How to play
The rules in brief, what you need, and how pickup games work, sport by sport.
SoccerSoccer is the easiest team sport to join: all you need is a ball, a patch of grass and enough people for two teams. Pickup...BasketballBasketball is the classic pickup sport: outdoor courts are free, games start every few minutes, and one ball is enough. Full...TennisTennis takes just two people and a court, and public courts are in almost every park. Learn the scoring once and you can play...PickleballPickleball mixes tennis, badminton and ping pong on a small court, and it is the easiest racquet sport to start: most people...VolleyballVolleyball is played indoors 6 against 6 and on sand 2 against 2 or 4 against 4. Pickup games are social and fast, and good...HockeyIce hockey is fast, physical and hugely social, and the pickup version, "shinny" or drop-in hockey, is how many adults keep...BaseballBaseball is a game of throwing, hitting and running, played between two teams of nine. Adult pickup is less common than for...Ping PongPing pong, or table tennis, is fast, cheap and playable almost anywhere: parks, community centres and many offices have...BadmintonBadminton is the fastest racquet sport and one of the easiest to start: a light racquet, a shuttlecock and a gym or a calm...PadelPadel is played in doubles on a small court surrounded by glass walls, with solid paddles and a tennis-like ball. It is easy...SquashSquash is a fast indoor racquet sport played by two people in a four-walled court. Forty minutes of squash is one of the...CricketCricket is a bat-and-ball game between two teams of eleven. The full game can last days, but casual cricket, tape-ball cricket...RugbyRugby is a running, passing and tackling game with an oval ball. For casual play, touch rugby removes the tackles and makes...American FootballAmerican football is a game of downs, plays and yards between two teams of eleven. In parks, the pickup versions, flag...RunningRunning is the simplest sport there is: shoes and a door. Running with other people, at a club, a parkrun or a group run,...