I have always wanted to find a space to share with others the games I and my friends have been kept inventing or improving over the years. So I said to myself: why not blog posts?!

As first playful post, I have chosen a game which accompanied many of our summers at lake. I hope you can enjoy playing it with your loved ones the same way which entertained us.

If you wish to save these game’s rules somewhere, I also provide a downloadable version both in English and Italian language.

And now have fun reading about this exciting game!

SchiacciaSette, in English SmashSeven, is an amateur game which is typically played, especially during the Italian summer periods, in outdoor areas such as beaches, mountain meadows, gardens, and even in shallow waters near sea and lake shores.

To play this game, a light weight and aerodynamic ball is necessary. This kind of ball allows any player to partecipate without great difficulty since it makes passing and throwing actions much easier. It is good practice, when it is possible, to inflate the ball before the beginning of a match.

SchiacciaSette’s rules are quite simple.
Players are standing in circle and must use only two of the six volleyball skills to pass the ball to other players: jump sets and pass.
At the seven touch, the player with the ball can perform an attack, renamed smash in this case, towards another player to eliminate that player from the game.
The winner is the last player when all other players have been eliminated.

The first touch of the sequence must be announced out loud yelling the word: One. The player who forgets to pronounce that word is automatically out of game.
The following touches must not be announced out loud.
When the sequence of touches is interrupted for whatever reason: the ball hits a surface or it is intentionally stopped by a player, then the sequence must start again from scratch.

If the player attacked by a smash is able to block the ball in some way, the player who had performed the smash is eliminated.

When a player pronounces a number different from the word One during the sequence of touches, that player is eliminated.

When the ball does not touch any body part, but any other kind of surface, if requested by one of the players, the number associated to a failed touch must be said out loud. If the correct number cannot be remembered, a player is eliminated. But be careful, both the first and seventh touch must never be declared out loud, otherwise, even in that case, a player is eliminated.

This game requires at least two players in order to be played. There is not any restriction about the maximum number of players. The more they are involved, the longer a match will last.

Several variants of this game have been invented during the years and even I, along with my friends, have drawn up a new set of rules which, on one hand it enriches the game making the game funnier, while on the other hand, try to solve some ambiguities to make it more accurate but without excessively increasing its complexity.

An innovative variant

This variant has been created to overcome some blind spots which could lead to ambiguities or even cheating attitudes in the worst case. The additional rules have been defined and improved starting from the observations collected during various game matches played along the years.

Our own variant presents the following rules:

You have more than one life, at least three. When the number of players is low, this rule lengthens considerably the duration of the game and at the same time makes the game funnier because you do not die at the first hit.
When only two players are left, both of them are declared winners. This rule has been added because, over the time, the sequence of seven touches among two players had become very boring. Another possibility might be to reduce the sequence of touches from seven to five, or even three, but this option has never been seriously taken into consideration in our matches, although perfectly valid.
You should not smash against the player who performs the sixth touch, called the setter, otherwise you lose one life. At first, this rule, already present in other variants, had been added as a metaphorical acknowledgment for a setter who lifts the ball, but over the time this rule has turned into a double-edged sword because setters started to physically throw themselves towards the seventh-touch players to make them lose one life. This rule though has been kept unchanged because it considerably enriches the game, forcing a player to decide, according to the context, whether to smash or otherwise drop the ball if a setter is going to act mischievously.
A player cannot ask you the failed number after the beginning of your next action.

If you decide to show the correct number with hands, without saying any word or else pronouncing a completely wrong number, you do not lose any life, because gestures supersede voice. At first, this rule seems really strange, but it has been added not to constantly stopping the conversations, since it this game has been used to socialize with other people as well.
You can touch the ball more times without having to pass it to other players. This series of touches always counts as one touch. But be careful, you cannot perform this trick at the seventh touch, otherwise the sequence of touches is deemed invalid and you must start that again from scratch.
At the seventh touch, you must smash as soon as you get the ball.
If you are playing in shallow waters nearby shores, you cannot immerse yourself into the water to avoid being hit, neither partially nor completely. You cannot even swim away. If you do not respect these rules, you lose one of your life as a penalty.
When you play in the water, you should stand on your feet as much as possible.
You can jump into the water to avoid the ball though.