Okay, so today it was a goofy bunch of aliens. But man, were they fun. Without a care in the world, all they wanted to do was play games. They certainly weren’t shaken to come face to face with an alien visitor. I have to admit, they take their games seriously. I’m not just talking about coming up with clever and strategic games, but also plain having fun. I got so caught up in the game I completely forgot to learn anything about them.
The game we played is called Shranzi. The playing field consists of air currents above a lake. Somehow, wind tunnels are created in the shape of a football field. If any balls or players go out of bounds, they fall into the lake. The wind effect of the field is crazy, like trying to run in a 5 foot deep swimming pool.
The area of the field is about 120 yards long, broken up into eight sections roughly 15 yards long and maybe sixty yards wide. When the game starts, each team places members into four rows (sections) of six for a total of 24 players evenly spread out on their side of the field.
Players can only advance a row forward if they can kick a ball beyond two rows of opponents. There is no passing to teammates but players can move around within their section to disguise who will actually kick a ball. All six balls are in play at once, adding to the intensity of the game. As players move up the field, there are fewer left back to defend.
The balls are inflated like our kick balls or dodge balls. If any of them go out of bounds play pauses until all six are back in action. A score involves kicking a ball into the opponent’s tunnel (5 yards wide) that sucks the ball into and up a tube that pushes the ball back into mid field. The first team to 127 wins.
As amazing of a game as it was, they said that it wasn’t even their best game. They were tired of Gloretont, bvemont, and latpoj so we played this one for a change of pace. Again, I didn’t learn much about them but it’s nice to know that I’m welcome back.
~ Clark
