Cubeball. Boxball and the transforming power of play

According to second draft of the official rules of Cubeball, as delineated by the World Cubeball Association, all you need to play are:

one (1) superball, of a size agreed upon by both players;
one (1) item, preferably symmetrical, to be used as a target for the previously-mentioned superball;
one (1) barrier, approximately four (4) to six (6) feet in height, stretching the entire width of the playing area, and with sufficient width to support the target on the barrier's top edge (the separating wall between adjacent cubicles is often used as this barrier); and
two (2) wheeled chairs, as are normally found in modern offices.

There's more. Much more. These are, after all, the official rules.

Cubeball, as the authors unabashedly reveal: "occured because the product we were both working on at the time took an obscenely long time to build, and there was nothing to do but wait in the meantime. This waiting led to boredom, and boredom led to Cubeball." This is a rather powerful revelation, about the nature of play, the reason for games, and the power of a toy to transform the environment.

Witness Boxball, a game of tennis, sans tennis court, tennis raquet, and tennis ball. Born, no doubt, of boredom, and bouyed by the availability of a cheap, high-bouncing ball known as the "spaldeen." As the official Spaldeen site explains: "Made from the rejected inner core of a tennis ball in 1949, the original Spalding High-Bounce ball sparked the imaginations of dozens of playful inner city kids. For urban kids, the ball gave them a way to play outdoors without a grassy field. These kids would hit the streets for inventive games like hit-the-penny, box ball, and most famously, stickball." Dozens? According to my scant research, we're talking about a whole generation of kids.

There is a great deal to learn from these games and the spirit that led to their invention. There is great heart to be taken from the discovery that this spirit has in no way diminished.