Ball game

The ball game snooker in progress. Red ball about to be potted.

A ball game is a game played with a ball. Someone who plays a ball game is known as a ballplayer.

There are many popular games or sports involving some type of ball or similar object. These games can be grouped by the general objective of the game, sometimes indicating a common origin either of a game itself or of its basic idea:

• Bat-and-ball games, such as baseball and cricket.
• Racquet and ball games, such as tennis, squash and racquetball.
• Hand and ball-striking games, such as various handball codes, rebound handball and 4 square.
• Two-goal games, such as basketball and all forms of football, hockey or lacrosse.
• Volleying games, such as volleyball and beach volleyball.
• "Target" games, such as bowling and lotball.
• The original "Ball Game", whose objective is to keep the ball constantly moving but not allowing it to bounce twice upon the ground without being struck between bounces.

Popular ball games from around the world include:

• Baseball (in North America, a game of baseball is often referred to as a "ballgame")
• Basketball
• Basque pilota
• Jai alai
• Bocce
• Boules
• Bowling
• Bowls
• Canoe polo
• Carpetball
• Cricket (see cricket ball)
• Croquet
• Cue sports (also knowns as billiards, including carom billiards, English billiards, pocket billiards or pool, and snooker, among many other variations)
• Dodgeball
• Downball
• Floorball
• Footbag
• Football:
  • Association football (soccer)
  • Gridiron football
    • American football
    • Canadian football
  • International rules football
    • Australian rules football
    • Gaelic football
  • Rugby football
    • Rugby league
    • Rugby union
• Football tennis
• Four square
• Golf (see golf ball)
• Half-rubber
• Handball:
  • American handball
  • Australian handball
  • Gaelic Handball
  • Team handball
• Hockey:
  • Field hockey
  • Floorball
  • Ice hockey
  • Rink hockey
• Hooverball
• Hurling
• Juggling
• Kick-to-kick (includes end-to-end footy)
• Lacrosse and Women's Lacrosse
• Lotball
• The Mesoamerican ballgame
• Netball
• Newcomb ball
• PaddleBall
• Paintball
• Pelota mixteca
• Pétanque
• Podex
• Polo
• Push ball
• Quidditch (fictional game from Harry Potter)
• Racquetball
• Rapid ball
• Rockerball
• Rounders
• Sepak takraw
• Shinty
• Skee ball
• Softball
• Squash
• Stickball
• Stickball (Native American)
• Streetball
• Table football (foosball)
• Tchoukball
• Tee ball
• Tetherball
• Tennis
• Tennis polo/toccer
• Ulama
• Valencian pilota
  • Escala i corda
  • Llargues
  • Raspall
  • Valencian fronto
• Volleyball
• Water basketball
• Water polo
• Wiffleball
• Wireball