Nutmeg

1. 01

   Setup

   Three to six players share one tight space — a garage, a driveway, or a small court — with clearly agreed boundaries. One mini soccer ball is the only equipment. Walls inside the boundary are part of the field.

1. 02

   Objective

   Everyone plays for themselves. Score megs by playing the ball between an opponent's legs and regaining it on the other side. The first player to five megs, on a called game point, wins.

How it's played

1. 03

   Keep-away

   Play is continuous keep-away: no goals, no hands, no teams. Whoever has the ball is trying to meg; everyone else is trying to take it. If the ball leaves the boundary, the last player to touch it loses possession and the nearest other player restarts with a free touch.

2. 04

   Walls are live

   The ball may be played off any wall inside the boundary, including to set up a meg. A wall-assisted meg counts like any other, as long as the megger regains the ball first.

Scoring

1. 05

   The clean meg

   A meg scores one point when a player deliberately plays the ball between a standing opponent's legs and is the first to touch it on the other side. Both halves are required: through the legs, then regained. A ball that goes through but is touched first by anyone else scores nothing.

2. 06

   Deflections don't count

   A meg must be an intentional play by the megger. Balls that ricochet off another player, a defender's failed clearance that squirts through someone's legs, or any other accidental pass-through scores nothing, even if regained.

Penalties & violations

1. 07

   No clamping

   Closing your legs in the moment is legal defense. But defending an entire possession with legs sealed, kneeling, sitting, or otherwise making a meg physically impossible is clamping. First offense is a warning from the group; repeat offenders must defend one possession with their feet planted at least shoulder width apart.

2. 08

   The forfeit

   When a meg is confirmed, everyone shouts 'megs' and the victim must run and touch the nearest boundary wall before re-entering play. The victim is out of play until the touch, and play continues without them.

1. 09

   Game point

   First to five megs wins, but a player on four megs must announce 'game point' aloud before their winning attempt. A fifth meg scored without the call counts on the tally but does not end the game. The winning meg must be undisputed; if the group can't agree, it stands as a point and play continues to the next called game point.