Paper Football

It has been seen in American school cafeterias for decades! The simple game of using skill to slide a folded piece of paper to victory. Paper Football is so grass roots and iconic almost everyone recognizes the playing object. Learn more about the game, it's history and how to make your own ball here!

An inexpensive make at home two player game variation of the gridiron. All it requires is two willing participants, a piece of paper, some highly suggested eye protection, a flat table and voila, it's game time! Players must use their skills of eye hand coordination and distance judgement to slide the ball to paydirt! It is really that simple, well there are a few more details to the rules below.

According to a post on the Prezi website, a high school student named Larry Bynon in 1966 came up with the brilliant idea of paper football at the lunch table of his high school with some buddies. It was a great way for the students to entertain themselves during their down time at school using resources they had at their disposal. All that was needed was a piece of paper, a flat table and some folks looking for a little fun.

Allegedly though the dangers of the game were not fully realized by the game's founder. Apparently at some point Mr. Bynon took a airborne paper football to one of his eyes thus inflicting a wound that caused him to loose his eyesight in that eye. So when you play, please take heed of this danger!

There are a variety of ways to play the game but the basic rules are very simple to understand. After making your own oragami football creation here is how you play.

It is best if there are two players, sitting across from each other on a flat table that has no upward protruding rimmed barrier edges, this is the "field" for your game. Player one should lay the football flat on the playing surface and slide the triangular shaped football towards their opponent's side of the table. The objective is to have any portion of the ball sticking out beyond the edge of the table without the folded paper object falling off. Accomplishing this scores a touchdown and that player is awarded six points to their score. Should the paper shape fall off the table or fail to have a portion of it extending past the opposite edge, then it is the oppositions turn to try their hand at sliding the ball for a TD.

Just like in any good football game, you have to kick the extra point. To kick, please make sure both players have eye protection on such as safety glasses, goggles or a face shield. The kick starts by the ball touching the the player surface near the scoring teams table edge, and that player may position the football with one hand and flick one or more fingers with the other to propel the paper triangle into the air towards their opponent's uprights. The uprights are the other player's two pointer fingers extended, touching the tip of the other hand's pointer creating cross bar or a plane parallel to the table surface, while also extending each thumb upwards perpendicular to the cross bar to create each upright. If the ball sails over the cross bar in between the upright thumbs extended, then the kick is good. If not then the kick attempt failed and it is the other player's turn to slide for a TD.

Creating your own paper football is so very simple. You only need an 8-1/2 inch x 11 inch piece of paper. The oragami sequence is so very similar to the proper  way to fold an American Flag. Here is a great video to show you how.