Glossary
The following glossary omits the more common elements mentioned prominently in the "Rules" page (click to go to rules).
BACKER
A reverse buzz saw, made by kicking the bottom half or bottom nose of the ball in a bomb drop. (See "Buzzsaw" and "Bomb Drop" below.)
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BACKROOM
A square 7 yards deep with sidelines in continuance with the court's regular sidelines, from which 3- and 4-point kicks must be kicked, as well as the long gamer.
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BANANA
A kick that curves in or out as it crosses the court.
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BELLY DROP
A drop where the belly of the ball is closest to the court as the ball drops and the nose of the ball is pointing toward the net. By far this is the most common ball drop in puntball.
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BICYCLE
A high kick made while the kicker has their back to the net. The kick must flip backwards over the kicker's head and over the net to the other side of the court.
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BOMB DROP
A drop where the nose of the ball is pointing directly down as the ball drops.
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BLINK
A game won in the third total possession from the start. (See "Wink" below).
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BUZZ, OR BUZZSAW
A kick that spins like a circular saw blade, made by kicking the top portion or nose of the ball in a bomb drop.
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CALLER
The player calling out the scores or calling out the sticks in a series. It is customary for players to alternate calling within a game but it is also permissible to assign one player to be the caller for the whole game.
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CAT WHISKERS, or WHISKERS
A series where six games are skunks, so that the sticks arranged with a middle dividing line resembles cat whiskers. (See "Telephone Pole" and "Double Wire.")
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CHARLIE
An off-set kick such that the foot closest to the net extends sideways toward the net and kicks the ball while the chest of the player faces the court's sideline. The kick resembles Charlie Chaplin's famous stride where his feet swing out to the side as he walks or runs.
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DIAMOND GAMER
A gamer kicked from the 5-pt channel diagonally across the court to the opponents 5-pt channel, so called because the flight path creates a diamond-shaped landing area for the ball.
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DOUBLE WIRE
A series where the first four games are skunks, so that the sticks resembles two lines on a telephone pole. (See "Telephone Pole" and "Cat Whiskers.")
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FRANKIE
A 4-pt kick that lands successfully on the opponent's side of the court, very close to the net, and then because of the backspin of the ball quickly backs into the net and comes to rest in the net. Keeping with the "eating out" theme associated with the 4-pt kick (see "Plate" and "Table" below), a frankie is a nod to an entertainer (Frank Sinatra) retreating backstage after a performance.​
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HANDLEBAR DROP
A belly drop with the nose of the ball pointing to the side of the court, like the handlebars of a bike.
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HELICOPTER
A kick that moves through the air like a helicopter rotor, made by kicking the nose of the ball during a handlebar drop.​
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HORNSKI
A 1-pt kick quickly made after a defender has caught a ball for 1 point, resulting in a quick gain of two points.
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HOOT
An owl game (see below).
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KISS
When a kick is successful because the ball manages to barely touch the line in some way, it's a kiss.
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LINE GAME
The point in a series where one play has three wins and stands "at the line" to win the series with one more win. It is customary for a caller (see above) to affix a pronoun to the term to make clear who has the line game (for example, "Line game me" or "Line game you.")
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LTW
A "Long Treacherous Walk" (see "Walk" below). A ball does an LTW when it walks into an neighboring court that has live players, thus embarrassing the retriever of the ball and often forcing up profuse apologies. A ball also does an LTW when it walks a considerable distance from the puntball court, causing the retriever to expend precious energy to get the prodigal.
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NETTIE
A ball that hits the top part of the net and still goes over to the defender's side, scoring points for the kicker.
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OWL, or OWL GAME
A 0-0 game, so called since the score resembles owl eyes.
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PANCAKE
A 10-0 game.
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PLATE
A plate is a 4-pt kick that dies within a two-foot radius of the landing point. A ball that moves outside the 2-foot radius and then returns is not considered a plate. Named after the length of arm extended by a waiter bring a plate to a table in a restaurant.
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SLICE
When a player on offense has 0 points and their opponent has 5, then the kicker is in a "sliced" position because if they don't somehow earn at least 1 point on the upcoming kick, they may be end up as toast (see "Toast" below).
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STICK
A game win, which is signified with a tally mark or an actual stick placed so that it is clear who won the game (the stick is placed on the player's side of the court or on the player's side of a dividing middle line). A vertical stick (parallel to the dividing line between the sticks) means a non-skunk win, and a horizontal stick (perpendicular to the dividing line between the sticks) means a skunk win. For example, a player's sticks set up as | | __ indicate that the player has three wins, only one of which is a skunk.
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SUBMARINE, OR SUB
A failed kick where the kicker's toe hits the ground before the ball. Can be used as a verb, as in, "I just subbed that kick."
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SUPERCHIEF
A type of nettie (see "Nettie" above) where a diamond gamer hits the white part of the net above the 1-pt box and then rolls on its belly on the net's top toward the 5-pt channel, finally falling off the net into that channel for the win. This is an extremely rare kick.
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SWIPER
An offset kick (see "Charlie" above) where the foot farthest from the net kicks across the body, sending the ball over the net.
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TABLE
A 4-pt kick that lands in one of the opponent's 1-pt box and dies within that box, never leaving it and returning to it. The ball has landed on a table, so to speak, and has managed to not fall off it.
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TELEPHONE POLE
A series where the first two games are skunks, one for each opponent. The sticks form a telephone pole. (See "Double Wire" and "Cat Whiskers.")
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THREAD THE NEEDLE
A 2-pt kick that is kicked slightly off-set so that while the kicker's body suggests the kick will travel diagonally from one corner of the 2-pt box to the far catty-corner of the opposing 2-pt box, the kick instead travels directly vertical parallel with the inner sideline to fly behind the opponent's back and land in the 2-pt box.
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TOAST
A defender who has 0 points while the opponent with the ball has 5.
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TORPEDO
A kick from the 2-pt box that is a fast spiral that stays low and lands on the front line or just beyond it in the opponent's 2-pt box, often moving too fast and low to catch.
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WALK
A ball "walks" when it rolls on the floor nose over nose in a looping, vertical manner. (See "LTW" above.)
WINK
A game won in the second total possession of the ball from the start. For example, a defender catches the ball for 1 or 2 points off the first kick of the game (incoming from the offense) in such a way that the kicker receives no points and then the defender (now offense) quickly scores a fiver. (See "Blink" above.)
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WOBBLER
A kick that is made by bomb-dropping a ball at a slight angle off vertical and then kicking the lower half or lower nose of the ball. The result is a backward, wobbling spin that is the best way to land the 4-pointer.
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