Tether Toss Setup, Rules & Scoring
Setup:
1) A tether court shall be a level rectangular area 10 ft wide and a minimum of 35 ft long. The court should consist of two tether targets (25 feet apart from front to front), designated tosser boxes, and foul line.
*the foul line will be parallel to the front of the tether target
2) The tossers box is the rectangle 4 ft by 3 ft at each end of the court, parallel and on both sides of the tether targets. Each contestant must remain in the tossers box while tossing the tethered ball.
Playing the Game:
1) Tether Toss can be played as doubles or singles. In doubles play two contestants are partners against another team of two contestants; in singles play a contestant competes against another contestant. In doubles play, one member of each team tosses from one target and the other member tosses from the other target. In singles play, both contestants toss from the same tether target.
2) In doubles play, the first side of contestants alternate tossing tethered balls until they have thrown all three, then the remaining contestants continue to alternate in the same manner until all three tethered balls are delivered.
3) The contestant who scored last shall toss first in the next round. If neither tosser scores, the contestant who tossed second (last) shall first in the next round.
4) A foul ball is one which was delivered in non-compliance with one of the rules of the game. It scores as an out and is to be removed from the court before any more tethered balls are tossed.
*balls may not bounce into the target… if this occurs it is considered a foul and does not count.
Scoring
1) A tethered ball that is thrown through the FRONT hole in the platform is worth 2 POINTS.
2) A tethered ball that is thrown through the CENTER hole in the platform is worth 1 POINT.
3) A tethered ball that is thrown through the BACK hole in the platform is worth 3 POINTS.
4) The match shall be played until the first team of contestants reaches EXACTLY 21 points at the completion of a round. The winning team does not need to win by two or more points.
*If you go over 21 in a round, you must subtract the amount over from 21 and start from that amount in your next round
EXAMPLE: If you start a round with 18 points and after that round of tossing you have 5 points, you would be 2 points over 21. Therefore you now have 19.
5) If the match is tied at 21 at the end of a round, play continues until one team or the other achieves a higher score at the end of a round.
6) In cancellation scoring, tethered balls that land within the FRONT, CENTER, or BACK hole by opponents during a round (or half a round in doubles play) cancel each other out. Only non-cancelled tethered balls are counted in the score for the inning.
EXAMPLE: If you get 1 in the front hole and 1 in the center, you have 3 points. But if, in the same turn, your opponent throws 2 tethers through the back hole and 1 in the front, they've scored 8 points. The score for that round would be; Them = 5; You = 0.