Kerby Rules: How To Play The Street Game Properly

Kerby is two people, two kerbs and a football, and it is a far better game than it has any right to be. You throw the ball at the opposite kerb and try to make it bounce back to you.

Everyone played it slightly differently. Here's the standard version and the common variations.

The basic rules

• Two players stand on opposite kerbs of a quiet road, facing each other.
• You throw the ball at the far kerb, aiming for the vertical edge.
• Hit the kerb edge cleanly and it rebounds back across the road. If you catch it without it bouncing more than once, you score.
• Miss the kerb and the other player takes their turn from where they are.
• Play to a target - eleven, twenty-one or fifty depending on how long you've got.
• You may not cross the centre of the road to throw. Toes behind your own kerb.

Scoring

• Standard scoring: one point for hitting the kerb, and you keep the throw.
• A rebound you catch cleanly on the full is usually worth an extra point, or ten in the version played to fifty.
• Some streets played hit-and-catch as five, and a hit that the opponent catches on the full scores you nothing.
• Common house rule: if the ball rebounds and hits your own kerb without either of you touching it, that's an instant win or ten points.
• Agree the scoring before you start. Every argument in the history of kerby has been about this.

Variations

• Rebound kerby: if your opponent fails to stop the rebound and it crosses their kerb, you score again.
• One bounce allowed on the return in the softer version, no bounce in the strict one.
• Doubles, two a side, which turns it into something closer to volleyball.
• Advance rule: every successful hit lets you move a step forward, making the next throw easier and the return harder.
• The wall version for anyone without a facing kerb - the wall base counts as the kerb.

Names and where it was played

• Kerby, kerbs, kerbie, kerbsie, curby - all the same game.
• Also called kerb ball, kerbstone and, in parts of Scotland, kerbies.
• It needs a quiet road, which is largely why it has disappeared - traffic, parked cars and the vanishing of the pronounced kerb edge.
• A football or a tennis ball both work; the football is the traditional choice and the tennis ball is the skilled one.
• Playable now on a driveway edge, a park path kerb or a raised concrete step.

Shop cards

How to write it so it lands

• Agree the scoring first. Always.
• A tennis ball is the skilled version, a football the traditional one.
• A wall base works when there's no facing kerb.

Where to shop next

• Knock down ginger: the names for it
• British Bulldog rules
• Stuck in the mud and tig games
• What's the time, Mr Wolf?
• Hopscotch rules and grids
• Marbles rules and terms
• Conkers rules
• Hide and seek variations
• Forty forty and block one two three
• Wall ball and two-ball
• Playground games by region
• Playground games banned by schools
• Wet playtime indoor games
• Rhymes for picking who's it
• Playground games we all played
• Clapping games and skipping rhymes
• Traditional British party games
• Free feel good tools
• Shop cards
• Planning the party? Birthday party ideas
• How to make a balloon arch
• Photo booth prop ideas
• Pin badges
• All guides

Frequently asked questions

What are the rules of kerby?

Two players stand on opposite kerbs and take turns throwing a ball at the far kerb edge. Hitting the kerb scores, and catching the rebound cleanly scores more. Miss and the turn passes. First to the agreed total wins.

How do you score in kerby?

One point for hitting the kerb edge, with a bonus for catching the rebound on the full - usually one extra, or ten in the version played to fifty. Agree the scoring before you start.

What else is kerby called?

Kerbs, kerbie, kerbsie, curby, kerb ball and kerbstone, depending on where you grew up. It's the same game everywhere.

Can you play kerby without a kerb?

Yes - the base of a wall works the same way, as does a raised concrete step or the edge of a driveway. You just need a hard vertical edge to rebound off.

Do you sell games or play equipment?

No - we make greeting cards, art prints and pin badges in the UK. Every game here needs a wall, a ball, a piece of chalk or nothing at all, and the only products on this page are our own cards.