I apologize if this is old news or discussed to death. :P I just thought it looked like the perfect "sport" for desk jockeys such as myself.
posted by Fantt at 3:05 PM on January 28, 2004

Man..I wanna play that. Maybe if I just hijack some bumper cars, and a basketball court...
posted by Orange Goblin at 3:37 PM on January 28, 2004

We went here once for a work party once and it was awesome. My advice is make sure your seatbelt is really tight. Otherwise you get nice bruises on your thighs from slamming into the belt over and over when you get hit.
posted by Pockets at 3:52 PM on January 28, 2004

Do you think that first picture is a posed "action" shot? Kinda cheesy in a funny way.
posted by Eekacat at 4:22 PM on January 28, 2004

Most Seattle natives have gone there at least once - either for a work function or birthday party or something. It is a good time, but they don't serve alcohol so get good and liquored before you arrive. It's actually only a mile from my house. Maybe a good place for the next SeaFiMeFi meet up? (which is long, long overdue!)
posted by vito90 at 4:24 PM on January 28, 2004

that does look like fun--is it going nationwide?
posted by amberglow at 4:56 PM on January 28, 2004

Funny, I was buying something at a shop across the street from Whirlyball only last week and paused to wonder exactly what it was (despite having lived in Seattle all of my life). Now, I know.
posted by bz at 5:26 PM on January 28, 2004

You can do the same thing with a Lacrosse stick and a decent car with a sunroof - of course that "bumper car" bit tends to annoy people who don't know you're playing.
posted by KnitWit at 5:38 PM on January 28, 2004

We have a Whirlyball in Atlanta. We rented the place out for a couple of hours one afternoon and it was a blast. I second Pockets' notion re: wearing your seatbelt as tight as humanly possible. A coworker described his upper-thighs as "the most interesting combination of blacks, blues, greens and purples on an otherwise flesh tone canvas."
posted by chrish at 5:40 PM on January 28, 2004

Here's a list of locations in US/Canada. I think we need one in California!
posted by neurodoc at 5:59 PM on January 28, 2004

Aren't you supposed to keep your hands and feet inside the car at all times?
posted by 2sheets at 6:16 PM on January 28, 2004

We played this once for a work event too. A bunch of developers in full on whirlyball mode should be treated with respect.
posted by bshort at 6:31 PM on January 28, 2004

Every year my boss plays whirlyball with some work friends at an annual conference in Chicago. He speaks very highly of having a few drinks and bashing around other people's sales reps.
posted by jess at 7:41 PM on January 28, 2004

In the St. Louis area, the place is called "Demolition Ball." This name appeals more to the knuckle-dragging mouthbreather in me than "Whirly Ball."

They've been in business for four years, according to the guy doing the pre-game rules speech for my group last weekend.

Lots of fun, but only three or four of our 12 had played before. I guess the secret's getting out.
posted by jmcmurry at 9:25 PM on January 28, 2004

We used to do Whirly Ball regularly at the company I worked for in Detroit. This was ten years ago. Most recently, a friend of mine had his bachelor party there!
posted by kindall at 9:51 PM on January 28, 2004

With strippers? Naked whirly ball!! Wheeeeeee!
posted by Fantt at 9:32 AM on January 29, 2004

Nope, no strippers. He's in his late thirties and all his friends are married with kids, so he wanted to throw a party that they could bring their families to, since 90% of their wives wouldn't let them go to a more traditional bachelor party anyway.
posted by kindall at 11:17 AM on January 29, 2004

We had one in Miami several years ago, but apparently it didn't do well and closed up after a few years. It was fun for a laugh, but you really need the right people playing with you.
posted by eas98 at 11:55 AM on January 29, 2004

It looks slow and even *gasp* boring in the videos, like something you would have to make yourself pretend to have fun doing because you just spent 20 bucks on it.

But then I like mountain biking and skateboarding even though I'm getting to be an old - and jaded - fart.

Now what would be really cool is faster cars and tennis ball cannons. Yeah! And things on fire! On an ice rink! Yeahyeah!

No, no point. No team play, no goal scoring. Just you and a dozen or so people trying to blast the tarnation out of each other.
posted by loquacious at 12:01 AM on January 30, 2004

From my experience, going to Whirlyball was one of the worst birthday parties ever. The fact that they use a WHIFFLE ball really takes some of the fun out of the game. Also, keep in mind it was my 11th birthday, and we were not as drunk as you might have to be to enjoy it. They usually have bars and stuff. They had pretty good pizza I think. This was 11 years ago.
posted by mikeyb at 11:27 AM on January 30, 2004