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How to Play Bola

Learn Bola in minutes. Master it over a lifetime.

A demo video is coming soon

Five questions

If you can answer these five questions, you’re ready to play.

  • What am I trying to do? Move your bola through 1 → 2 → 3 → Poison.
  • What can I do to opponents? Spend a Hit to move their bolas.
  • What happens when I reach Poison? You become dangerous and can eliminate other Bolars.
  • What happens when someone else reaches Poison? They keep throwing as long as they keep striking bolas.
  • How do I win? Be the last Bolar remaining.

The steps

  1. Set up the course

    Four targets, about 100 feet apart in a rough rectangle: 1, 2, 3, and Poison. Each is a 7.5-inch disc on a pipe with a bell.

    Step 1: setting up
    the four-target course

  2. Take your bola

    Every Bolar gets a numbered bowling ball. Play starts beside the Poison target, in numerical order.

    Step 2: taking your
    numbered bola

  3. Throw

    Stand with one foot on the spot where you picked up your bola, or take a running start and release before you cross that spot.

    Step 3: a standing
    or running throw

  4. Strike your target

    Hit them in order, 1 → 2 → 3 → Poison. The bell rings. Your turn continues, and you pick up your bola wherever it came to rest.

    Step 4: striking
    a target, bell ringing

  5. Earn a Hit

    Every strike earns one. You can only hold one at a time.

    Step 5: earning a Hit

  6. Spend a Hit

    Instead of going for your next target, throw at an opponent’s bola. Connect and you pick theirs up and throw it anywhere. Then return to your own and carry on.

    Step 6: spending a Hit
    on an opponent’s bola

  7. Chain reactions

    One throw can move several bolas. Every bola your throw moves, directly or down the chain, is yours to pick up and throw before you resume.

    Step 7: a chain reaction
    among several bolas

  8. Reach Poison

    Complete the sequence and strike Poison, and your bola becomes a Poison Bola. You throw again immediately.

    Step 8: striking
    the Poison target

  9. Eliminate

    A Poison Bola knocks any bola it strikes out of the game and into the Bola Graveyard. Keep striking, keep throwing.

    Step 9: a Poison Bola
    eliminating an opponent

  10. Win

    When two Bolars are left, either can win by striking the Poison target regardless of prior progress. Otherwise: last Bolar remaining wins.

    Step 10: the last
    Bolar standing

The full infographic

How to Play Bola — ten-panel infographic

Ready to play?

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