Ultimate is an exciting, non-contact team sport, played by thousands the world over. It mixes the best features of sports such as Soccer, Basketball, American Football and Netball into a simple, yet fascinating and demanding game. To compete at the top level, Ultimate players require an high degree of speed, stamina and agility. The simplicity of the rules means it's easy and fun for newcomers to pick up.

Oh, and by the way, it's played with a flying disc

How the game works

Ultimate is a non contact sport, played between two teams of seven players on a large rectangular pitch. The game is played with a Frisbee – known in the sport as a disc. The object of the game is to score goals. A line drawn across the pitch at either end creates two "endzones" and these are the goal-scoring areas. A goal is scored when a team completes a pass to a player standing (or more likely running) in the endzone they are attacking.

Players cannot run with the disc. When you get the disc you must stop and try to throw it to another player. By passing from player to player, the offence or “attacking team” attempts to work the disc up the pitch towards the end zone they are attacking. If the disc hits the ground or is intercepted or knocked down by the other team, then the opposition takes possession and this is called a "turnover". Possession also changes if the person receiving the disc is outside the playing area when he or she catches it.

The defending team attempts to stop the team with the disc from making progress upfield by marking their players. The theory is that the offence/attackers won't want to pass to a player who is being marked closely, as it's likely to result in an interception. As a result the offence/attacking players try to get free of their markers to receive a pass, while the defence makes every effort to stay with them in the hope of forcing a turnover.

Fouls

Ultimate is essentially non-contact; any contact between players can be declared a foul.

Spirit of the Game

Ultimate is unique in that it is refereed by the players themselves, even at World Championship level, according to a code of conduct known as "the Spirit of the Game". This places the responsibility for fair play on the players themselves.
"Spirit of the Game" is perhaps the central governing principle of ultimate. Respect for one's opponent is paramount. The official ultimate rules strictly forbid any action—taunting, intentional fouls—that might be construed as bad sportsmanship.

In place of referees, the players call their own fouls. In Ultimate, every player is responsible for their own conduct on the field. Since there are no referees, it's the responsibility of players to call fouls on themselves if the person they have fouled does not call the infraction hence; you call a foul on yourself. Ultimate relies on the honour system and the belief that no one will intentionally cheat.

Ultimates rules can be summed up by the concept of "Spirit." Highly competitive play is encouraged, but never at the expense of mutual respect between players, adherence to the agreed-upon rules of the game or the basic joy of play. The purpose of the rules of Ultimate is to provide a guideline, which describes the way the game is played.

It is assumed that no Ultimate player will intentionally violate the rules; there are no harsh penalties for inadvertent infractions but, rather, a method for resuming play in a manner which simulated what would most likely have occurred had there been no infraction.

Spirit allows the game to be played without refs, without untoward aggression, and without long stoppages in play.