Guts (game)
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Guts or guts disc (sometimes guts Frisbee in reference to the trademarked brand name) is a disc game inspired by dodgeball, involving teams throwing a flying disc (rather than balls) at members of the opposing team. One to five team members stand in a line facing the opposing team across the court, with the two teams lined up parallel to each other. Which team begins play is determined "flipping the disc", an action similar to a coin toss, but using the disc itself. One member of the team is then selected to start play.
That member then raises an arm to indicate readiness to throw, at which point the members of the opposing team freeze in position. The thrower then throws the disc as hard as possible at someone on the opposing team. If the thrower misses the "scoring area" (a demarcated area a bit larger than the space occupied by the opposing team), or if a member of the receiving team, catches the disc, the receiving team scores a point. If the throw is within the scoring area and the receiving team fails to catch, or catches but drops, the disc, the throwing team gets a point. The receiving team then picks up the disc and becomes the throwing team.
The receiving team must catch the disc cleanly, in one hand, and may not move from position until after the disc leaves the hand of the thrower. The disc may not be trapped between the hand and any other part of the body, including the other hand. This frequently results in a challenging sequence of "tips", rebounds of the disc off of receivers' hands to slow the disc down, often involving multiple players on the receiving team.
Play continues until at least 21 points have been scored by one of the teams and there is a difference in score of at least 2 points.
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[edit] History
The sport was invented by[citation needed] the Healy brothers in Eagle Harbor, Michigan.
As guts evolved during the 1960s, players started throwing faster and faster, until it wasn’t unusual to see presumably unbreakable discs traveling at 60–70 mph shatter on impact with an unlucky defender’s hand.[dubious ] Catching a speeding disc directly was said to really "take guts", thus the name of the game. One tournament player even required fifteen stitches to close a gaping wound across the palm of his hand.[citation needed]
By the early 1970s, the game had spread across the Unied States and to other countries, with coverage on radio, television, major newspapers,[citations needed] and magazines such as Time.)[1]
With over 60 teams at a tournament in the heyday of the game, matches became intensely competitive affairs, seeking the IFT’s Julius T. Nachazel Trophy. With radical curving shots, deflected Frisbees bobbled frantically among teammates, and spectacular diving catches, guts had become an extreme sport demanding fast reflexes, physical endurance, and concentration.
Since its rise in the 1970s, when even ABC’s Wide World of Sports was televising guts action, and numerous tournaments were springing up, from Toronto to Chicago and Los Angeles, the sport has gradually declined in popularity in America. Guts had been introduced in Asia by the toy company Wham-O in the 1970s, and by the 1990s it had become even more popular in Japan and Taiwan than in the US. Recent years, however, have seen pockets of strong new American players renewing competitive American interest in the game, also drawing some older players out of “retirement”.
[edit] Organization
The sport’s international governing body, as with other major flying disc games, is the World Flying Disc Federation (WFDF). For North America, the more game-specific United States Guts Players Association (USGPA) officiates.
The fiftieth annual International Frisbee Tournament (IFT), held in Hancock, Michigan, June 30 – July 1, 2007, included the largest-ever[citation needed] guts disc tournament, drawing players from all over the United States and Canada, and for the first time, two strong teams from Japan – including “Katon”, the WFDF World Champions.
As of 2007,[citation needed] the USGPA plans to induct some of the most outstanding players into the Guts Hall of Fame, joining Fred Morrison (inventor of the original Pluto Platter flying disc), the Healy brothers[clarify] (inventors of guts and founders of the IFT), and “Steady Ed” Headrick (IFT champion and inventor of the standard “pole hole” basket used on modern disc golf courses).
[edit] Slubber Guts
Slubber Guts is a game based on Guts and is played purely for fun. The games includes the drinking of canned beverages (mostly alcoholic but not essential). The games starts with two teams of any number lined up opposite each other similar to guts. Each player must place a can in front of themselves and another can behind themselves.
- The object of the game is to hit the cans of the opposing lines players.
- If a players front can is hit then they must take a drink from that can, if a players rear can is hit then they must drink the entire contents of the can in one go and then replace the can before returning to the game.
- If a player catches a throw with one hand then the thrower must take a drink from their front can.
- Players are not allowed to protect their front can with their body. They may only defect an incoming disc by throwing a disc of their own.
- Players are allowed to protect the rear cans of the neighboring players.
There are no winners or losers in Slubber Guts. The game is best played with a large amount of players & many discs
[edit] See also
- Dodge disc – a very closely-related game
[edit] References
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This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (September 2007) |
- ^ * "Flipped Disks", TIME magazine, July 17, 1972.
