NUKEM RULES 
THE HISTORY OF NUKEM:
Nukem was created around 2003-2004 by Jeán Swanepoel, during the beginning years of Maraneman Ontspanningsoord PTY LTD (T/A Maraneman on the Vaal). Volleyball was too difficult for many of our camping kids to play and the need for a game that would incorporate all ages as well as the sporty and non-sporty alike, became more necessary. Nukem was then created by including elements of Volleyball and Netball, as well as additional rules and objectives setup to develop an incredibly fun and entertaining game. Initially the game was played with no official name, but it was later named by Nerissa Swanepoel (friend of Jeán & Mandie Swanepoel) who was our Head Facilitator at the time. The name “Nukem” was derived from the words “Nuke Them”, whereby the ball represents a nuclear bomb. When it lands on the floor, it “nukes” the nearest player. The team with the “last man standing”, wins. The game was originally referred to as “Nuke‘em”, and was later shortened to Nukem. The game was originally played on a normal Volleyball Court, with two sides. But later Maraneman created a court with three sides, to accommodate a three-team split for our camping programmes.
Thousands of South African children and adults were taught to play the game for over 20 years. With Maraneman’s camping facilitators moving to work at various campsites across South Africa (as well as American Summer Camps in the USA), it quickly spread the word of this incredibly fun game giving it huge National and even International exposure. A few South African Campsites and Schools built courts on their premises, and some Youtube channels reported on the game. However, not all channels include our original rules correctly, although they might have similarities. The whole purpose of Nukem is to include, to inspire and to positively impact people from all walks of life… and to have loads of fun in the process!
NUKEM GAME OVERVIEW:
Two or Three Teams play against each other (depending on the type of court) by throwing the ball over the net, towards one another. Avoiding that the ball falls on the ground, as team members get eliminated when the ball falls on the ground. The objective is to eliminate the competing teams, by removing their team members one by one. As soon as all team members in a team are removed/eliminated from court, they are out of the game and have lost. Last team to have members remaining on court (at least one), win the game.
NUKEM COURT & PLAYER SPECIFICATIONS:
Each court side should be at least 8m x 8m in size, with a clearly marked court line on the edge (according to court measurement). The court can be divided into two or three, equal-sized, sides.
Court floor should consist of soft & loose beach sand (softer landing when falling or diving to catch ball). A solid floor consisting of grass or hard ground does cause a lot of unnecessary scrapes and injuries.
The Net should be elevated to 2.6m high, at its highest point (lower nets give an unfair advantage to taller players).
A number 5 Netball ball should be used, to provide optimal hand grip for players.
All ages can participate, although it does work best to group the younger kids according to their ages into teams. Younger kids should at least be able to catch and throw the ball over the net. If your age groups are highly mixed, you should ensure that the team division is made to split the ages/sizes of players as equally as possible. There is no limit to the number of players in a team (as long as adequate movement space is available to each player), however all participating teams should have an equal number of players. The recommended number of players are between 4-6 persons per team.
A Referee must be selected to oversee each game. His/her decisions are final.
NUKEM BASIC GAME PLAY RULES:
STARTING THE GAME
The game starts off with one team starting with a serve, being able to throw it to any side of their liking (if you have a three way court). The aim of the game is to take out all the players of the opposing teams. The way you go about doing this is by throwing the ball in the opposing teams court without them catching it. (Note they can be taken out by themselves as well, if too many mistakes are made on their end.) Once a successful ball has landed within the court of the opposing team, whatever player that was closest to the ball is out, until they are brought back in again. Afterwards the team which lost the player will start the next round with a serve. This will go on until all opposing teams are fully eliminated, with only one team left with one or more players standing.
HOW TO GET PLAYERS BACK ON COURT
Once you’ve lost a player the only way of getting them back is by catching the ball with one hand. The one hand has to “be clean” and cannot make contact with any part of the body (Including your team or your other hand). The catch also cannot be juggled from the one hand to the other.
You are however allowed to bounce it up in the air and catch it again with the same exact hand. Once you’ve caught a clean one hand, you are allowed to wait for your team member to get on the court again before starting again with a pass or throw straight over the net. The player brought back onto the court, must be done in order of which they were removed. In other words, the first player removed from court, must be brought in first.
HOW TO GET PLAYERS BACK – AS THE LAST PLAYER IN A TEAM
When you’re the last player on the court for your team and you catch the ball with two hands, one player of your choosing is allowed to come back in.
If you catch a clean one hand, two players of your choosing are allowed to come back in. The first player to be brought back, may be chosen by the last player who caught the ball (can be any team member). The second player to be brought back, must be done in order of which they were removed. In other words, the first player removed from court, must be brought in first.
NUKEM ELIMINATION RULES:
When the ball lands within your court there are a few rules when it comes to whom within your team is out (removed from court). The main rule as stated above, the person within your team that is the closest the ball when it lands in the court is usually out, but there are a few exceptions.
EXCEPTIONS TO ELIMINATION
Exception 1:
Whatever player touched the ball before it dropped to the ground is out, regardless of whether it bounced away to the other side of the court.
Exception 2:
When you run with intent of catching the ball, it doesn’t matter if you weren’t closest to it, you will still be taken out. (Guarding your fellow teammate to ensure the ball doesn’t fall, does not count.)
Exception 3:
Dodging the ball – when you purposely dodge the ball when it comes to your direction, you will be taken out.
Exception 4:
When a player touches the ball before it bounces outside of the court, whatever player touched the ball last is removed from court. (This counts in every scenario.)
SELF-ELIMINATION
There are a few things a player can do to take themselves out (be removed from court):
1. Dropping the ball:
When you drop the ball you are taken out, and your team must serve.
2. Holding the ball for longer than 2 seconds:
When you hold the ball for more than 2 seconds and don’t pass / throw to reset your time with the ball, you are taken out, and your team must serve.
3. Throwing outside of the court:
When you throw the ball outside of the court lines, you are taken out, and your team must serve.
NUKEM COURT RULES:
NET RULES
The net cannot be touched. If a player touches the net that player is taken out of the game until his/her team gets him/her back in again. The ball is allowed to touch the net, but any part of the player’s body is not allowed to touch the net. When the ball touches the net and a player catches the ball before it makes contact with the ground, they continue the game as normal. The action between the ball touching the net and the player catching it again, counts as one pass.
LINE RULES
A player is allowed to catch a ball, outside of the court lines (play continues from that point). When the ball lands on the line of the court a “Continue play” will occur. A “Continue play” means that the player closest to where the ball fell, will continue the play from the point where the ball fell. This player can choose to pass the ball or throw it straight over the net. However, if the player touched the ball before it landed on the line, the player is out and “continue play” does not come into play.
NET-LINE RULES
Like the lines of the court the net also represents the lines of each team’s court. Therefore, if the ball lands directly below any part of the net (known as the net line), it counts as a “Continue play” and doesn’t take the player of the receiving team out (Unless the ball was in fact touched before it landed within the court).
NUKEM MOVEMENT RULES:
REMOVAL FROM COURT / PLAYER ELIMINATION
Players are removed off court when rules are broken, errors are made, or when they are eliminated by a falling ball. More details will follow regarding the various circumstances in which a player can be removed from court. But when a player is removed from court, they must go and stand court side (far enough not to be able to interfere with any activity in the game whatsoever, but close enough to enter game quickly again when allowed). Player must remain court side, until they are allowed back into the game (and onto the court) with a one-hand-catch, caught by one of his team members (circumstances explained under basic game rules).
NO WALKING WITH BALL
No walking is allowed, whilst you have the ball in your hands. You can however move one foot forwards, but your other foot has to remain firmly stationary. Failing to do so will cause the player to be removed off court. This rule applies to every situation, except whilst serving.
JUMPING
A player is allowed to jump into the air (into any direction) whilst throwing the ball. But once his feet makes contact with the ground again, the ball must be out of his hands. Failing to do so will lead that player to be taken off court. This applies to every situation, except whilst serving.
NUKEM THROWING RULES:
TWO HANDS ONLY
Two hands must be used to throw the ball, at all times. This means no hitting the ball, kicking the ball, blocking the ball, throwing using one hand, or forcing it down with one hand (making it seem that you are using two hands, but not really). Any two-hand method of throwing (provided that two hands are releasing te ball at the same time), is allowed. Failing to do so will lead that player being removed from court.
NUKEM PASSING RULES:
PASSING RULES:
Balls caught after it was thrown over the net to your side, is not considered one of the “passes”. The same counts for throwing the ball back over the net. “Passes” only consist of throws between players on the same team, on one side of the net. Only those “passes” are counted.
Like with throwing, one can only “pass” the ball using two hands. Anything other than that, will lead to the player that threw the ball, to be taken out (removed from court). A team is allowed a total of three passes on their side of the court, until the ball must go over the net again. That number resets once the ball comes back from the opposing team.
No passing and recatching the ball by the same person (ie. You cannot pass the ball to yourself). If however, you pass the ball and it bounces back after touching your team mates body, you are allowed to re-catch it (but this still counts as one pass). If a ball is “passed” for a fourth time, the player who threw the “pass” is removed from court.
If a player throws the ball against the net and it bounces back towards the same court side which it was thrown from, and ball is caught again by any of the players (including the player who threw it) on the same side… it is considered a “pass”, and will count as one “pass”.
NUKEM SERVING RULES:
SERVING RULES:
When a player is taken out from the opposing team (or from a mistake), the team that lost one of their players will serve. When serving, likewise with a normal throw or pass, the server must use two hands. Any two handed method is allowed. A server is allowed 2 serves, if the server fails their first serve, they are given a second serve. If the server fails the second serve they are out until his/her team gets him/her back in again. A male player has to stand behind the court line at the back, when serving and may not step in the court. A female player or players under 12, may serve from the middle of the court. During more official competitions, all players have to serve from behind the back line of their court.
NUKEM SPIKING RULES:
SPIKING RULES:
When sending a ball down at 50-90 degrees angle or more, it is considered a spike. From the point the player is throwing, no spikes are allowed to occur closer than 4 meters away from the throwing position (in any direction). If a spike hits a player (regardless of whether that player was closer than 4 meters away), the hit player is out and removed from court. If a player throws a spike and it lands outside of the court lines, the player who threw the ball is out and removed from court.
NUKEM BLOCKING RULES:
BLOCKING RULES:
Blocking a ball constitutes the ball hitting any part of your body, without you hitting it with any force, pressure or movement. The player is also allowed to jump when blocking. You are allowed to block at any time during the game, provided that no pressure is placed on the ball (i.e. Not hitting or bumping the ball). If the ball was blocked and bounces off the players body, it can be caught by other players in your team and constitutes a pass. If the ball was blocked and bounced over the net, the game continues as normally. The only instance where a block is not allowed, is after a ball was served. If you block a serve, you are removed off court / eliminated.
NUKEM INTERFERANCE RULES:
INTERFERENCE:
If a removed/eliminated player next to the court, catches the ball during game, then a member of his team must be removed from court / eliminated for the interference. If any player removes a mark made by the ball in the sand (for referee inspection), it is considered Interference and that player will be removed (or one of his team members, if the player is already removed from court). It is important to ensure that all spectators stay at least 1.5 meters away from court side.
Rules may be adjusted or elaborated from time to time, by the game creator.
UPDATED: January 2024
