Sockby is a unique sport invented by Marco Polo in 2012, combining elements from Mayan and Egyptian cultures. It involves two players using a homemade sock ball and an umbrella bat on a 6 by 2 meter field, with matches lasting 5 minutes and specific rules for scoring. Despite its quirky nature, Sockby gained worldwide popularity and was included in the Olympics by 2020.

1. Attention! Ladies and gentlemen,
let me introduce a brand-new sport
to you!
SOCKBY

2. HISTORY
Sockby is an ancient sport, dating back to 2012 AD,
when the Mayan civilization still idolized the ball
and Egyptians used a fan of palm-leaves or coloured
feathers fixed on a long handle, i.e the umbrella!

3. INVENTION
Once Marco Polo, the world renowned
merchant traveler, who had just come back from
his business trips to Egypt and Teotihuacan
(central Mexico) and was looking through the
photos on his iPad with Retina display, had one
of those “aha” moments. He came up with an
idea of merging those two cultures and
inventing a new sport!

4. SOCKBY: the BALL
Since Marco didn’t have a ball at hand, he used his
old socks to make a ball. However, the “ball” was
quite weird, as the pair of socks binded together
had a different behavior from conventional balls.
They didn’t bounce back after hitting the floor…
That was ok for the inventor though. Most
importantly he got some money from Reebok for
placement and endorsement 

5. SOCKBY: the BAT
The “Umbrella-bat” Marco came up with was
40cm long, however, it can be of any color and
size for you.

6. SOCKBY: the FIELD
After a trial and error session which lasted for a
whole day Marco noted that the “Field” should
measure 6 by 2 meters. A couple of unfortunate
moves inspired another guideline: the
tournament should be held at a venue hosting
no ancient valuable vases or mirrors.
If you are not superstitious, you can put up with
the concept of the mirror though ;)

7. SOCKBY: the PLAYERS
“Sockby is played by 2 people. Period”, Marco wrote in his
diary. “Whoever dares to violate the rule will have the
Curse of the Pharaohs haunting him for good!”

8. SOCKBY: the CLOTHING
“No suits and bow ties! Casual clothing will do
unless the event is attended by royalty.”, was the
next note in Marco’s diary. “Oh, not to forget!
Sacked feet! This is an intentional attribute to
limit and slow movements.”, was added later.

9. SOCKBY: the TIME
“The match should last for 5 minutes.”, thought
Marco, puffing and panting.

10. SOCKBY: the SERVES
The players serve in turn (the idea is to hit the ball
so that it passes the goal line, drawn 10 sm ahead
of players). Player A serves the ball to player B, who
serves it back to player A: the latter should grab the
ball with an open umbrella this time: he is now the
goal keeper (if one of the players fails to hit the
“ball” back at the opponent, the latter serves again.
BTW, the “ball” is hit with a closed umbrella; the
opponent hits it back with a closed one too, while
the goal keeper “grabs” the ball with an open
umbrella as mentioned above).

11. SOCKBY: the POINTS
For each goal the player gets 5 points. 3 points are
deducted from his score for a missed goal and 2
points for failing to hit the ball back. The player with
most points wins.
Marco was now happy! He knew, that apart from his
discoveries he would be remembered for Sockby: a
game that found fans all over the world and soon was
included in summer Olympic games program. That
was in 2020…