Our Experience Playing WhirlyBall

We recently played WhirlyBall for the first time and it was such a unique experience! If you’ve never played before, it’s a sport that involves bumper cars, basketball, and lacrosse all at once. While we drove a bumper car, we wielded a shortened lacrosse “scooper” and tried to pass a whiffle ball back and forth with our teammates. The goal was to score a “basket” by tossing the ball at a basketball board at the end of the court. Between trying to steer the car while also chasing after the whiffle ball, it kept us engaged and laughing the entire time.

We recently played WhirlyBall for my husband’s birthday, and everyone we invited had a blast. We haven’t laughed that hard in a long time. In this post, we will describe WhirlyBall in greater detail, share locations around the country, and share a little bit about our experience playing the game. Finally, we address some frequently asked questions so that you can be well-prepared to try this game out for yourself!

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, I may earn commissions from qualifying purchases. 

About WhirlyBall

WhirlyBall was invented in the 1960s in Utah. Although it’s a competitive sport with organized leagues, it’s most often played for entertainment for birthday parties and corporate team-building events.

In order to play, a group of 10 people is divided into two teams. Each player drives a Whirlybug (basically a bumper car) and carries a scoop. The goal is to pass the whiffle ball to your teammates, advance up the court, and score a “Whirlic” by throwing the ball onto a circle on a basketball board. You’re not allowed to ram into a car from behind, but other than that, there are very few rules! A referee will narrate your experience and keep track of the score. When we played, we heard a lot of “loose ball!” announcements. (We could probably stand to hone our skills a bit more!)

At first, navigating the Whirlybug can be a bit tricky. Instead of a steering wheel, you steer the car with a handle that looks like a crank. You point the handle in the direction you want to go. One of the things that makes this game pretty silly is that there are no brakes. You can’t help but bump into something! In order to reverse, you have to wind the crank through one full rotation. It can be a little tricky to get the hang of how to reverse, but after a few minutes of play, it’s pretty natural.

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Locations

There are multiple WhirlyBall locations across the country:

Washington State

Address: 23401 Hwy 99, Edmonds, WA 98026

Website: https://whirlyballseattle.com/

Illinois

Address: 1825 W Webster Ave, Chicago, IL 60614

Website: https://www.whirlyball.com/

Michigan

Address: 19781 15 Mile Rd, Clinton Twp, MI 48035

Address: 41550 Grand River Ave., Novi, MI 48375

Website: https://www.whirlyballmichigan.com/

Minnesota

Address: 13644 80th Cir N, Maple Grove, MN 55369

Website: https://www.whirlyballtwincities.com/

Ohio

Address: 5055 Richmond Rd, Bedford Heights, OH 44146

Website: https://whirlyballcleveland.com/

Texas

Address: 3115 Parker Rd, Plano, TX 75023

Address: 147 E Harwood Rd, Hurst, TX 76054

Website: http://www.whirlyballtexas.com/

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Our Experience

We booked the WhirlyBall court for 2.5 hours on a weekend night and invited about 15 people to play. Because 10 people can play at a time, we took turns playing and watching. This worked out perfectly, because after playing a couple of games, it was nice to take a break, have a drink, and watch the fun. Each game was 12 minutes long.

At the facility near Seattle, we could order food, snacks, alcoholic beverages, and non-alcoholic beverages. We ordered tater tots and corn dog bites for everyone to share. Our group enjoyed beer, wine, and seltzers. In addition to WhirlyBall, there were also some arcade and table top games to play. This was great to keep people entertained while they were waiting their turn. 

Overall, we had so much fun and I’m glad we planned this event for my husband’s birthday! If you’re planning a group event whether for a birthday, bachelor/bachelorette party, graduation party, or team-building exercise, we would recommend it!