What is Paper Soccer on a small field?
The standard field here has 9 points across and 13 along, a pitch of 8 × 12 squares. In this variant you play on 7 × 9 points instead, a pitch of 6 × 8 squares, chosen as the field size in the table setup. Everything else stays the same: the ball starts on the centre spot, each move draws a line to one of the eight neighbouring points, landing on a point that a line or a wall already touches earns another move, and the goals are 2 squares wide in the middle of the short sides.
The ball starts four steps from each goal line instead of six, and the side walls are only three steps from the centre. Bounces off the walls come early, a single long bounce chain can reach the goal mouth, and a careless move near the centre can already decide the game. It suits a quick game and learning how bounces work.
Rule changes
| Rule | Standard Paper Soccer | Paper Soccer on a small field |
|---|---|---|
| Field | Standard Paper Soccer9 points across and 13 along: 8 × 12 squares. | Paper Soccer on a small field7 points across and 9 along: 6 × 8 squares, chosen in the table setup. |
| Kick-off | Standard Paper SoccerThe centre spot, six steps from each goal line and four from each side wall. | Paper Soccer on a small fieldThe centre spot, four steps from each goal line and three from each side wall. |
| Goals | Standard Paper Soccer2 squares wide, in the middle of each short side. | Paper Soccer on a small fieldThe same, 2 squares wide in the middle of each short side. |
| Moves and bounces | Standard Paper SoccerDraw a line from the ball to one of its 8 neighbouring points, never along a wall or a line already drawn. Landing on a point that a line or a wall already touches is a bounce: you move again. | Paper Soccer on a small fieldThe same. |
| End of the game | Standard Paper SoccerThe ball in the goal you attack wins, the ball in your own goal loses. A player who has to move and has no line left to draw loses. | Paper Soccer on a small fieldThe same. |
History
Paper Soccer is a pencil-and-paper game drawn on squared paper, known in Poland as piłkarzyki and popular there among pupils and students. A Polish games website made it playable online in 2004. Its rules have never fixed the size of the pitch: 8 × 10 squares is one of the more common sizes, and the only general requirement is that both sides have an even number of squares, so that the centre point exists for the kick-off.
We know of no published rule set that names a 6 × 8 pitch. It is offered here as a smaller field for shorter games, with both sides even as the game needs and every other rule of the standard game unchanged.