Gaga Balls

The short answer

An 8.5 inch rubber playground ball, inflated soft. That is the ball camps, schools and every pit manufacturer use, and it is what ships in the box when a pit includes one.

It is the same ball sold for kickball and four square. Nothing about it is specific to gaga except the way it is inflated, which matters more than most people expect.

Why 8.5 inches

Size decides whether the game works. A ball that size is big enough to slap accurately with an open hand, heavy enough to stay along the floor, and slow enough that players can read where it is going.

Go smaller and it moves too fast to track, and rounds turn into luck. Go larger, or heavier, and it hurts on contact and stops rebounding cleanly off the walls. A school that ended up with a basketball in its pit had to stop the game, which is the usual outcome.

Weight sits around 2.5 lb for a three-pack, so each ball is light in the hand and firm enough to travel.

How much to inflate it

This is the part nobody mentions and the part that ruins games. A gaga ball should be soft enough to squeeze with one hand. Some balls carry the target pressure printed on them, at around 2 psi, which is far less than the ball will take.

Over-inflate it and three things happen. Every hit flies above the knee, so nobody gets out and the round drags. It stings on contact. And it rebounds off the walls hard enough to leave the pit, which stops play every thirty seconds.

Under-inflate it and the ball dies on the floor. It stops rebounding, players have to chase it, and the round loses its rhythm. Squeeze test: your fingers should dent it without much effort, and it should spring back at once.

The balls

8.5 inch, the standard

What to buy if you are replacing a lost ball or filling a pit that shipped without one. All three come with a pump.

The SCS Direct three-pack is the only one Amazon classifies specifically as a gaga ball rather than a general playground ball, and it carries inflation instructions printed on the ball itself. The EVERICH set comes in packs of six or twelve, which is the sensible buy for a programme rather than a household. The animal-print set is the same 8.5 inch ball with owl, penguin and cat designs, useful when several children need to tell their ball apart.

7 inch, for younger players

Smaller and lighter, with a no-sting rubber surface and adjustable inflation. This is the size GoSports puts in its Gagagon Go, the pit aimed at ages six and up.

Six to a set with a pump and a mesh bag. Worth considering if children under about eight are playing, since owners of the larger pits repeatedly describe swapping the supplied 8.5 inch ball for something gentler once the youngest joined in.

6 inch foam, for indoors and the very young

Foam rather than inflatable, so there is nothing to pump and nothing to deflate. Softest of the three and the quietest indoors.

These are dodgeballs rather than gaga balls, and at 6 inches they are below what the game is designed around. They work in a small pit with young children and in a gym where noise matters. For a full-size court with a mixed age group, stay at 8.5 inches.

What not to use

A basketball. Too hard and too heavy. It hurts, and it damages fabric and mesh walls.

A football or volleyball. Wrong shape or wrong surface. Neither rebounds predictably off a low wall.

A beach ball or anything very light. It floats rather than travels, leaves the pit constantly, and the game stops being about aim.

A fully inflated playground ball. The right ball at the wrong pressure plays worse than a cheaper ball inflated properly.

How many to buy

For a household, one spare. Balls get kicked over fences and puncture eventually, and a pit with no working ball sits unused.

For a school or a camp, buy in packs. Programme staff consistently report balls disappearing faster than anything else in the box, which is why the six and twelve packs exist. A court in daily use through a season will get through several.

Two balls in play at once is a common variation for large groups, so a big court needs at least two working balls before anyone starts losing them.

Pits that ship without one

Most inflatable pits arrive as the pit alone. Pop-up and commercial sets almost always include one or two balls and a pump.

If you have not bought a pit yet, check the contents before the colour. Inflatable pits vary set by set, while pop-up pits include a ball on every set we list.

Frequently asked