The hoop and the order
One hoop, one ball, and everybody standing in a rough circle around it. Fix the shooting order now and don't change it — going around the same way every time is the only thing keeping this game from becoming a discussion. Whoever wants to go first can shoot from anywhere to earn it; make it and you set the first shot.
Objective
Don't spell the word. Every shot you miss that somebody else made costs you a letter, and five letters puts you out. The last player still spelling less than H-O-R-S-E wins.
How it's played
Setting a shot
When it's your turn to set, pick a spot and take a shot. You may say what you're attempting before you shoot — off the backboard, left hand, one foot, from behind the pole — and whatever you say becomes part of the shot everyone must match. Say it before the ball leaves your hands or it isn't a call.
Proving it
A shot only counts as set if you make it. Nobody ever has to match a shot that hasn't gone in. If you miss, the shot dies and the turn moves on — you take no letter for missing your own attempt.
Matching the shot
Once a shot is set, every other player in order shoots it: same spot, same call, same conditions. Standing "about there" is fine — this game has never used a tape measure — but a shot from the corner is not a shot from the wing, and the group will tell you. Make it and you're clean. Miss it and you take a letter. Either way the ball moves to the next player, and the shot stays alive until everyone has answered it.
Calling it, and being held to it
If you called something, you have to do it — and that binds you as tightly as everyone else. Call bank and swish it clean and you have not made the shot; the shot dies and the turn moves on. This is what stops a setter from calling a hard shot and getting credit for a lucky one. If you called nothing, only one thing matters: the ball went in. Bank, rim, rattle, whatever — a plain shot is a plain shot, and the ball deciding it for you is part of the game.
Whose turn it is
When a shot dies — because the setter missed, or because everyone has answered it — the next player in order sets from anywhere. When a setter makes a shot and everybody else matches it, the setter does not keep setting; the turn moves on. Nobody gets to stand in one corner all afternoon.
Letters
A missed match costs one letter, in order: H, then O, then R, then S, then E. Say your letter out loud when you take it — that's the whole scorekeeping system, and it works because the announcement is public. If nobody remembers whether you're on R or S, you're on R. The doubt goes to the shooter.
Shots people can actually take
A set shot has to be something a person on this court could plausibly make. Anyone may veto a stunt before it's attempted — off the roof, out of the parking lot, over the fence — and if the group is split, the setter simply has to make it twice in a row to make it stick. Making it twice ends the argument better than any rule could. Nobody may stall, either. If you're taking longer than the next player's patience, they'll say so, and you shoot.
Spelled out
Take your fifth letter and you're out: step off, hold the rebounds, heckle responsibly. The last player left wins. With two players it's simple — first one to spell the word loses. Short on time? Play P-I-G, same rules, three letters, done in five minutes.
Make it yours
Every court answers these differently. The rulebook above is one honest baseline — these are the calls that make it yours.
H-O-R-S-E or P-I-G?
Word length is the game length, and it's the easiest thing on this whole shelf to change.
Must the setter make it first, or can you set a shot you missed?
Setting off a miss makes a much meaner game.
Does an uncalled bank count?
Some courts say a shot that goes in any way counts; others say a clean call is required every time.
Can the maker keep setting until they miss?
Letting a hot shooter hold the ball turns it into a very different, very fast game.
Does a letter come off for a shot nobody else made?
Some groups let you erase a letter by setting a shot that everyone misses.
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.