Born in a classroom

The story

Hantis was invented in 2005 by students at Scott County High School in Georgetown, Kentucky, in Mr. Steve-O's media class. One day a student pulled a tennis ball out of his backpack and asked, "Anyone wanna play a game?" Two classroom tables were pushed together, a few binders were jammed into the crack for a net, and the first match was played on that makeshift ping-pong table: one on one, first to 21, with a referee in the middle.

Over the next few weeks the games got faster and harder. The ball flew off the walls, slammed into the cabinets and hit every computer monitor nearby. It went to two on two, and students walking past saw the games through the narrow window in the door and showed up with bathroom passes from their teachers. Soon the other two tables were pushed together too, and there were two games at once.

Mr. Steve-O didn't mind the playing, but he didn't want to get in trouble: "If the principal walks by and sees these tables pushed together, I'm gonna get in trouble! So fix it!" The tables went back to their spots, 20 inches apart side to side and 40 inches front to back. That's when the players realized they didn't need a net. They could hit the ball across the gaps, pass it to a teammate on the next table and move between the tables. Four tables became one game, and Hantis was born.

The name is short for hand tennis: tennis-style rallies with no rackets or paddles. You strike the ball with your hands, or any other part of your body.

The game kept growing after high school through underground tournaments, school demonstrations, P.E. programs and college intramurals, including at Northern Kentucky University and Ball State University. In 2011, Hantis won the Playworks Best New Game contest by public vote and joined the Playworks game library, where it's used in recess and P.E. across the U.S.

Today Hantis is played from Kentucky to Western Australia, where the West Aus Hantis League has hosted thirty editions of the Craters' Cup.