Kerby

For 2 players

How many players are there in Kerby?

2

Players

How do you play Kerby?

These are the rules of playing Kerby.

This game requires a ball. Various sized balls can be used but a football or basketball produces the best results.

A player stands at each edge of a kerb facing each other. Each player takes turns with to hit the kerb.

The first player takes aim at the kerb and throws the ball.

If they miss the kerb then the second player takes possession of the ball and procedes to take their go.

If the ball hits the kerb cleanly and bounes back to the player then they score a point.

Having scored they keep the ball and move to the middle of the road and attempt the same again.

Each bounce from the middle counts as one point as well and this continues until that player misses.

Other Rules

if the ball bounces in the middle when both people are on their sides of the path its the first person who gets to it has a free throw in from the middle.
Posted by Anon

You try to hit to opposite curb, if you do and the ball bounces/rolls to your side of the curb you score one point. If the ball hits the curb and bounces up and you can catch it, you score five points.
First to twenty wins.
Posted by Paul Kershaw

How we score:
Hit the kerb = 1 point and move to the centre for centre shot.

From Centre:
Hit = 1 point and another shot from the centre.
Miss = move back to the kerb and game resumes with opponents standard shot.

Catch your own shot from a "bounce back" = 1 extra point ( standard move to the centre).
Catch an opponents shot from a "bounce up" = 1 point for catcher, none for shooter, no one moves to centre. Game resumes with catchers shot from his/her own kerb.

First to 5 wins.
Posted by: Boberto

Kirby is whereby a players stand on the curb opposite each other with the road in the middle. One player throws the ball preferably a football or basket ball and tries to get the ball to bounce off the curb and come back to them.

Each player takes it in turn until they get the ball to come back to them. When this happens the player that got it to hit of the curb gets 10 points.

They then stand in the middle of the road and try at close range to hit it off the curb for each of these they score 5 points.

If they miss the other person grabs the ball and as the misser is running back to the curb they try and hit them below the waist with the ball if they suceed they steal all there points.

The winner is the first person to a set amount of points which is decded at the start of the game
Posted by: Natalie

You can change the amount of points to get. Also you can set the amount of bounces the ball is allowed before it gets to the curb for younger players who arent as good at throwing the ball.

Different types of throws:
Basket: Two hands on ball over the head.
Poop-a-scoop: Facing backwards onto the road and throwing it through the legs.
One Two: Holding the ball in one hand and throwing it over arm.
Posted by: Natalie

After hitting the kerb you run back and forth between the two kerbs scoring 1 point each time until your opponent can hit you with the ball to stop your running. It then changes turn and the same happens. If failure to hit the kerb it goes to the oppositions turn.
Posted by: rachael

If the ball bounces back and hits the other curb it is called a double curby the person who threw that ball gets to move to the middle of the road and try and hit the curb as many times as possible.
Posted by: steve

When you have the ball you have to throw the ball to the kerb and if it hits it might come back or it will be your oponents turn and the first one to 5 wins the game however when you score a goal and its coming back but it goes to your oponents side its no point but if it goes to hit the curb and it comes back its 1 point there is 2 pointers and to get 2 pointers you need to not face the curb and throw it that means you turn round and you throw the ball from where you are if you get it in which will be hard you get the 2 points and you can play a tournemant that means that you have to score 1 point and your oponent is out and you go to the next round.
Posted by: dominic

If the set score is 15, then once a player has reached a score of 8 then the sides of the road, at which the players are standing, should be switched.
Strachalele: This is when you beat your opponent without them scoring a single point (also known as a granny).
Posted by: andy s

Changing the scoring by introducing random events, so that by throwing the ball at the opposite kerb and it then returning OVER a passing car would be 15 points. We called this 'French Kerby'.
Posted by: anon

As above for the most part but we also developed a variety of different ways to throw the ball and assigned different points value depending on their supposed difficulty. After a few years the list got extensive (and increasingly over the top!) but sadly I can't remember many of them. Highlights include, 'eyes closed', facing the other way and throwing it over your head, one handed under one leg. These were often fruitless but the lure of those extra points was impossible to resist as a child! Due to the freeform nature of street games different ways to throw got invented all the time.
Posted by: Dave

We used to play that you have to catch the ball from the kerb to be allowed to throw from the middle. If you miss when in the middle your opponent can throw to hit you before you make it back. If they do this they automattically throw from the middle.

As my nephew told me, these must be old skool kerby rules!!!
Posted by: Tony

players stand on opposites sides and try to bounce the ball off each others kerb. when this happens you reciev ten points. you then move tot the middle of the road and bounce the ball from a closer distance. (these shots are only 5 points) if you get a double kerb you get double your points
Posted by: Greg

The ball does not have to bounce back but just to make a clean bounce off the kerb. When the players are in the middle, if they miss a shot the person who didn't miss can throw the ball at the person trying to return to his kerb, if he hits the person who's hit loses all the points they gained in the middle. Extra points: Facing backword=5 points. If the ball bounces off the opponents kerb, then bounces of your kerb = 5 points.
Posted by: Canis

First player throws ball at the kerb. If they hit they score 1 point and have another throw (from same position, DO NOT GO TO MIDDLE) After one player scores 10 points, players switch ends. First player to score 20 points wins. 5 point can also be scored when the player throws the ball facing away from the kerb and throwing it over their head. It is best to this when on 15 points in order to win the game
Posted by: Kerb-E

Two or more players stand on opposite kerbs, across the street from each other.
A round ball is required (basketball is best but can play with football or maybe volleyball).
One player starts with the ball and tosses it towards the opposite kerb with the aim of landing the ball on the edge of the kerb, so that it bounces back in the direction that it came from (on the full, i.e. it must not bounce or roll before it hits the edge of the kerb).
If the player hits the kerb, she takes a step off the kerb, onto the road and towards the other kerb, and takes another go, until she fails to hit the kerb.
Once the first player misses the kerb, the other player takes her turn and so on, until one player reaches the opposite kerb, at which time she is the winner.
Posted by Cecelia Joyce

Other Names

Kirby
Curby
Gutters
Kerbs
Crubsies : (or possibly more likely Curbsies) Submitted by Ethan Hunt
Kerb Ball : Submitted by: Dallas Simpson

Back

Kerbs

Comment 29

Ramon de Roij

2017-09-23 09:51:49

Kerby is really hot in the Netherlands.

Steve

2016-10-23 23:11:16

I can't believe it was played from one end of the country to the other, and we all invented it. It was truly a brilliant game. I was living in South East London, and we played it all the time. I have driven down the roads we played and it would be impossible to play now with so many parked vehicles, let alone the amount of moving traffic.

Gwillym Thomas Mitchell

2014-02-26 07:47:46

I often wonder if I accidentally started this game when I was a kid, about 1962, I threw a ball to my friend on the other side of the street it hit the kerb and bounced back to me from there on I would say to other friends do you want a game of kirby, years on I would notice other children playing the same game up and the country. p.s. not so many cars parked in our street then.

Frazer

2013-06-15 00:04:50

Lol, it felt like we created when we were younger... <3

Paul Johnson

2013-06-12 07:51:48

Around 1970 on our council estate in Little Sutton, Wirral we regularly played throwing a plastic football at the kerb to score points with our mates aged around 9-13. The game had no name that we were aware of.
The film The Love Bug starring Herbie the VW car was popular at the time so I suggested we call the game Kerbie or Kerby (never had to write it down so could be either spelling).

kelly

2012-07-19 15:00:06

i used to play this game nearly every day when i was a kid, so good to know that kids are still playing it now, there was a cauldy sack (don't know how to spell that) just round the corner where i lived it had the perfect curbs for playing curby & not too many cars coming past but wow the balls we used to ruin & the trouble we used to get in for the ball going in peoples gardens, it was all good fun though.

THIS IS HOW WE PLAYED:
1 point scored if you hit the kirb & it came back to you i.e over you line in the road

2 points if the ball came directly back to & you caught it & that's when you got to go into the middle then & the same rules applied 1 point for a roll back 2 points if caught

if your opponent caught the ball without coming off their curb when you threw it, then they gained control of the ball & obviously if the ball went onto their curb then it was theirs too & throwing or catching while standing over the curb line was a foul & didnt count

sometimes we used to score in tens rather than ones, & winner was first to 100 or 50 which ever we decided, sometimes other friends used to wait to play the winner.

wish i had some kids to go & play curby with now cuz man i miss that game :)

hello

2012-05-28 17:34:18

my m8 got 12points, wots the world record/

Kerbyking

2012-03-26 15:06:38

We had an added rule where if you're in the middle of the road and you miss the kerb...the other player can throw the ball at you as you return to your side of the road.

If it hits you whilst you're still in the road, your opponent takes all your points.

B Ramsay

2012-01-20 10:01:58

As avid Kerby ball players will know: "Water Kerby / Kirby / Curby" world champions can not be dethrowned unles beaten in open play. (B Ramsay - Reigning Water Kerby / Kirby / Curby World Champion)

Daniel

2012-01-20 09:58:08

I'd just like to state for the record that I am Global Kerby (Kirby & Curby) Champion. This includes the 'in Pool' version, for which I have a fierce-some reputation that stretches the length of the Mediterranean.

Jim from Totty

2012-01-16 15:08:42

How we used to play to get more people involved was using knockout rounds. An unlimited number of people stand on one kerb and throw it at the next, then if you catch it you go through - each round one person goes out, or it gets a replay if everyone goes through on the same throw.

Dave Marlow

2011-08-08 21:05:05

We used to play this in the late '70s in Billinge (between St Helens and Wigan), with 1 important difference. Once the ball came back from the kerb you tried to keep it up, with 3 pts for a kick, 5 for a knee and 10 for a head. Get a load of points and pop it back onto the kerb for double points. Come into the road in anticipation and miss the kerb, you lose all your points if your oponent throws the ball back and hits you. First to 100 wins. Game translates well to swimming pools. Good for diving headers into the water.

Ianto

2011-04-29 16:58:25

Me and my kids play in Salisbury - and I'm aged 51 !

Ps.. we found the rules buried near Stonehenge, therefore its clearly a southern game.

andy johnson

2011-04-22 07:34:51

...forgot to say I'm 44 and am still playing!

andy johnson

2011-04-21 08:29:05

We have played Kerby for years and strangely used to call it Fish & Chips when we were kids! We have our own tried and tested simple rules which makes for an exciting game but doesn't involve stepping in to the middle of the road. Kerb hit and roll back - 2 points, kerb hit and catch - 5 points. Kerb hit which goes straight up and is caught by opposite player - 1 point to the opposite player. First to 51 and when you get close you have to be careful not to be left needing 1 or 3 or you get stuck and will need a '1' from your opponent

Dan

2010-10-31 11:20:22

Barking Rules (played in Barking, East London) aka 'Battle Kerby'

Each player takes it in turns to try and hit the opposing player's kerb. If the ball strikes the kerb and the thrower catches the ball, he/she scores a point. If the ball strikes the kerb and the other player catches the ball, they score a point. If nobody catches the ball after it strikes a kerb, no points are scored.

Hence the name 'Battle Kerby' as both players will often charge to catch the ball once it strikes a kerb, usually ending in a collision :D

Mibo

2010-10-16 10:37:36

I live in a suburb of Liverpool (UK) (funnily enough called Kirkby and pronounced Kirby) and we used to play this game, which we just called "Kerb", in the sixties.
We often used a tennis ball, which made it really difficult. And we never used the rule about moving to the middle of the road, but we might've let younger kids throw from the middle to make it easier for them.
The last time I played it was about 5 years ago, with my nieces, using a football. We used to play when they came after school and other kids from the street came up and joined in which also led to a whole gang of us regularly playing dodge ball in our front garden.
Though I don't remember having these rules when I was a kid, when I played it with my nieces I added the rules about an extra point for catching your own bounce and an extra two points if you caught a bounce off your opponent's ball.
A catch didn't count if you had to step off the side into the road to make it.

Becky

2010-09-10 01:43:51

Adi, I used to play this game as a kid and I'm from Hull. Further north then Norwich. All the kids in the street used to play it. We used to make our parents move there cars around so we had room to play. Was awesome.

uby don

2010-08-08 20:56:12

denville crescent are the champions through out birmz and i am the champ...

brapppppp b9 mandemz

Nathan Croucher

2010-06-15 18:53:39

I used to play this as a child,I had assumptions it was a Northern sport but it might not be. None of my friends outside of Wigan know what I am talking about when I mention it. I won't claim to have invented it though haha.

2010-05-15 12:21:52

This game was always open to cheating with smart-arsed players claiming bonus points for hitting the kerb from a ball thrown over the back of the head or left-handed etc. Great memories of childhood though. Our rule was to move to the middle only if you caught the ball as it was assumed easier to hit fromthere. Also if the opponent hit your kerb whilst you were moving back to your side then you lost a point

danny cleworth

2010-02-17 12:24:08

i invented the game in 1972 in old trafford greater manchester. a roll back is worth 1 point. a two-handed catch 2, a two-hander from your kerb 3, a one-hander anywhere 4 and a one-hander from your kerb 5.

c newcombe

2010-01-14 13:13:17

Myself aged 10 or 11, my sister Rowena and about six others aged 8 to 15 years invented Kerby in Marston Lane, Nuneaton, England, on a school holiday summers day about 1960.
We were sitting on the kerbs each side of the street (a cul-de-sac). Someone said throw me the ball. They did and it hit the kerb by chance and rebounded back to the thrower. The others said I bet you can't do that again - and the game was borne. We called it Kirby.
In a few days the game was play in the next street and in a week it was all over our estate and even Caldwell and Hill Top, Nuneaton.
It was invented because of boredom when we sat down on a hot day wondering what to do.

Meister

2009-07-17 11:14:34

This is an amazing game. The Blackhall Bulldogs have played this for years - we're reigning champions of Edinburgh and the Lothians. We have some other Alternate rules - there's one with a rugby ball, and involves a third player.....basically, if you hit the kerby ball with the rugby ball while its in the air, the guy that threw it is out, and the guy that threw the rugby ball is in....its brilliant. Got a few others...will post later. We think it should be in London 2012...

sean duggan

2009-07-12 21:16:02

is kerby legal to play any where

Debbie NC, USA

2009-05-22 21:31:19

We Love this game! The kids play it every night! Friend of ours from Blackwood Wales introduced it to us and we're hooked! Tournament this weekend :)

Adi

2009-02-27 14:48:33

The game was originally invented in Histon, but has been played as far and wide as Norwich. Kerby Ltd. has recenty gone into administration but its well known inventor, a Mr A. Searle is spreading the word of this once great game.

C. Girling

2008-05-28 19:36:33

I played kerby, but also played a variation. On some victorian building the walls were a brick thicker up to 3 or 4 feet. This created a ledge which was often chamfered. It was this ledge that we threw the ball at. We called this game, obviously, Ledgers.

kitty

2007-05-01 13:21:31

After 30 years Kerby was taken up again. Rules remembered thusly:

1 point scored for a roll back (ball rolls across the road)

3 points scored for a clean two handed catch (ball does not
touch the road on return to thrower)

3 points scored for a clean one handed catch and bonus go from the middle of the road

If the ball does not cross the middle line of the road it is the opponent's ball and no points are scored.

No points can be scored from a foul shot (shooters feet must be behind the kerb)

*my arms and legs ache from hours of kerby yesterday*