Russian rounders, or lapta is an interesting traditional Russian ball game, similar to baseball. It has been played in Russia since the 14th century.
A field for the game has about 140 x 175 feet size. The edges of it are marked with parallel lines, called ‘salo’. The team consists of 10 players. There are six in the field, and four are reserves. Toss before the game determines which team will play in the defense and in the attack. After this, the first player of the attacking team comes out with the bat on a feeder platform. Others are waiting for their turns in the sequence field. Five players of the defending team occupy positions in the field for the reference line. The sixth throws the ball from the open palm over the center circle of the filing under attack forward, right to the altitude, which he shows by his hand. Violation of any of these rules is punishable by a fine: a player has a yellow card. After second violation the referee shows a player a red card, which means his removal of the end of the game without the right to substitute. On the hitters’ hits two attempts are given. The player overshot with two attempts is sent outside, waiting for the opportune moment to launch the attack, and the next teammate go to file out.
Not very diferent from baseball but with some hangs
As soon as the ball passes the line of control, the pierced player can start running through the field behind the line of the ‘kon’. Defensive player trying to catch the ball, and if it is not possible, to bring the ball out of the game quickly, throwing for the line of ‘home’ not to let a runner have time to return. If the ball is caught on the fly, it’s ‘candle’, and the team gets one point. The candle can be caught in the field or outside it and then try to touch it by the ball a player committing bounds. But such roll can be done only while on the field. If the player run in time, the team earns points. But if the shoot at the runner was successful, the teams change their roles. The attacking role goes to the opponent.
The game consists of two halves of 30 minutes with a five-minute break. Since the main points a team accumulates in the attacking role, the players seek to maintain this role as long as possible, avoiding being in the ‘salo’.
The team wins if it manages to score more points. However, if as a result of deletions there are less than four players in the team, the team loses.
Lapta is an extremely dynamic and spectacular game. It can de played all year round, indoors and out-of-doors. But the indoor variant has the smaller field, and there are some changes in the rules relating to the ball rebounds from the restrictive walls and ceilings. But the entertainment is in no way affected.