David N. Mullany invented Wiffle ball in Connecticut in the 1950s so that his children could pitch and swing at a ball in a small backyard without breaking windows. A Wiffle ball is a perforated plastic ball rather than a hard baseball or softball. Though the ball does not travel as far as a harder ball, you can throw curve balls and sliders with it. In Wiffle ball, hitters do not run the bases to score runs, but rather score runs by making hits that move imaginary base runners around the diamond. You can play with as few as two players and as many as 10 players.
Playing Area
According to the Wiffle website, the ideal playing field for Wiffle ball is a triangle measuring about 60 feet long and 20 feet wide at the widest end. However, you can play Wiffle ball in a much smaller area if necessary. Designate foul lines using cones or other markers, and set markers along the foul lines to indicate the end of each scoring zone, including the single-hit, double-hit and triple-hit zones. Any ball hit beyond the triple-hit zone scores a home run. The pitcher stands inside the singles area, and the batter stands where the two foul lines meet.
Fielding
Designate one player as the pitcher, one as the catcher and one for each scoring zone of the field. Fielders responsible for a specific scoring zone must stay in that zone. If you do not have enough players to cover each zone, make one player responsible for more than one zone. Fielders can get the batter out by catching fly balls in the air in fair and foul territory or by catching ground balls that are in fair territory and still in motion. This rule prevents batters from bunting.
Batting
Wiffle ball batters use a plastic bat. In Wiffle ball, you get a strike if you swing at a pitch and miss. Foul balls count as strikes for the first and second strike, but not for the third strike. As soon as one team gets three outs, the two teams switch positions. If you have only one player on a team, that player bats multiple times until he gets three outs.
Scoring and Winning
You can play nine full innings in Wiffle ball, or you can simply decide on a run total and end the game when one team gets that many runs. Both teams should keep track of any imaginary runners put on base by the batting team, until a hit brings those batters home for a run.
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