The Official Blog of FRIED MAN aka Jess Friedman

Official Hula Battle Rules v.2.2 is up!

SO YOU WANNA HULA BATTLE?

Official Hula Battle Rules aka The Official Hula Battle Rulebook

Written and Developed by The Hulaguns 2010-2012.

Hula Battle is a full contact sport created by Fried Man & Vernon the Gardener in Ocean Beach, San Francisco, CA in 2010.

HISTORY

One day while having a hula hoop session with friends in front of Vernon’s house, Fried Man was showing off how good of a hula hooper he was by running up to other hoopers and knocking their hoops down with his hands, then running away and shouting, “Ha ha! I made your hoop touch the ground! Mine is still going! 3 points! Oh Yehhh!” Fried Man & Vernon, along with fellow Hulaguns & hula hoopers started playing Hula Battle regularly and developed the game and rules to what they are today.

WHAT YOU NEED TO PLAY HULA BATTLE

– 3 People (2 players and 1 referee).

– 2 Hula Hoops (1 per player).

– 1 thing to keep score with (referee’s job).

OBJECT OF THE GAME HULA BATTLE

1) Hula hoop! Don’t let it stop and touch the ground.

2) Score points by making your opponents hula hoop stop and touch the ground.

3) Get 21 points to win The Battle (Hula Battle match).

4) Win 2 out of 3 Battles to win The War (defeat your opponent and win).

FULL CONTACT RULES

1) Use your hula hoop as a weapon towards your opponent.

2) Use your hands or body to hit and knockdown your opponents hoop.

3) You can hit and assault your opponent like MMA.

4) No biting, spitting, eye gouging or other illegal cheap moves outlawed in Unified MMA rules.

POINT VALUES

Scoring points in Hula Battle is a start / stop process similar to other sports like tennis or ping pong.

3 POINTER – Score 3 points every time you make your opponents hula hoop stop and touch the ground while you keep your hula hoop spinning the whole time, (controlled continuous motion of the hula hoop.)

*1POINTER – Score 1 point every time your opponents hula hoop touches the ground and stops while you keep yours up. 

*1 POINTERS and ” SAVES / SAVING YOUR HOOP”

1)You may grab your hoop, stop the continuous motion and “save it” from touching the ground.

2)The catch is one can only stop their hoop from spinning once “INITIAL CONTACT” has been made while in play.

“INITIAL CONTACT” RULES

CONTACT – Contact in Hula Battle is simply having player 1’s hula hoop or body touch player 2’s hula hoop or body.

1) “Initial contact” is when contact is made for the first time when a new play starts. “Contact” must be made before a player can stop the motion of their own hoop and save it from touching the ground.

2) Every time at least one player stops the motion of their hoop, then being “in play” resets and players have to make “initial contact” again in order to save their hoop from touching the ground or stopping their own hoop from spinning.

3) If no “initial contact” has been made while in play, and somebody stops their hoop from spinning, then it is a FOUL and 3 points are awarded to the opponent. (INITIAL CONTACT FOUL)

RECOVERY OF YOUR HULA HOOP

1) You are allowed to have your hula hoop touch and skim the ground, as long as there is continuous motion of the hula hoop, (basically you keep your hula hoop going). 

2) It is up to the Ref to determine if continuous motion was maintained or not.

SCORING POINTS RULES

1) One can only score points when both players are hula hooping at the same time. This is called being “In Play.”

2) When someone scores points or the action is stopped temporarily, the players are “out of play” or “not in play.”

3) “Plays” are the moments of action in hula battle when players can score points. (For example, I could say “I scored 3 points on that last play.”). 

4) No points are awarded on a Draw*

*DRAW = (If you go at it with your opponent and you both end up dropping your hula hoops on the ground at the same time, then nobody scores points.)

5) In order to score a 3 pointer, you must have control of your spinning hula hoop for at least two seconds, much like having control of a football in order to rule a play as a fumble or incomplete pass or something else. It is up to the Ref to determine whether a player has control of their hula hoop or not. If you don’t have control of your hoop after 10 seconds, then the ref will automatically rule a 1 point score instead of 3, and a new play will be begin.

WINNING A BATTLE/WAR RULES

DETERMINING THE WINNER WITH THE ENDING PRAYER

When a player wins 2 out of 3 battles, both players have to do an ending prayer to determine a winner of the war. The ending ceremony is described below:

1) Both players start standing and hula hoop around their waist.

2) Both players then proceed to get on their knees, put their hands together in a prayer position, bow their head towards each other, and then stand up again and hula hoop briefly.

3) This is all while keeping the hula hoop spinning continuously.

4) If the hula hooper that won 2 out of the 3 battles fouls in any way during the ending prayer, then the losing player automatically wins the whole war.

-You are not allowed to make any contact with your opponent in any ways during the ending prayer.

-You can yell and try to verbally, visually distract your opponent, make the hoop fall down any way possible without making contact.

DETERMINING A WINNER WITH SUDDEN DEATH MODE RULES

Sudden Death Mode is a method to determine a winner in a single play. It is sometimes needed if a match is going on for over an hour or due to weather that makes Hula Battle unsafe to play.

1) During Sudden Death Mode, points are scored normally except you can only use your hula hoop to engage your opponent.

2) You can’t hit, grab, throw, kick or generally reach out and touch your opponents hoop with your hands, feet, arms, legs, and limbs.

3) You are allowed to block a hoop with any part of your body, but you can’t use a blocking method with your body to knock down your opponents hoop. It is the same principle as throwing a shot put. One may use a  pushing motion to launch a shot-put, but not use a throwing method to launch the ball.

4) Who ever wins the play either wins the battle or war. Both players and the ref must agree upon playing Sudden Death Mode. Sudden Death Mode can be used to end a battle or a war. 

5) One must still do the ending prayer during Sudden Death Mode in order to determine a winner.

FOULS RULES

1) If a player commits any foul, then your opponent is awarded 3 points. There is no such thing as a 1 point foul. Fouls are bad enough, that shit costs you 3 points homie!

2) Only points for 1 foul per play are awarded. If your opponent commits more than 1 foul during a play, it is still only worth 3 points to the non foul player.

3) If both players foul during a play, then both players are awarded points.

4) While a player can question whether a move is legal, it is up to the ref to determine if an actual foul occurred.

5) Instant replays are allowed if one is recording hula battle. Only a Ref can make the decision to review a play with instant replay.

TYPES OF FOULS

Only the Ref determines if a foul occurred.

1) Illegal Move Foul- When a player uses one of the cheap moves like eye gouging, spitting, etc . . .

2) Delay of Game Foul – When a player does not start play after 7 seconds, or any other time they stall excessively.

3) Initial Contact Foul – When a player stops the motion of their hoop before making initial contact.

4) Sudden Death Foul – When a player touches their opponents hoop with any part of their limbs during Sudden Death Mode.

OTHER GENERAL RULES

LOCATION

-You can play Hula Battle anywhere, as long as both players agree upon the location.

-Since Hula Battle can be played anywhere, your whole environment is considered part of the Hula Battle field of play.

-Hula Battle can be played in any weather that the NFL can legally play in.

APPAREL & GEAR

-You can wear any apparel you want . . . to a limit. 

-Up to four layers of apparel can be worn on the legs and torso, hands and feet. (Like 3 layers of long underwear and jeans is legal or wearing 4 jackets.).

-Hats, gloves, scarves are all legal.

-One may wear protective gear like hockey pads and mouth guards. 

-If your hoop breaks during a war, then you lose the whole battle. It is your responsibility to have a hoop that holds up during hula battle. You can use a different hoop during the next battle.

-While you can wear objects like sunglasses or headphones, you are not allowed to use anything during hula battle other than your hoop and body to score points. If the objects are not apparel or protective equipment, one has to remove such objects upon an opponents request. 

HULA HOOP GEAR

-You can use any hula hoop you want.

-You are allowed to switch your hoop between battles.

-You can use any tape on your hula hoop, and as much as you want, or none if that is your style.

-Your hula hoop must be smooth and not have any sharp edges.

-There is no weight or size limit on your hula hoop.

TIME & DURATION

-Hula Battle matches & wars have no time limit when deciding a winner.

-You can only wait up to 7 seconds between plays.

-Each player is allowed a single 5 minute time out during the whole war.

-There is a 5 minute time limit between hula battles.

-Only bad weather can interrupt and end a hula war early. Players must enter Sudden Death Mode to determine a winner when bad weather occurs.

ADDING RULES (R&D)

1) R&D Rules aka Research and Development Rules are newly proposed rules that anyone can suggest and try out. Since Hula Battle is a new sport that is changing and evolving all the time, Hula Battlers are encouraged to share any new ideas and rules.

2) At the beginning of every Hula Battle, players can agree upon special / customized rules.  As long as the ref is on the same page. 

v.2.1

06.03.12

4 PLAYER TAG TEAM

1) Tag Team is a form of Hula Battle played with 4 players. 2 Players per team. 2 players vs 2 players.

2) 2 Players face off and battle with normal Hula Battle rules while the teammates sit on the sidelines out of play.

3) Everytime someone scores points, the losing team switches players quickly.

4) Players must quickly touch hands and “tag” each other in order to tag in and out.

5) Only the losing players of a play can tag and switch, only after points are scored. If a person keeps scoring points, they must remain in the game until an opponent scores points during a play.

6) Players can’t tag and switch if no points are scored on a play, this includes draws. Players must switch during fouls.

7) All 4 players have to do the ending prayer to make the game official. If a single player fouls during the ending prayer, then the team the player is on loses the war.