Disc sports, or flying disc games, are sports or games played using discs often called by the trademarked name Frisbee™ .  Ultimate and disc golf are sports with substantial international followings.

History

The flying disc was developed in 1948 by Walter Morrison. In 1957 January 13, Wham-O bought the rights to the invention and released it later under the trademarked name Frisbee™.

Although playing catch with discs as a pastime and proto-golf games are documented from the early 1900's, and doubtlessly has occurred from time to time before, disc sports began to flower in the late 1960's. As numbers of young people became alienated from social norms, they resisted and looked for alternative recreational activities, including that of throwing a Frisbee™.  What started with a few players, in the sixties, like Victor Malafronte, Z Weyand, and Ken Westerfield experimenting with new ways of throwing and catching a disc, later would become known as playing disc freestyle.  Organized disc sports, in the 1970s, began with promotional efforts from Wham-O and Irwin Toy (Canada). These took the form of national tournaments and Frisbee show tours at universities, fairs, and sporting events. Disc sports such as disc freestyle, double disc court, disc guts, ultimate and disc golf became this sports' first events.  Two sports, the team sport of ultimate and disc golf are very popular worldwide and are now being played semi-professionally.  The World Flying Disc Federation, Professional Disc Golf Association, and the Freestyle Players Association are the official sanctioning organizations for disc sports worldwide.

Disc guts were invented by the Healy Brothers in the 1950's and developed at the International Frisbee Tournament (IFT) in Marquette, Michigan. Ultimate, the most widely played disc sport, began in the late 1960's with Joel Silver and Jared Kass. In the 1970s it developed as an organized sport with the creation of the Ultimate Players Association with Dan Roddick, Tom Kennedy, and Irv Kalb. Double disc court was invented and introduced in the early 1970's by Jim Palmeri. In 1974, disc freestyle competition was created and introduced by Ken Westerfield and Discraft's Jim Kenner.  Judging standards were developed by the Freestyle Players Association. In 1976, the game of disc golf was standardized with targets called "pole holes" invented and developed by Wham-O's Ed Headrick and the Professional Disc Golf Association.

Beginning in 1974, the International Frisbee Association (IFA), under the direction of Dan Roddick, became the regulatory organization for all of these sports.

Disc Sports

• Disc Golf — Frisbee golf, the objective is to traverse a course from start to end with the fewest number of throws of the disc.
• Urban Disc Golf — A variation of Disc Golf, this game involves a 175-gram flying disc in the Urban setting, without baskets.
• Ultimate Frisbee — a team game played with a disc (Frisbee), with points scored by passing the disc to a teammate in the opposing end zone.
• Beach Ultimate —  a variant of grass Ultimate. The rules are the same with the exception that Beach Ultimate is played on a smaller field (75x25m) and is generally played 5-a-side. There is also a 4-on-4 version that is slowly gaining popularity.
• Disc Dog — dog frisbee competitions of distance catching and choreographed freestyle catching.
• Guts — a disc sport derived from dodgeball, where players try to strike their opponents with a Frisbee.
• Freestyle  — is a sport where teams of two or three players perform a routine, which consists of a series of throws, catches and moves, done to music using one or more discs.
• Overall — a competition that is similar to the heptathlon in track and field. The Overall combines multiple disc sports — some individual sports and some pairs sports — and tests the player's skills and abilities across the spectrum of disciplines.
• Fricket — a ‘two-on-two’ flying disc game. Also known as disc cricket, cups, suzy sticks, and crispy wickets.
• Discathon —  is a racing event covering a course that can be 200 meters to 1 kilometer long from start to finish. Players carry two or three discs that are thrown alternately. A player’s disc must travel the appointed course of mandatory obstacles that must be passed in a specific direction. The player’s objective is to complete the course in the shortest time possible by using a minimum of throws and as little running as possible. A competitor’s time is measured when one of the player’s discs completely crosses the finish line.
• Double disc court (DDC) — invented and introduced by Frisbee Hall of Fame inductee Jim Palmeri of Rochester, NY, is a sport played with two flying discs. Two teams of two players each stand in their own courts. The goal is to defend a court from an attack by the opposing team. Two identical square courts are located on a level playing field of grass measuring 13 meters on a side. The distance between the courts is 17 meters. Attacks are made in two ways: by throwing a disc in play into the opponents' court in an attempt to have the disc come to rest within that court without ever having touched out-of-bounds, or by causing both discs to be touched by a player or players on the opposing team at the same time (called a "double"). A team scores a point whenever they make a successful attack or whenever an opponent throws a disc out-of-bounds. The first team to score the requisite number of points as determined by the competitive format wins the game.
• Durango Boot — Durango boot (or simply Durango or Boot) is a competitive, non-contact sport that makes use of a flying disc (known popularly by the trademark Frisbee), somewhat similar to Ultimate. The name Durango comes from the fact that the sport was first played in Durango, Colorado. The first players used boots to mark the field, so "boot" was added to the name.

• Disc games adapted from non-disc games

  • These games originated when the rules of another game were adjusted to use a flying disc in place of a ball.
    

    Game	Description
    Guts and Dodge Disc	Variations of dodgeball using a flying disc in place of the ball or balls
    Crosbee	adapted from lacrosse, it is in many ways a cross between touch football and ultimate.
    500	Can also be played with a football or other ball. One player throws the disk to the other players and calls out a number between 0 and 500. The catcher wins that number of points, and the first player to earn 500 is the new thrower.

    Other/unclassified games

    • Flutterguts — a game used mainly to practice catching flying discs
    • Kan-jam - a variation of horseshoes.
    • Polish horseshoes - similar to Fricket, but with one pole on each end, with a bottle upright on top of each one (also known as Beersbee)
    • D-Hoops - a variation of Ultimate and basketball.
    • Friskee - a game with 2 28 inch goals, 2 teams and 1 Frisbee.

Useful Disc Sports Links