One on One

Doc asked me to explain Spinball. She's never cared before. She was sitting on that plant-throne she spawned down in LG-Med, and Submind was fully present. I don't know how else to explain it. Submind was obviously trying to make a more sentient connection to the human race, and Doc was acting as a kind of filter. Since Doc doesn't really care about Spinball, Submind probably supplied the motive. It wasn't creepy. (I know you thought I was going to think that.)

I'd probably been bragging a bit, but the only reason Submind, a.k.a. Doc, would care enough to ask questions about a game is for whatever insights it might give on normal human behavior. Doc doesn't seem any more intelligent, (like I would know), but there is much more going on behind those looks she gives me, something which is truly puzzled by everything in general and me specifically.

What could I say? It sounded like a history lesson I once had every year.

Spinball was invented by a school teacher name Julius Hayes. He needed activities for the 20 or so children in his mid-level class, and he was always trying to play ball games on a space station. Many of these games are still being played by children who live where gravity determines how a ball moves. On a space station, gravity doesn't determine anything but orbit. A game requiring both weight and round bouncy objects is too annoying to play inside a centrifuge. If you move the game to a weightless environment, however, the possibilities change dramatically.

Mr. Hayes, being a teacher, saved all of his notes.

• It is likely these children will live their lives on a space station.
  
• Do you need gravity to play a game?
  
• Can we create a game which teaches children how to move in a weightless environment?
  
• Where can we find a playing field?

He took pieces from a couple of his favorite games; Basketball and Martian Rugby. Then he considered his environment, determined the hub as the only reasonable location, and stormed the Station Admin Office with a determination backed by 20 plus bored pre-teens. You all know how strongly those kids wanted to play in the hub.

Starting with: Blue Team, Red Team, Big Blue Ball, Big Red Ball and some simple rules.

1. Each team has possession of the matching color ball unless a member of the other team is in control of it.
   
2. If you touch the wall while in contact with the other team's ball, the play is over and the other team gets two points.
   
3. If your opponent can make it past your goal line while in possession of your ball, the play is over and the other team gets fives points.
   
4. As long as you don't do so while in contact with your opponent's ball, you can use the wall to propel yourself anywhere you like.
   
   And he let the players take it from there... Within reason.
   
   
5. You are allowed to pass either ball to a team mate, or even yourself.
   
6. You are allowed to throw your ball at an opponent and force them into the wall. It's called a "spin-out" if you get two points for it.
   
7. Your opponent is allowed to catch your ball and gain possession.
   
8. Two minutes of "double napping" (both teams in a state of "Low Momentum" or "LM") will call an end play and both teams forfeit possession.
   
9. You cannot enter your opponent's goal unless you are carrying your opponent's ball.
   
   With variation for number of team mates, one on one rules, murder ball rules for more agressive players, and etc.