Double Disc Court, also known as DDC Frisbee, is a disc team sport that relies on communication, good timing and technical skills. An entertaining game that is rightly gaining more and more fans and becoming more and more popular. Reason enough to join us on the court and take a closer look at the accessories and rules!
What is Double Disc Court?
Unlike Ultimate, DDC Frisbee is a throwing rather than a running sport. The teams and courts are also much smaller. This means that there are not 7 people per team – instead, duos play. In addition, the courts are physically separated from each other (I’ll come to the exact dimensions later). This makes the game feel a bit like volleyball, although it would be stepping on the toes of the DDC a bit.
In principle, the game can be roughly summarised as follows. Each team stands in its own court and tries to place both game discs in the opposing team’s field at the same time and score points. I would like to explain in more detail how this works in the rules section.
What do I need to play for the DDC Game?
Similar to many other disc games, DDC requires very few accessories. You only need…
- four players (to form two duos each),
- two identical double disc court discs and
- a court with a length of 141 feet and a width of 42,7 feet.
What are the characteristics of the DDC court?
Wait a minute – two separate courts? That’s right. In fact, the field comprises two smaller square fields of 42,7 x 42,7 feet each, separated by a 55,8 feet wide strip. For marking the field, you can use, for example, flutter tape or, much cheaper, marking plates*. The trick is to use a roll of 328 feet. This gives you two fields, each with an edge length of 41 feet. That’s a bit of a cheat, but it’s absolutely OK for a start. But do you pass official Double Disc Court field markings? Then you can order them from a Texas distributor for about 150 € including customs, shipping and co. Mega-light, -stable and made for eternity. But of course they don’t have to be.
Double Disc Court Discs
For the distinct enjoyment of the game, it should actually be the DDC original discs*. They are quite small and light (9,4 inches in diameter and 3,9 oz. in weight), which may come as a surprise at first.
However, in the course of the game, this also brings some advantages:
- Thrown with a lot of wrist spin, they fly very well. The fact that they are not as stable in flight is not a problem. After all, the DDC is all about your technical ability in terms of throwing technique, and you certainly want to show what you’ve got.
- It’s not that dangerous if a disc hits you by mistake. (Which does happen with two discs in the game. Especially if you don’t notice one in time).
- All players have to throw regularly. In a two-hour game, a few oz. make a clear difference. Especially since there is batting and not passing.
- 110 Gram
- Diameter: 24 centimeters
- You need two discs to play this game
Double Disc Court Rules
Similar to Ultimate, DDC does not require a referee. So fair play including mutual respect is the order of the day. No wonder that you can be excluded from official tournaments if you repeatedly insult the opposing team, deliberately break the rules or play dangerously. Nevertheless, it must be said: The vast majority of double disc court players are extremely fair and prefer to score points through skill rather than bashing their opponents. The latter is not really necessary because the rules leave plenty of room for tactically and technically flawless points.
Before the start of the game
… a disc flip is played first. For this, the two discs are thrown into the air, whereby one team can hold “equal” or “unequal”. Whoever wins the Discflip has the choice of these three aspects.
- Which court do we want to play on?
- Which team should attack first?
- And which team will set the server first? (so to speak: Who will attack with whom?).
After that, the other team gets to decide one of the remaining points before the first team decides the last one.
How do the teams score the points?
After the disc flip has determined which team will throw in, the command “2-1 throw” is given and both discs enter the game. After that, they always move from one side to the other, whereby it is of course important to score as effectively as possible with the throws. The amount of points is determined by the circumstance by which they are scored.
- 1 point: The opposing team does not catch the disc, so that it remains in the field.
- Also 1 point: The other team throws it out of bounds (this also applies to discs that touch the out of bounds while rolling).
- 2 points: The opposing team touches both discs at the same moment. In this case, the other team calls “double” or “two” and the game is interrupted. But of course there is an option to repel the attack. To do this, the first disc must be “tipped” (bumped from below). This brings it higher in the air and buys enough time for the second disc to be caught and thrown back.
Important when scoring: If disc 1 has led to the point and disc 2 is still in the air, you must also catch it to finish the change. However, it must not be sent off in addition. If this happens (“late disc”), you cannot score with it. You have to hope that it does not end up out of bounds – otherwise it counts as a point for the other team. After scoring, a new change starts and the team that scored the last point attacks. So announce the score, count it, break the stalemate if necessary (I’ll get to that in a few moments) and off you go.
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Attack (alternatively break the stalemate)
As already mentioned: The team that scored a point last is on the offensive. However, if each of the teams holds a disc, the attacking team must resolve this situation (the stalemate). This works by the attackers playing their held disc within 4 seconds. The defenders, on the other hand, can wait as long as they feel it is useful.
Other important rules
Double Disc Court would not be DDC if there were not a few more rules besides the ones mentioned above. In fact, the rules are quite easy to understand, but quite extensive. Therefore, here are just three of the most important basics.
- If you have a disc in your hands, you are not allowed to run.
- Discs that fly in high may at best (at most) hit at a 30° angle. If the angle is greater, the team so attacked may announce “angle”. As a result, the throw does not count and the defenders decide whether to continue the game or not. Otherwise, an exchange replay is called.
- Both discs meet in the air? They must be caught as wekk! At least if they otherwise land in the court or are touched – and the opponent should not receive a point for this. However, if this is not the case and they come up out of bounds, it is “no point”. A somewhat tricky situation for the team in whose airspace the discs touch each other …
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Helpful strategies
As already mentioned, double disc court can be compared to volleyball. At least when the teams decide to hit the throws as hard as possible to the opponent’s baseline. However, this does not have to be the case. Two other variations are also quite worthwhile and usually help scoring even more.
Score as many doubles as possible. In contrast to Ultimate, there is no one who counts the throwers of the opposing team by seconds per se. This doesn’t mean that you don’t have to react quickly in DDC as well. But your team has enough time to wait for the second disc after catching the first one. When it is almost there, the first disc is played into the opponent’s court in an arc at the last moment. And then the second disc follows directly after. Consequence: Ideally, both discs arrive almost directly at the same time. This means that the opponent has to look for the “escape” to prevent a double. If he doesn’t manage it, your team is sure of two points in one shot.
Play in and play deeply. This strategy is also a good idea, but it requires you to have a lot of intuition and know how to place the disc in different areas of the field. The ideal spot is as far back as possible in the opponent’s court. Why? Because this makes a smash attack as an attacking defence quite impossible. Also, you have more time to adjust to the new situation and to position yourself skilfully in your court area.
End of game
Are you in a 1-set game? Then it goes on until one team has scored 21 points. At the same time, the difference to the losing team must be at least 2 points. However, the game really ends at 25 points. Is it a tournament according to official Double Disc Court rules and has the knockout phase been reached? In this case, teams play in 3 to 5 winning sets with 15 points each to determine the winning team.
DDC Game: Conclusion
Double Disc Court is a very throw and catch intensive disc team sport. Of course you have to move around a lot. But it quickly becomes clear that tactical skill and timing are at least as important as good physical condition. Due to …
- the clear field size (about 141 x 43 feet),
- the small amount of equipment required (two discs plus some tape to mark out the courts)
- and modest number of players (two duos each, competing against each other)
… DDC is a great leisure game that can also be played quite spontaneously. The basic prerequisite, however, is that you have a certain feeling for the disc and for the timing. But with a little practice and a lot of good humour, you can literally get to grips with that.
Sources & credits:
[1] http://www.doubledisccourt.de/regeln/
