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Now that it’s warming up, you might be thinking about breaking out the bean bag toss boards, bocce ball, or maybe even the badminton net. If you’re looking for something that’s a bit different – and easy to transport to the park or campsite – then you might want to check out Rift Ball.
What is it?
Rift Ball is a self-contained net game, that uses paddles about the size of table tennis paddles, and a shrunk-down whiffle ball. Where the game really differentiates itself is in the net that you use. Rather than needing to volley over the net, you’re actually sending the ball through a gap between the two nets (the “rift”). Want to make it easier? You just make the gap larger. Want to make it more challenging? Just tighten up the gap.
How do you set it up?
For the frame of the game, that’s all shock-corded together, so it’s a simple matter of unfolding things and then locking the poles together. You then slide the two nets down from the top, and put the top cross bar over it. This is great because it’s stand-alone, and it doesn’t require any guy lines to hold it in place. Sure, a strong wind can knock it over, but you don’t need lines for any tension. Though the whole thing is light, you’ll want two people to move it once it’s setup, as we found that the shock-corded pulls like to pull apart inside the net sleeves if you’re not careful when moving it.
What’s it like playing?
We took this on our camping trip, and set it up. As soon as the kids saw it (we were camping with a few other families) the immediately wanted to know what it was. I won’t say it was non-stop play, but it was used a fair amount each day of the trip. The little kids got the hang of it, and the older kids and adults got some decent volleys going.
Would we recommend it?
If you’re looking for a compact, easy-to-set-up and easy-to-play game that stores away easily, then yes, it’s definitely worth checking out. Time will tell if we end up losing any of the balls and need to get spares (thankfully, they’re bright yellow and easy to spot), though nothing got misplaced even leaving it setup during the whole trip. If you want to get your own Rift Ball set, you can do that for $89.99 from Amazon or directly (for a little more) from B3 Games.
