Seems like with the shutdown, people have gotten a lot more inventive with coming up with new sports.

Enter: The Balloon World Cup.

The Balloon World Cup is the international competition of a childhood game popularized by social media where players try to keep a balloon in the air while keeping the balloon out of reach from their opponent. Anyone that had played with a balloon before has done this, but now we have well-defined rules to govern the game and an official championship game.

Origin

While the origin of this game can be disputed, the video that helped made this game garner international popularity was produced by Antonio and Diego Arredondo and their younger sister Isabel from Oregon.

They posted it to social media which caught the attention of a popular Spanish streamer, Ibai Llanos, who set the stage for the first-ever championship game at an amusement park in Tarragona in Mid-October of 2021.

The first-ever competition was comprised of 32 team competing for the cup by smacking a balloon around in an 8×8 meter glass box while running, maneuvering, and dodging around furniture and even a car!

Despite that the Championship is called “World Balloon Cup”, the game itself is often referred to as “The Balloon League” or “Keep-Up Balloon League“.

Rules

Team

The rules to “Keep-Up Balloon” are fairly straight forward, two-teams are pinned up against each other, with 1 person representing. Another variation is 2v2, where you and your teammate alternate between each hit and help extend the range of your defense and offense.

Time

The game between the two teams is given 5 minutes with a possible 2-minute extension in the case of a tie, although additional time duration is set by the game-setter.

Scoring

If the opposing team fails to catch (hit the balloon upward) before the balloon hit the floor, your team gets a point.

The team with the most points at the 5-minute mark wins.

Contact Rules

Generally, the game is played using hands, but all body parts are allowed to be used so as long as the hit is intentional and with a fair amount of force. Accidentally bumping into the balloon does not count.

Illegal Moves

You’re not allowed to strike or smack the balloon to the ground; all hits must push the balloon in an upward direction.

No light taps when the balloon is close to ground, all hits must have a fair amount of force and with intention.

There can be no shoving or intentionally intervening the other player from hit the balloon.

You are also not allowed to touch the balloon again when it’s the other players turn.

Balloon Size

Realistically speaking, there are no clearly defined balloon size, but keeping the balloon around the size of a small watermelon or a soccer (football) ball would be optimal.

Too large of a balloon would be too easy to hit and take too long to descend. Too small of a balloon would be difficult to make contact and would not have sufficient floating time in the air.

Any balloon would do really, a cheap pack of balloons will run you $1 at the dollar store and it usually comes in a pack of 5 or 10pcs.

Setup

Although the championship was played inside a custom 8×8 meter box, you can most certainly play at home. Just make sure you clear out any easily breakable items from the play space such as lamps, mugs, picture frames, or anything glass or ceramics.

Stage some large and small furniture in the arena of choice or tape off sections of the floor as “inaccessible areas” or “lava spots” to give it an extra challenge.

If playing indoors, try to play on carpet over hard surfaces as some players may dive for a hit and running around on hard surfaces just makes a lot of sound.

Safety

Depending on how intense the game gets, you might want to consider wearing a helmet to protect your head and chin from sharp corners on furniture.

Optional gloves and knee pads will protect your wrist and knees from when you make a dive on hard surfaces.

Closed Toe shoes will help avoid injures from accidentally kicking a table leg or stepping on your little brother’s Lego.

Alternative Gameplay

I personally think the game is worth playing and it’s pretty fun at parties. It’s a relatively fun, low-risk, and a unique activity to the typical party games.

Here are some of the game arrangements to try out:

• 1v1 – For couples or rivals
• 2v2 – For double dates and small team
• For larger cohorts – Oscillate between players like a game of spike-ball
• Foot Only
• Increase the stakes by betting.
• Add an additional balloon to increase the difficulty of hitting your opponent’s balloon while protecting yours.
• Have the course change obstacles mid game.

If you’d like to read the official rules set up by the Oregon siblings, check out their websites here for their original video, rules, and social media updates.

Championship Results

For the 1st-ever Balloon World Cup, 32 teams competed in 16 preliminary rounds, 8 advancement rounds, 4 semi-final rounds, and one epic final round.

The final round was a battle between Peru and Alemania (Germany), with Francesco De La Cruz representing Peru and Jan Spiess for Germany.

The final game concluded with Peru taking home the cup with a 6-2 win.

You can watch the final game posted by Ibai here on YouTube.

(For more Balloon World Cup contents, please visit, share, and subscribe to Ibai’s channel)

Similar Indoor Games

When I watched the keep-up balloon games, it reminds me a lot of “World Chase Tag“, which at its core is just a kid’s game of tag, but with people that does parkour.

You can read more about it here.

Future Games?

Despite its popularity, future games have yet to be announced, but with a lot of previously non-mainstream activities going mainstream such as World Chase Tag, E-Sports, and the Marble Olympics; it’s likely that there will be a second championship game.

If the trends continue and with Netflix hits like “Squid Games” increasing in popularity, it’s very likely that our childhood games will becoming a new form of entertainment for adults too.