WORLD GATEBALL UNION

Let's Play Gateball

Equipment and Items

Must Items

Sticks

A stick is consisted of a head and a shaft, forming a T-shaped instrument.
Players hold the grip of a shaft and hit a ball with the face of a head.
Official Gateball Rules defines that a shaft must be 50 cm or more in length including the grip and that the head must be 18 to 24 cm long, and its face diameter must be 3.5 to 5.0 cm.

 
Balls

There are ten balls in two colors; red (odd numbered: 1,3,5,7,9) and white (even numbered; 2,4,6,8,10).
According to the Official Gateball Rules, balls must be 7.5 cm in diameter (± 0.7 mm) and weigh 230 g (± 10 g).

 
Gates・Goal-pole

The gates are upside-down U-shaped devices in a color that is easily identifiable on the court surface, which is 1 cm diameter cylinder rod (± 1 mm), and are placed in three locations on the court.
The two legs of the gate is secured vertically on the ground so that the inner space between the two legs is 22 cm wide and 19 cm high.
Goal poles consist of a 2 centimeter (±1 mm) diameter cylinder rod in a color that is easily identifiable on the court surface.
Goal poles must be placed in the center of the court and vertically in the ground with 20 cm of the pole above the surface of the ground.
Some poles can simply by placing on the ground when it is impossible to hammer them into the ground such as on artificial turf and on indoor courts.

 
Number Cloth

It is the number that Gateball players must wear during a game.
Official Gateball Rules prescribes that players must wear the number indicating their playing order, and that it must be ‘10 cm in or more in height’, ‘a shape that is easily identified’, and ‘must be placed on the chest and back, or chest only’.

 

Convenient Items

Line- tape

It is a tape-style cord that forms the lines of the court. Some line-tapes have some marks on the tape to indicate conveniently the positions of gates and the goal-pole.
According to the Official Gateball Rules, the lines of the court (inside line) must be at set 5 centimeters in principle and the color of the line must be easily contrasts with the court surface.
A 5-centimeter-line-tape is used for the official tournaments sponsored by the World Gateball Union.
The photo shows a line-tape of 1.5 centimeters, which is commonly used.
Anything can be used as a line-tape as long as it can work as lines of a Gateball court which is a rectangular in shape of 15 meters times 20 meters.

 
Time Score/Solar Timer/Scorer (variety of names)

It is a piece of equipment usually to wear on an arm of a player to record and check the points earned each player (from 1 to 10) during a 30 minute game.
Players can formulate strategies of the game according to the actual situation by watching this time score.
There are a variety of types, including analog devices manually recorded with dials, some with digital displays, and that have clock functions which show the remaining time.