You probably know all about football, soccer, baseball, and basketball.  But have you ever heard of a game where three teams compete at the same time with an inflated ball five times the size of a basketball?  It’s called kin-ball, and it’s just one of several unusual sports played on this planet.  Other odd sports have funny names like curling, bowls, and toe wrestling!

Kin-ball is played with three teams of four players each, all competing against each other at the same time.  The object of Kin-Ball is to score more points than the other teams.  Points are scored when a team fails to catch and control the giant Kin-ball before it touches the ground.  This is called a fault.  When a team faults, a point is awarded to the two other teams.  The Kin-ball is 48” in diameter, and the playing area is a square 66 ft. by 66 ft. The game can be played in a gym or outside on a grass field.

In curling, players slide granite stones, also called rocks, into a target area at the other end of a long, thin, strip of ice called the “pitch”.  The object is to slide your team’s rocks closest to the center of a circular target marked on the ice (called the house). The closer you get, the more points for your team.  The path of the stone can be changed by team members who sweep and brush the ice ahead of the stone. Obviously, curling is more popular in northern countries. It has been an event in the Winter Olympics since 1998.

In bowls, players roll ball-like objects with flattened sides called “bowls” and a smaller ball called a “jack” on a 120-foot green.  The object of the game is to roll your bowls as close to the jack as possible.  You also have to make sure that one or more of your bowls are closer to the jack than your opponent’s.  Points are given for the number of bowls that are closer to the jack than your opponent. Bowls is popular in Great Britain.

Toe wrestling is kind of like arm wrestling.  To play, competitors take off their shoes and socks (and it's customary for each player to remove the footwear of his/her opponent!). Players must link toes and each person’s foot must touch flat on the other person's foot.  At the start, the wrestlers try to trap the other person's foot for three seconds.  Three rounds are played (best two out of three).  The first round is played with the right foot, the second is with the left, and the right foot again if necessary.