It is a variation of Basque pelota. The term jai alai , coined by Serafin Baroja in , is also often loosely applied to the fronton the open-walled playing area where matches take place.
The game, whose name means "merry festival" in Basque, is called zesta-punta "basket tip" in the Basque Country. The sport is played worldwide, but especially in Spain , France , the U. The court for jai alai consists of walls on the front, back and left, and the floor between them. If the ball called a pelota in Spanish , pilota in Standard Basque touches the floor outside these walls, it is considered out of bounds. Similarly, there is also a border on the lower 3 feet 0.
The ceiling on the court is usually very high, so the ball has a more predictable path. The court is divided by 14 parallel lines going horizontally across the court, with line 1 closest to the front wall and line 14 the back wall. In doubles, each team consists of a frontcourt player and a backcourt player. The game begins when the frontcourt player of the first team serves the ball to the second team.
The winner of each point stays on the court to meet the next team in rotation. Losers go to the end of the line to await another turn on the court. The first team to score 7 points or 9 in Superfecta games wins. The next highest scores are awarded "place" second and "show" third positions, respectively. Playoffs decide tied scores.
The most common American version of the game of jai alai game is played in round robin format, usually between eight teams of two players each or eight single players, although in rare instances the teams may consist of three players each or triples. The first team to score 7 or 9 points wins the game. Two of the eight teams are in the court for each point. The server on one team must bounce the ball behind the serving line, then with the cesta "basket" hurl it towards the front wall so it strikes the front wall first and if it is not caught by the other team before it bounces, must bounce between lines 4 and 7 on the floor.
