Hand + tennis = Hantis
Born in a classroom
A tennis ball, a few tables and a room full of bored students. That's how a new sport started in 2005.
The story
Hantis was invented in 2005 by a group of students at Scott County High School in Georgetown, Kentucky. During a slow media class, someone found a tennis ball in a backpack and started bouncing it across the tables. Everyone started shouting out rules: "It bounced twice on your table, you're out!" and "Only two hits!" The rules everyone could agree on stuck.
The name is short for hand tennis: tennis-style rallies with no rackets or paddles. You strike the ball with your hands, or any other part of your body.
The game kept growing after high school through underground tournaments, school demonstrations, P.E. programs and college intramurals, including at Northern Kentucky University and Ball State University. In 2011, Hantis won the Playworks Best New Game contest by public vote and joined the Playworks game library, where it's used in recess and P.E. across the U.S.
Today Hantis is played from Kentucky to Western Australia, where the West Aus Hantis League has hosted thirty editions of the Craters' Cup.
Timeline
Twenty years of Hantis
Invented
Created by four students at Scott County High School, Georgetown, Kentucky.
Best New Game
Wins the Playworks Best New Game contest by public vote.
Craters' Cups
The West Aus Hantis League's tournament series reaches edition XXX in 2025.
A new chapter
A new rulebook, free guides and a standards-aligned P.E. unit.
What we believe
Play for everyone
Hantis can be played with what schools, churches, rec centers and homes already have: four tables and a ball. There's no bench, because nobody waits long to play. There's unlimited room for creativity, because you can hit the ball with any part of your body, play off the walls and pass to a teammate. And everyone can play, because it's quick to learn and it's new to everybody.
That's why the rules and the Quick Start are free, and always will be.
Press & partners
Media kit
Writing about Hantis or featuring it at your event? Use these logo files and get in touch.
