The field
Pace out a field about forty paces long and twenty wide, and mark the four corners. Everything behind each end line is that team's endzone — you don't need to mark depth, only the line itself. Put two more markers on the sidelines at the halfway point: that line is the only first down in this game, and both teams will look at it constantly, so put something you can see from either end. Two teams of two to six. Every player is eligible to catch, throw, run, and rush; there are no positions, only whoever's doing the thing this play.
Objective
Move the ball into the other team's endzone. You get four downs to reach midfield, and if you make it, four more to score.
How it's played
The snap
Every down starts with the ball on the ground at the spot, and the offense in a huddle or not, as they like. One player snaps it back — through the legs, or a simple handback — or the passer sets the ball down, calls "set," and picks it up themselves. Either is a legal start; the point is that both teams can see the play begin. The defense may not move across the line until the ball moves.
The rush count
One defender may rush the passer, and only after counting to five out loud at a normal speaking pace — "one Mississippi, two Mississippi," and so on, loud enough that the passer can hear it. Before the count is up, no defender may cross the line of scrimmage, and the passer may not run the ball past the line either. Once the count finishes, the rusher is free and the passer may run. If a rusher crosses early, the down is replayed and the count starts at seven for that defense the rest of the drive. A slow, mumbled, or private count is a broken count, and the offense may say so and replay the down. Groups pick different numbers — three makes it a scramble, seven makes it a passing clinic. Five is the honest middle.
Two-hand touch
The ball carrier is down when a defender touches them with both hands at the same time, anywhere between the shoulders and the knees. One hand is nothing. A touch on the head, the helmet of a hand, or the shins doesn't count, and neither does a grab that turns into a hold. No tackling, no wrapping up, no shoving a runner out of bounds. The ball is spotted where the carrier's feet were when the touch landed, not where they ended up. If the room is split on the spot, split the difference and go — the spot is never worth the argument.
Downs and the line
The offense has four downs to get the ball past midfield. Reach it and they get a new set of four to score. Fail and the ball turns over. A down ends when the carrier is touched with two hands, steps out of bounds, or the ball hits the ground. There are no other first downs, no yardage to measure, and no chains. That's the whole down system, and it's why this game needs no officials: every player can see midfield.
A ball on the ground is dead
Any ball that touches the ground is dead where it landed. An incomplete pass is dead and the down is over. A dropped snap, a bobbled handoff, a ball knocked loose — all dead, all still the offense's ball, and the next down snaps from where the previous one started. There are no fumbles in this baseline, because a loose ball on a field with no pads is how people get hurt. Backward passes are legal and a lateral that hits the ground is dead the same way.
Turnovers
Possession changes on an interception or on a failed set of downs. An interception is live: the defender may run it back until they're touched with two hands, out of bounds, or the ball hits the ground. On a turnover on downs, the new offense starts from the spot where the last down ended, attacking the other way. There is no punting and no kicking of any kind. If you're facing a fourth down deep in your own end, that's a decision, not a formality.
Touchdowns and the try
A touchdown is six points and scores when the ball, held by a player, crosses the end line — the ball crossing is what counts, even if the player's feet haven't. A catch made past the line with at least one foot down is also a touchdown. After a touchdown, the scoring team gets one try from five paces out, worth one point, and it's a single play under the same rules as any other. Then the other team takes over at midfield. Groups that count touchdowns as one point and skip the try entirely are playing a perfectly good version of this game and finish it faster.
Penalties & violations
Contact and blocking
Blocking is standing in the way with your arms in front of your own chest. You may not drive into a player, grab, hold, or leave your feet to block. Defenders may not hold or shove a receiver getting off the line. The penalty for any of it is the same: replay the down, and if it was the defense, the offense also moves five paces forward. Nobody is measuring, so pace it off and get on with it. A player who keeps doing it sits a drive — the group makes that call together.
Interference
If a defender arrives before the ball and knocks a receiver off the catch — contact that stopped a play that was going to happen — the offense gets the ball at the spot of the contact and a fresh set of downs. If a receiver shoves off to make room, the down is replayed and counts as used. The receiver makes this call, the way the fouled player calls it in every unofficiated game. It stands unless they take it back.
Winning and the light
Decide before the first snap: play to a score — twenty-eight is a good target — or play to a time and finish the drive that's underway when it expires. When the light goes and nobody agreed on anything, the team that's behind gets one drive, and that's the game.
Make it yours
Every court answers these differently. The rulebook above is one honest baseline — these are the calls that make it yours.
Count to three, five, or seven?
The single biggest lever in the game — it decides whether this is a passing league or a scramble.
One first down at midfield, or first downs every ten paces?
Chains change the whole pace, and some yards do get argued.
Two-hand touch or one-hand touch?
One-hand is faster and more disputed; some groups play flags instead and settle it entirely.
Fumbles live, or every ball on the ground dead?
Live fumbles make it a rougher, wilder game.
Touchdowns worth six with a try, or worth one flat?
Flat scoring makes short games, which matters when there are eight people and one field.
The prose is the game. Every change here is saved as a new version, and every match ever played pins the exact rules it was played under.