Pickup Basketball

Take-back line — a crack, a seam, a shirt, or the painted arc

Drawn here as a painted three-point arc because that's the natural one. The rules fix only its purpose — far enough out that nobody scores from behind it by accident — so the radius is illustrative.

drawn from 3 rules

• Half a court

  setup

  Everyone plays at one hoop. Before the first ball, walk the space and agree out loud on three things: the two sidelines, the back line, and the take-back line — an arc or a mark far enough from the hoop that nobody can score from behind it without meaning to. A painted three-point line is the natural take-back line if you have one. If you don't, pick a crack, a seam, or a shirt on the ground and point at it. Split into two even teams of one to six a side; if you can't tell each other apart at a glance, one team takes shirts off, turns them inside out, or picks a color.

• Check ball

  play

  Every time play stops — a basket, a foul, the ball out of bounds, an argument — the team with the ball restarts from behind the take-back line. Someone from that team holds the ball out to a defender, the defender hands or passes it straight back, and the ball is live the instant it's back in the offense's hands. No defender may guard anyone until the check comes back. If a defender won't check the ball, the offense can't start, so this rule enforces itself: the game simply stops until they do.

• Take it back

  play

  Whenever possession changes during live play — a steal, a defensive rebound, a ball the other team knocks loose — the new offense must get the ball behind the take-back line before it may score. Carry it back or pass it back; either counts, and the ball only has to cross the line once. A basket scored without taking it back doesn't count, and the ball goes back to the other team. Teams that skip this rule end up with a game of putbacks under the rim, which is why every court in the world has some version of it.