3 bolas per person. If playing teams, each member of the team has 3 bolas.
Bolas are thrown alternating players one per round, starting with the
player with the highest score. In case of a tie, defer to order of the
previous round for those involved in the tie. If there was no previous
round, gentleman's rules apply (I'm not sure what this means, but it sounds
good.)
Lowest total score at the end of the round retrieves all bolas.
End of Game Point (EGP) may be either 11 or 21 points and will be decided at the beginning of the game.
EGP must be determined before game start or EGP defaults to 11.
Points are not scored or determined until after all players have tossed all bolas.
Scoring points over EGP is a BUST
When a player busts, the player loses all points accrued in that round.
A bust is effective only after all players have tossed all bolas.
Other players may continue to score when another player busts.
When any player reaches EGP prior to tossing all his/her bolas, the player's remaining bolas must be tossed.
Bolas must land with at least one ball touching or inside Ladder Golf (LG) base. Failure to do so results in the loss of a point.
Bolas are allowed to bounce or touch scoring rungs before coming to rest inside the LG base.
When two or more players reach EGP within the same round, all EGPs are treated as a bust, but the remaining players can still continue to score.
Knocking bolas off of scoring rungs (SR) by other bolas is not only allowed, it is encouraged, and often expected. This is a skill that must be
mastered in order to win consistently at LG at the professional level.
Points are awarded as follows:
Three (3) points for the bottom SR
Two (2) points for the middle SR
One (1) point for the top SR
If a player should happen to score on each of the SRs in any one round, player may take an optional extra point.
Ball or rope must be touching the SR for points to be awared. The tee ("T") and elbow ("L") joints are not part of the SR.
Players must stay out of tossing lane and line of sight of player on the line. Heckling from the sidelines is allowed, but distracting actions will
result in a warning.
No player may touch the ladder or any tossed bolas prior to the end of a round.
Any player who touches the ladder or a bola before the end of a round, forfeits all points for that round. If the player was part of a team, the entire team forfeits all points in that round.
You are welcome to walk up to the ladder to get a closer look. Look, but don't touch!
Exception: If a joint should come loose in the middle of a round, the ladder may be gently moved back into joint to maintain the integrity of the ladder. At the end of the round, ladder will be securly jointed once again.
You break it, you buy it.
Balks and Warnings
If a player is delaying the game, any other player may initiate a warning. A second warning in the round will result in the loss of the current or upcoming bola, called a "dead bola" (DB).
A balk is when a player steps away from the line after assuming a throwing stance at the toss line. A player may balk as many times as he wants until a warning is given. One more balk is allowed for that toss after a warning is given. The second balk results in a DB.
Two DBs during any one round, or two DBs back to back will result in a Dairy Queen (DQ).
