Simball - an exciting fast paced team sports game in Second Life

Simball exists since 2010 and is a cool team sports game that only exists in the virtual world of Second Life. It has frenetic gravity-defying action, it combines the elements of several sports into one exciting game play. Simball works sort of like ice-hokey, but in a pinball machine and on hoverboards which have special powers and abilities. It is certainly a funny mix and reminds me a bit of Quidditch - the ball game in the Harry Potter movies.

Zoobital is one of currently 12 Simball arenas in Second Life

The playfield is filled with the bumpers that should be avoided because they will steal your ball or your energy. There are two goals on each end. The larger one, when touched by the opposing hoverboard, provides one point. Over that is a smaller one, partially guarded by a bumper, which is much harder to get to, but if it is tagged rewards the effort with two points. Here is what other bloggers say about Simball:

What is particularly interesting about Simball is it’s dynamic sports field.  Unlike soccer and hockey, Simball is played on the vertical and the horizontal axis with goals featured high on the walls of the field.   From a spectators perspective this makes the game very fast paced and interesting to watch as players are required to demonstrate their skill not only attempting to make goals but manipulating their Simboard in a challenging way up the walls and around obstacles. Metaversetribune 

There are 3 basic boards. Each has a special power and abilities unique to that type of board. The Kinetic board has a lot of energy and can either be fast or energize other boards . The Tesla board is able to freeze other boards with an EMP blast, if it’s battery is full. And the Onyx board may be slower than the others, but is immune to EMP blasts and has a sonic “push” to repel other players. SL Newser

Players of up to 3 per team join at the game server. A host can also play or can be a referree. Once the game begins, a ball will be spawn at one of the three spawn areas. A player can take the ball and needs to avoid that it gets stolen from a player from an opposing team. A player can pass the ball to another member of the same team. A player finally must score into the opposing team's goal. Wikia.com

Just as cool, the results of each match are automatically posted to the game's website. Clever way of keeping score, and encouraging players to jump into a match (since the SLurl for a particular game is also posted too.) "The data (score, players, location) is sent to an email that is filtered, forwarded and automaticly posted to the Wordpress site. New World Notes

Some SL residents even record Simball events and post it on Youtube. There are hundreds of Simball videos out there. Below you'll find a recorded broadcast (originally streamed live) from a Simball game from December last year. Please don't want to watch the full 3 hours (the game only starts after an hour or so), but it's really fun to jump to some parts of the video and watch the game. I found it particularly funny how the reporter explains the rules of the game at the beginning. It really came very close to a real tv live coverage.

Watch live video from robsterrawb on TwitchTV

Simball is an exciting fast paced team sports game in Second Life with unique rules and features. Playing it feels like a rolercoster ride with a ball against opponents. There is a good reason why this game has so many fans and players.

Vetox Simboarding

Grab a simboard at Vetox and join a game of SimBall, a unique Second Life game where you must score more points than the opposing team and combat opponents with specialized board abilities. Use your energy and skills wisely as you dodge and attack opponents to make goals and score.

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