Calvinball

Known as, "The only game in the world in which the rules are forever changing and non-existent," Calvinball remains the only professional sport devoid of monetary corruption by focusing on one simple principle: The singular rule of permanence is that it cannot be played the same way twice.

Occasionally credited to Bill Watterson, but actually invented by John Calvin and Thomas Hobbes during the Glorious Revolution in the fifteenth-and-a-half century, the game continues on uninterrupted even today.

The following rules are subject to be fixed or dismissed by any player(s) involved.

British Calvinball legend M. Montgomery Hughes jumping into The Must Be Airborne To Enter This Zone Zone to recover a lost Calvinball.

1. All players must wear a Calvinball mask. No one questions the masks. Questioning of the masks will result in an immediate and painful flogging.
2. Any player may declare a new rule at any point in the game. The player may do this audibly or silently depending on what zone the player is in.
3. A player may use the Calvinball in any way the player see fits, ranging from casual injury to self-reward.
4. Any penalty legislation may be in the form of pain, embarrassment, harassment, or other abasement the ruler deems fit to impose on his opponent. Any penalty legislation that is not enforced will result in an immediate and painful flogging.
5. Flags shall be named by players, who shall also assign the power and rules which govern that flag for a particular moment in that particular game.
6. Whenever a player is required to sing, he will do so without complaint. Reluctance to sing will result in immediate flogging, or being hit with a Calvinball.
7. Score is unimportant. In the event that some score is required to be kept, it shall have no bearing on the game whatsoever nor shall it have any logical consistency to it. (Some recorded scores in history include "Q to 12, BW-109 to YU-34, Oogie to Boogie and Nosebleed to Trousers.)
8. Feel free to accompany Hobbes on the "Rummatumtums"
9. The winning player shall be the first player that wins. This has never happened yet, but good luck!
10. Any points gained are to be rubbed in the other player's face.
11. There is nothing wrong with sentencing another player to death, as long as "the sentencer" has a method of executing the sentenced.
12. There is no time limit, unless the continum unravels, in which case it ends in one second less than infinity.
13. There is no thirteenth rule. Ever.
14. There is also never a fourteenth rule. Never ever.

Picture taken from 1969 Ireland vs. Croatia, in which Darrel Fitzpatrick scored the final 6 billion points to clinch the victory and send Croatian player Rivaldo to the Box of Unending Shame.

The Field of Play

The Calvinball Field should consist of areas or zones, which are governed by a set of rules declared spontaneously and inconsistently by players. Zones may appear and disappear as often and wherever the player decides. Zones are frequently named for their effect, such as Opposite Zones, or Pernicious Poem Places. This also includes the ever-popular, Get On Your Knees and Work It Zone.

The Zone of Lawlessness

The zone of lawlessness, the only permanent fixture in Calvinball, is sometimes as large as your imagination... or as small as a pixie. The rules of Calvinball, grammar, spelling, syntax, physics, and economics stop applying in this zone. There is no escape once it is entered, and no return once exited...

Get On Your Knees and Work It Zone

Anyone in this area shall immediately get on their knees and work it under pain of social death. Also you are not allowed to ask what "Getting On Your Knees and Working It" is.

The Disappearing Zone

Be careful, or the zone may blink out of existence.

The Zone of Disappearance

Anyone caught with the ball in this zone will promptly disappear upon pain of flogging.

The Zone of Humiliation

Similar to the "Get On Your Knees and Work It Zone", however it is now considered a felony. Uh, and you have to do it naked, bitch!

The Pole of Opposites

Once touched by either the player or the ball, every point gained by either player goes to the player opposite them in terms of personality.

The Opposite Pole

Completely different from the Pole of Opposites, if the pole is touched, then all the rules are reversed except for those pertaining to the pole itself. Anyone who fails to follow the rules the opposite way will be forced to watch Uwe Boll movies for the duration of the game

The Anything Zone

This zone is any zone the 1st player entering it with the ball wants it to be. The 2 most common are the "Get On Your Knees and Work It Zone" and the "the Zone of Humiliation".

The Astley Area

Anybody who enters this zone must sit through 2 hours of "Never Gonna give you Up". If the victim says "Rick Roll", cringes, or gets a boner and/or an ejaculation gets an eternity of flogging. This area spans the Milky Way.

Vortex Spots

any player who steps on a vortex spot must spin in circles until they fall from dizziness. If they land on anything other than their tailbone, they are imprisoned inside the Phantom Zone until the Ref gets bored

The Boomerang Zone

While the game takes place in this zone, all penalties return to the player who called them

The Zone of Great Justice

A Japanese-invented zone, entrance into this area of the field will require the player to take off every ZIG, but only after someone set us up the bomb. The player must then proclaim that all your base are belong to us, and that you have no chance to survive make your time. The player must then flog a baby with a cat.

The Tiger Woods Zone

Upon enetering this zone, someone must drive a car into a driveway and have the other player hit the window with a golf club. Also, the player must have a score of sniff to aglet. Lastly a the player must plow at least ten chicks publicly and in front of his/her/its spouse.

The Resignation Zone

When a player enters this zone, the player must resign or else he must continue to play Calvinball.

The Twilight Zone

In this zone, the player must be subjected to twist endings and/or Disneyworld attractions.

South African Calvinballer Tibby Callahan falls victim once again to the infamous Outlandishly Fashionable Hat Zone.

Types of Points

Calvinball has at least thirty types of points that can be gained during play (or even after play is finished). Calvinball points can be gained or lost 5 years after play, and can be cashed in for prizes.

Ghost Points

Ghost points can only be gained when neither team is paying attention, and can sneak up on players when they're not looking.

Talent Points

Once the talent portion of the game has begun, each player is rated on their singing abilities by 1 - 5 judges.

The Bonus Box

Contains an undetermined number of any of the abovesaid points, and is obtained by jumping everywhere. Not a single bonus box has been found in the entire history of the game.

Calvinball Equipment

Professional Calvinball competitions can sometimes include as many as 2 pieces of equipment. Amateur Calvinball includes 47 different types of masks alone and can last 25 years in some districts.

The Mask

The most important part of the game is the mask. Without a mask, Calvinball would be completely pointless.

Historic Matches:

c. -5000

In the inaugural grudge match, Adam defeated Eve by duping her with a talking snake into the "damning enlightenment zone". Guest referee, God, was so shamed by her lack of foresight, he damned the entire feminine race with childbirth, periods, and (in a famous example of his acclaimed forward-thinking) an intrinsic predetermination towards inequality.

0

The Romans, after a centuries long Calvinball match against the Christians, are defeated by their rivals with a score of 3-wise-guys to Bethlehem when the Christian's star player Mary uncharacteristically gives birth to Jesus in the zone of "Virginity". The outcome of the game would ultimately lead to the downfall of the Roman Empire, and the rise of Calvinball's greatest star, Jesus Christ.

25

Jesus, the mischievous star of the Bethlehem Calvinball team, is up to his old tricks when he defeats his opponents by giving them wine during half-time instead of water. His drunken opponents stumble into the zone of unending sleepiness and Jesus wins the game by his usual score of Fish to 7.

300

Taking place long before the recorded date, this was perhaps the largest ever recorded game of Calvinball, involving some gazillion Persians pitted against 300 under-dressed and overly confident men of SPARTA. Approximately 2.7 seconds into the match, Spartan team leader Mufassa invoked the "slow-motion rule", much to the amusement of his Persian opponents who immediately slaughtered the slow-moving Spartans by blotting out the sun with the Calvinball. The final score of the match was erased from the history books, but folklore indicates that the Spartans came back to win the match in triple overtime.

1776

The founding fathers play King George III in the headquarters of the Second Continental Congress in the city of Philadelphia. At first, it seemed the Monarch would win, as the founding fathers were constantly arguing and George Washington, their strongest player, was in New York at the time. However, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, and some people who nobody cares about used the debate and unification clause to get the team to fight as one and write the Declaration of Independence. The founding fathers won this battle with a score of Stripes to Jack. As a result of this victory, the British were forced to leave America and drink tea with every meal.

1863

General Robert E. Lee stumbles across a Union force at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. The game goes on for three days. Because the Union team has the high ground, Lee orders General Pickett to use the Pre-Kamikaze Suicide Flag to charge his troops up Little Round Top. They are routed by the Wildebeast Division who has the brilliant strategy to activate the Human Avalanche device. The Union team wins by Emancipation to High Water Mark.

1914

The British and French play the Germans at the Marne. The Germans use the Bismark Ghost Clause to push closer and closer to Paris. Remarkably, the French don't panic, but instead use the power of the Napoleon Corrolary to halt their advance. The British help using the Wellington Rule. The French and British win by Stalling to Schlifen.

1927

With only seconds remaining in the game, the English score 13 ghost points on the Americans by using time-fracture wickets to give them another two hours. This is an amazing feat, as the wickets were only available when a player sang the Calvinball Sorry Song while activating the "X2.27Q Wrestle Zone" rule.

1938

In a match notoriously remembered for its banality, Joe Bloggs and John Doe forged a bat-and-ball version of the game between teams of nine players. Perversely, this game became extremely popular, and has survived to this day, popularly known as Baseball.

1940

Chuck Norris is born, playing his first game of Calvinball. The score was unrecorded due to all near Chuck Norris being blinded by his first move, but he beat all of humanity by a landslide.

1942

The Japanese and Americans fight at Midway. The Americans use the Aircraft Compass to destroy the Japanese team. They win by Roosevelt to Hirohito.

1944

Germany gets humiliated by the Americans who get their phantom third baseman home by singing the Calvin national anthem (a play that had not been used in over 150 years). Adding to Germany's humiliation was a comment made by the American cheerleaders: "Is that your bulge? We thought it would be bigger. Tee hee."

1950

After a few Korean men find themselves in the Zone of Inbreeding for a particularly questionable length of time, the Calvinball match between North and South Korea (playfully referred to as the Korean War) begins. In order to control his team, Kim Jong Kim immediately uses the rule of declarations to declare himself the "King in the North" but is thwarted by his enemies during the Red Wedding of 2013. The outcome of this match is presently unresolved, however the score is estimated to be half-a-potato to first-world-technology in favour of the south.

1969

Neil Armstrong becomes the first man to play Calvinball on the Moon, outsmarting opponent and fellow astronaut Buzz Aldrin by chanting an immunity poem (see:One Small Step) and planting his flag, automatically earning himself 144 Elephant gnuts and claiming the Rank of "Duke of Ham Sandwich". Some debate the legality of this play, questioning whether Armstrong was wearing his black mask under his space helmet, but Armstrong has silenced most of their criticisms through clever use of "Jinx!".

1975

In one of the greatest upsets and finest games in recorded history, Team Belgium, captained by the enigmatic but lovable Yasser Arafat, defeated the heavily favored Team Argentina, coached by Alexander Hamilton to win the World Cup. Team Belgium opened the game by sneaking their flag underneath the surface of the earth using a complex series of levers, pulleys and South Africans. By utilizing this secret weapon, and shutting down the Argentine offense entirely by trapping the majority of the strikers and whippers on the team behind the dashed Duran Duran line, from which none of them could fathom immediate escape. By the end of the first half, Belgium had leaped to a 5J4-F2 lead. However, at the half, Arafat pissed off one of the South Africans, Charles Manson, who immediately defected to the opposing team. Hamilton and Manson began navigating the team to narrowing the score in the third quarter, opening it by raising a series of zombies, who slaughtered many of the South Africans. Also, the Belgians failed several opportunities in the Hot Wheels trials, enabling the Argentines to come back and drive the score to 5.3HW8-R2S late in the fourth. However, Belgium still held the lead, and, after strategically placing several cupcakes across the fields and temporarily distracting the Argentines with a series of streakers, Belgium regained the momentum and went on to win the game by the final score of Q.99F4-R8T.

1983

The North American Calvinball Team of France gangs up on the Grateful Dead in a brutal, but memorable, game of Calvinball. The Grateful Dead got off to an early lead, up by a gagillion flags, after some terrific drum solos by Jerry Garcia. However, the NACTF comes back with a series of muffin-tosses which tied the score up at twelve. In the third half, after lunch, the NACTF pulls away by tricking Matthew Broderick, the Dead's head swimmer, into the infield fly rule. This gave them an insurmountable lead, a few gorilla forwards, and a free coupon for a hot air balloon ride. The final score: Eleventy-one to Threeve.

1984

Due to blindly stumbling into a temporal foretelling zone, George Orwell predicts the onset of Republican control of the united states. The result was a future score of God to ethics in favor of the republican party, contributing to permanent doubleplusungood with excessive bush

1990

Rage v The Machine. In a matchup that lasted some ten years, the tenements of capitalism are called into question several times - and manage to kick-start the career of film-maker, Michael Moore.

2000

Thomas Hobbes and John Calvin gang up on Bill Watterson to get revenge on Bill for stealing their idea. The score was IZ345 to RR.J.394.~ when the Y2K bug showed up and did some voodoo spells, causing all player's hands to be replaced with giant atoms. In the pandemonium that ensued, the entire country of Thailand was destroyed, rebuilt, restored, rebuilt, and moved several yards to the west, with each citizen's fingernails inexplicably growing 1.45 mm.

2000

The Regional heat between George W. Bush, and Al Gore was considered controversial by many commentators. It seemed as though Gore had won through 'free and fair' means, but Bush called him up on a technicality. Since the 'free and fair' means had already been used (by FDR in the forties), it was deemed an illegal move, and Bush won by default with his usual score of "W". He is now reigning champion and the only challenge to his supremacy seems to be from AOL Messenger, which has already gone some way to defeating Bush's entire team.

2003

George W. Bush, the overwhelming favorite, defeated Saddam Hussein in what is considered the most lopsided defeat in Calvinball history, WDGGR-K54320FS$& to K4528D. George Bush took the early lead when he sang the Epic song in the Win Zone, amplifying the amount of pwn exponentially. Hussein fell behind by as many as DDFJKAFD in the first half as Bush, aided by the U.S. and U.K. armies scored at the pace of FDAFDJ points per second. However, many people felt that there was no way that someone could be be owned that epically, so to this day, many people protest this action. Barack Obama promised that the results of this game will be reversed "by the end of the year".

2005

Farzad Himmel sets the world record for fastest achieved victory in a Calvinball match, by declaring his personal failure near the Pole of Opposites, thus thrusting him skyward towards instantaneous and undeniable victory at the record of 6.28 seconds. Controversy has developed as to the legality of this play, but everyone has agreed to settle down provided nobody pull this stunt ever again. By that same token, over 500 attempts have been made since that fateful game to "Pull this stunt again," all of them resulting in the disembowelment of those involved.

2008

Barack Obama, having never once attempted to play Calvinball, challenges John McCain to a match. Obama jumps out to an early lead by enacting sweeping rules changes which John McCain is simply too conservative to keep up with. However, Toby Keith shows up with an AK-47 and begins slaughtering all the deer on Obama's Hexagon of Wildlife Protection. McCain was briefly ahead by a score of phi to e, until he attempted to trick the economy into making him a sandwich, which resulted in a near-total collapse of Western Civilization, burying McCain under the wreckage of Sweden. Attempts to reach the area in which he is believed to be buried have been futile, although he is probably still alive judging by recent sales of IKEA products and herring. As McCain could not continue the game, Obama easily cruised to victory by a score of Talib Kweli to splenectomy. Rumors of Obama's world title being contested by Noel Coward are false.

2009

Noel Coward and Mr. T decided to settle their feud once and for all. Chuck immediately began to win by Pwnage to Crunk, until Mr. T activated the "Pity the foo'" rule, causing Chuck to bow down to Mr. T. However, Chuck managed a spectacular comeback by enacting the "Roundhouse Kick", "Instant Pwnage", and "Bearded" rules. But the most spectacular part of the match was when former competitor AAA initialized the "Haxx0r" rule, allowing him to win the match, with the score: 733t to 101.

2011

Canada, the undefeated ruler of the 'ice zone' in the game of Calvinball, is challenged by their long time rivals, the Americans, to a game in Vancouver, Montreal. Playing under traditional Canadian rules with a flat, vulcanized rubber Calvinball on a sheet of ice, the Americans defeated the Canadians by a final score 4 Battleships to 0 Canoes, shaming the entire population of Canada and inciting mass riots throughout the nation.