.

7. 
    
   Here is how to kick a football.

   The scoring player attempts to "kick" the ball between the field goal posts by using one finger to hold the ball upright on the table with its longest side vertical and flicking the ball into the air with the other hand. If successful, the player scores another point.

8. If a player doesn't score a touchdown on his turn, the other player takes a turn trying to score a touchdown.

9. 
    
   Here is an alternate field goal post configuration.

   If, when a player hits the ball, it falls over the edge of the table, this is called an "off." The other player places the ball flat on the table in front of him, and play continues, but once a player commits three offs, the opponent gets to try a field goal. A field goal is played exactly like an extra point, except it's worth three points.

10. Whomever scores the most points wins.

Tips & Warnings

• If there is doubt over whether a touchdown is scored, get a stiff, straight object like a pencil or ruler and run it along the edge of the table. If the football moves as the ruler/pencil moves by it, then this is a touchdown.
• The size of the football can vary, depending on what size paper you use. You can use an entire sheet of letter-sized paper, half a sheet or even a quarter of a sheet.
• To make the game harder, try using a bigger table or even adding obstacles. Also, you can make the goal posts smaller by using your thumbs as the horizontal post and your index fingers as the vertical posts, rather than the vice versa.
• There are subtle variations on game play, so make sure both players agree on the rules before starting.

Resources

• Paper Football Zone

[sideshowpete]

on 3/17/2008 Check out the "Official Website of Paper Football" at www.paperfootball.us

They have the "Official Rules" of paper football.