Four square and several days ago...

March 10, 2010 5:06 AM

BRIDGTON, Maine, February 27 (ESPN) -- It takes a certain kind of confidence for an athlete to wear a cape. You can't just be good. You have to be amazing, as in world champion-caliber amazing. Otherwise, you run the risk of looking ridiculous. Luckily, Christian Housh, better known as Tiger Claw, proved himself worthy of a world title. "I can't say I ever had any dreams of being a four square champion until I found out about the world championships of four square," Housh said. "Then the dream came alive."

Bonus: incomplete list of cool rules. Previously on MetaFilter. Previously at a MetaFilter meetup. Get well soon, klangklangston!
posted by not_on_display (14 comments total)

"There was nobody claiming the world championship, so we decided to lay claim to it," Lowell said.

I think major league baseball had you beat by about 100 years, but knock yourselves out.
posted by three blind mice at 5:10 AM on March 10, 2010

I'm glad to see this post is in honor of klangklangston. I thought of him immediately.
posted by OmieWise at 5:18 AM on March 10, 2010

Thanks for that link to the thread on klangklangston's accident. Would have missed it otherwise.
posted by Anderson_Localized at 5:35 AM on March 10, 2010

four score and...
posted by hypersloth at 5:36 AM on March 10, 2010

I want to play! This game looks tailor made for my athletic "gifts," which are limited to hand-eye coordination and decent reflexes. I've been looking for a game where being weak and slow aren't major handicaps. I tried table tennis, but quickly discovered that serious table tennis player tend to be wankers.
posted by diogenes at 5:36 AM on March 10, 2010

No baubling.
posted by Pollomacho at 5:36 AM on March 10, 2010

It's not foursquare unless three of the players gang up on the other one to slam her with hard spikes and "accidentally" stomp on her toes until she drops out and goes home crying.
posted by stuck on an island at 5:56 AM on March 10, 2010 [1 favorite]

Wow! I grew up playing a game of foursquare on my block, what seemed like a single, ongoing game that went from about 1978-1985. Wonderful game.
posted by Miko at 6:25 AM on March 10, 2010

My friend, who is mentioned in the article was featured in a mockumentary about four square.
posted by cloeburner at 6:44 AM on March 10, 2010 [1 favorite]

Oh my god. This takes me back to my second summer job, in which I had to entertain roughly 20 or so 6-12 yr olds for 4 hours a day. Three weeks before the end of the program, we had run out of museums, day trips, whatever, and my coworkers and supervisor were mostly interested in exchanging gossip about who had broken up over the summer and who was cheating on who, which, as I did not attend the same HS I could not meaningfully partake in. So I had to keep the kids under control.

Do you know what will keep 20 kids entertained and more or less well-behaved for 4-6 hours, easy?

Foursquare. It is a godsend.

Until someone manages to bounce the ball into the (nasty, muddy, condom- and beer-bottle-filled) ditch, and Mr. Dixon has to go fish it out.
posted by PMdixon at 9:16 AM on March 10, 2010 [1 favorite]

In college, after dinner, we would go down to the basement of the co-op, gel loaded and play four square until the next meal. Unless we decided to skateboard down there.
Anyway, four square never lost it's charm. Plus, when you get people from all over the country, server's rules can be just about anything.
posted by Seamus at 2:02 PM on March 10, 2010

Growing up one-wall handball at the park was my game of choice for a long time. But this looks like a lot of fun.
posted by Pirate-Bartender-Zombie-Monkey at 3:36 PM on March 10, 2010

klangklangston, the man generally credited with rekindling the love of Foursquare in SoCal, will most likely be waived to the D-League until he regains his form. But if Bo Jackson could come back from hip surgery, so can klang.
posted by beelzbubba at 6:13 AM on March 11, 2010 [1 favorite]

The "official" rules fill me with some glee; my personal sports narrative is playing foursquare street style, without scoring but with a lot more panache. Also, they're wrong about Grandfather Clocks (which are slam serves done with both hands) and cherry bombs, which are when you spike down the ball into your square (prior to it hitting) then use that hit to return it. We also play with "basketballs" or "dribbles" which optionally allow you to bounce the ball in your own square, and our "bobbles" (seriously, "baubles" is folk spelling) are of proscribed number.

By now, I almost prefer two-square with rally scoring.

Also, thanks for all the kind words!
posted by klangklangston at 10:38 AM on March 23, 2010