Baseball: Official Rules

Score more runs than the other team over nine innings.

Two teams of equal size sit or stand at opposite ends of a table. In front of each team, set four batting cups in a straight line running away from the other team, each one cup-width apart:

Cup	Distance from the shooter	Fill
Single	Nearest	A quarter full
Double	Second	Half full
Triple	Third	Three-quarters full
Home run	Farthest, at the table's edge	Full

Each team also keeps one steal cup, a third full, at the side of the table. Coins or bottle caps mark runners on imaginary bases beside the table. Teams set a batting order. Flip a coin: the winner chooses to bat first or last.

Rule 1. Batting

Rule 1.1. The batting team shoots at the fielding team's cups, one batter at a time, in order. The ball may go in on the fly or on a bounce.

Rule 1.2. A shot that misses every cup is a strike. Three strikes is an out.

Rule 1.3. A shot that hits a cup and bounces out is a foul. If a fielder catches a foul with one hand before it touches the table or floor, the batter is out. Otherwise it is a strike, unless the batter already has two strikes.

Rule 1.4. A shot that lands in a cup is a hit, worth the bases on that cup: a single, double, triple or home run.

Rule 2. Hits and drinks

Rule 2.1. When a cup is hit, the fielding team drinks that cup and every cup in front of it. A triple means the triple, double and single cups are finished. A home run means all four.

Rule 2.2. The fielding team refills every cup it drank to its starting level before the next pitch.

Rule 3. Runners

Rule 3.1. A batter who hits becomes a runner on the base earned. Runners already on base advance the same number of bases. A runner who crosses home scores a run.

Rule 3.2. Once the cups are refilled, any runner may try to steal the next base before the next batter shoots. The runner and the fielding team's catcher each take a steal cup and play one round of flip cup (Flip Cup Rules 2.1 to 2.4). If the runner's cup lands first, they take the base. If the catcher's does, the runner is out.

Rule 3.3. A runner who starts a steal before the fielding team has refilled has false-started. The steal doesn't happen, and the runner stays where they are.

Rule 4. Innings

Rule 4.1. Three outs end a half-inning. The teams switch.

Rule 4.2. A game is nine innings. The team with more runs wins. A tie goes to extra innings.

• Little League. Six innings. Approved.
• Home run island. The home run cup sits apart from the others, at the far corner. Approved.
• Grand slam. A batter who lands the ball in the steal cup during a steal scores every runner on base. Commissioner's Discretion.
• Any fielder may catch fouls, with either hand. Approved. Better fielding, shorter innings.
• Removing cups when hit, rather than refilling them, until a home run resets the board. Approved.

A runner is on second and the batter hits a double. Where is everyone? The runner scores from second, crossing third and home. The batter stands on second (Rule 3.1).

A foul is caught by a fielder who then falls off their chair. Is it an out? Yes, if the ball stayed in their hand. The Official will need to see it.

May the fielding team refill slowly to stop a steal? No. Refilling must be done promptly. Deliberately slow refilling is delay of game, and the Official may award the base.

• Strike. Signal: the Official punches one fist forward.
• Out. Signal: the Official jerks a thumb over the shoulder.
• Home run. Signal: the Official circles one finger above their head.
• Steal attempt. Signal: the Official points at the runner, then at the next base.

Baseball combines two older games, beer pong and flip cup, into a third that takes longer than either. The Commission has reviewed a game that went fourteen innings. Both teams were ruled to have played well, and to have needed to go home.

Fill the cups with any non-alcoholic drink. The steal cups work just as well.