68 Fun Facts About Dodgeball

Which actor plays Peter LaFleur, the owner of the run-down Average Joe's gym?

Vince Vaughn plays Peter LaFleur, the laid-back owner of Average Joe's Gym, whose misfit regulars enter a dodgeball tournament to stop the flashy fitness chain across the street from swallowing the gym.

In which magazine does Gordon find the dodgeball tournament that could save Average Joe's?

Gordon spots the tournament in Obscure Sports Quarterly, whose open event carries a cash prize that exactly matches the gym's debt, giving Average Joe's its only realistic way to stay open.

How much money does Peter need to raise to save his gym?

$50,000 is what Average Joe's owes the bank; Peter is given a short deadline to find it, and the dodgeball open Gordon discovers happens to pay exactly that sum to the winner.

In which city is the dodgeball tournament held?

Las Vegas hosts the film's climactic tournament, the International Dodgeball Open, where Average Joe's and Globo Gym end up meeting in the final.

What is the name of Globo Gym's dodgeball team?

The Purple Cobras are Globo Gym's team: the owner's hand-picked squad of muscle-bound trainers plus the unibrowed Fran, who face Average Joe's in the tournament final.

Who plays Patches O'Houlihan, the wheelchair-using dodgeball legend who coaches Average Joe's?

Rip Torn plays Patches O'Houlihan, the foul-mouthed former champion who takes over the team's training; the young Patches seen in the vintage instructional film is played by Hank Azaria.

What does Patches throw at the team during training to teach them to dodge?

Wrenches: Patches hurls them at the players in practice on the theory that anyone who can dodge a wrench can dodge a ball, then sends the team into traffic for the same lesson.

Who beats Average Joe's at the sub-regional qualifier, only to be disqualified?

A Girl Scout troop thrashes Average Joe's in the qualifier, but the scouts are disqualified when one of them tests positive for steroids, so Average Joe's advances by default.

What is the profession of Kate Veatch, played by Christine Taylor, who eventually joins the team?

Kate Veatch is an attorney at the bank that holds the Average Joe's loan; she rejects Globo Gym's owner's advances, citing conflict of interest, and ends up playing for Peter's team.

Which Average Joe's member believes he is a pirate?

Steve 'The Pirate' Cowan quits after Peter mocks him, comes back looking normal, then reverts the moment the winnings are called 'buried treasure'.

Which real-life athlete gives Peter a pep talk that sends him back to the tournament?

Lance Armstrong, playing himself as the Tour de France winner, finds Peter drowning his sorrows at an airport bar and shames him about quitting, which sends Peter back to rejoin his team.

Whose tie-breaking vote on the judging panel reinstates Average Joe's after their forfeit?

Chuck Norris, playing himself on the tournament's judging panel, casts the deciding vote that lets Average Joe's back in after their forfeit, earning Peter's 'Thank you, Chuck Norris' and a thumbs-up.

Which Baywatch star cameos as the coach of the German team Blitzkrieg?

David Hasselhoff plays himself as the coach of Blitzkrieg, the German side, a nod to his huge pop following in Germany, where 'Looking for Freedom' was a number-one single in 1989.

How does Peter win the sudden-death showdown against Goodman?

He blindfolds himself, dodges the throw and hits his rival in the face, channelling Patches' training, after the final came down to the two gym owners one-on-one in sudden death.

What did Peter do with the $100,000 Goodman paid him for the gym's deed?

Bet it all on his own team at 50-to-1: the wager turns the $100,000 into $5 million, enough to buy a controlling stake in the publicly traded Globo Gym and fire its founder.

How did the original test-screening ending of Dodgeball differ from the released version?

Average Joe's lost the final in the ending first shown to test audiences, who hated it; the filmmakers reshot a happier finish and kept the downer version as a DVD extra.

Who wrote and directed Dodgeball, his feature debut?

Rawson Marshall Thurber wrote and directed the film as his first feature after making the Terry Tate: Office Linebacker commercials; he went on to We're the Millers, Central Intelligence, Skyscraper and Red Notice.

What was Dodgeball's production budget, against a worldwide gross more than eight times as large?

$20 million was the production budget; the film opened at number one in North America and finished with about $114 million domestically and $168 million worldwide.

Which studio released Dodgeball on June 18, 2004?

20th Century Fox released the film, produced with Red Hour Films, in mid-June; it opened at number one in North America, ahead of Spielberg's The Terminal.

What does the ADAA, the tournament's sanctioning body in the film, stand for?

The American Dodgeball Association of America, with its deliberately redundant name, sanctions the film's tournament; its blazer-wearing officials run the qualifier and sit on the judging panel.

Which award did Ben Stiller win at the 2005 MTV Movie Awards for Dodgeball?

Best Villain went to the Globo Gym owner at the 2005 MTV Movie Awards, where the role was also up for Best Comedic Performance; the same season his five comedies together earned him a Razzie nomination.

Which Average Joe's player skips the final to help his crush Amber at a cheerleading competition?

He is played by Justin Long, and steps in after Amber's partner Derek is injured. It leaves the team short-handed and forfeited.

In the film's ending, Kate's friend Joyce arrives from where and kisses her, revealing Kate is bisexual?

Guam is where Joyce has flown in from; after she kisses Kate, Kate kisses a stunned Peter just as hard and tells him she is bisexual.

In which year did Fox first announce a Dodgeball sequel, apparently without telling Ben Stiller?

2013: the studio announced a sequel that May with screenwriter Clay Tarver attached, and the actor behind Globo Gym's owner said he knew nothing about it; the idea was revived a decade later around the original hero.

What is dodgeball called in Germany?

Völkerball, literally 'peoples' ball', is the German name for dodgeball; in the classic schoolyard form each side also posts a 'king' behind the opposing team's half of the court.

In dodgeball, what happens when a player catches a live ball thrown by an opponent?

The thrower is out and a teammate of the catcher is revived: that is the near-universal reward for a clean catch, while a dropped catch puts the would-be catcher out instead.

When does a thrown dodgeball stop being 'live'?

A ball goes dead on touching the floor, wall or ceiling, or any other object; a hit from a dead ball does not count, while a ball deflected off another ball stays live until it lands.

How does Globo Gym's slogan 'We're better than you' end?

'We're better than you, and we know it' is Globo Gym's slogan, delivered in the chain's mock commercial that opens the film and repeated on its signage.

In the variant called 'jailball', where do eliminated players go?

Behind the opponents' back line is the 'jail': eliminated players wait there and can free themselves by retrieving a loose ball and hitting an opponent with it from behind.

What is dodgeball called in South Korea?

Pigu, written with characters meaning 'avoid' and 'ball', is the Korean name for dodgeball, a staple of school sports days and a popular club sport in the country.

What is dodgeball called in Brazil, where the rules usually resemble jailball?

Queimado, literally 'burned', is the name used in the country's schoolyards, also heard as queimada; a player struck by the ball is said to have been burned, hence the name.

What are the balls made of in Britain's competitive dodgeball format?

Foam: Britain's competitive game, played under European rules, uses soft foam balls, unlike the hard rubber ball of American playgrounds.

Which actress plays Fran, the unibrowed Eastern European star of Globo Gym's team?

Missi Pyle plays Fran, the unibrowed powerhouse of Globo Gym's squad who falls for Average Joe's Owen; Pyle had earlier played the alien Laliari in Galaxy Quest.

In China's version, Diu Sha Bao, what is thrown instead of a ball?

A small round sandbag: 'diu sha bao' literally means 'throw the sandbag', and a hand-sewn cloth bag of sand or beans replaces the ball in this Chinese playground favourite.

What is the standard diameter of the classic rubber playground dodgeball?

8.5 inches is the diameter of the classic red rubber playground ball, the same size used for kickball and four square; 10-inch balls are the other common schoolyard size.

Which tactic do the sport's basic guidelines recommend for aiming a throw?

Below the waist is the standard advice: low throws are harder to catch, and a head shot in many rule sets counts against the thrower rather than the target.

Which studio developed the 2021 dodgeball video game Knockout City?

Velan Studios, the Troy, New York outfit founded by brothers Karthik and Guha Bala, developed Knockout City, which launched in May 2021 and went free-to-play the following year.

How long does Peter have to raise the money before Goodman forecloses on Average Joe's?

30 days is the deadline the bank gives Peter to clear his debt, otherwise Globo Gym's owner takes the property and turns it into a parking structure for his members.

Ben Stiller's White Goodman was a deliberate copy of his character from which earlier film?

Heavyweights, the 1995 fat-camp comedy, gave him the manic fitness guru Tony Perkis, a performance he admitted reusing for Globo Gym's owner on the assumption that few had seen the earlier film.

How does Patches O'Houlihan die the night before the final?

A falling casino sign kills him: the night before the final a giant neon sign drops from the casino ceiling onto Patches in his wheelchair, and a shaken Peter lashes out at his team.

In which year did ESPN first stage a real day-long 'ESPN8: The Ocho' marathon?

2017: on August 8, ESPNU rebranded itself for a day as the film's fictional obscure-sports channel, airing trampoline dodgeball, kabaddi, darts and disc golf in tribute to the movie.

Who composed the music for Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story, winning a 2005 BMI Award?

Theodore Shapiro composed the score, part of a run of studio comedies he scored after Old School; he later wrote the music for The Devil Wears Prada and Tropic Thunder.

Which Austrian city hosted the tenth Dodgeball World Championship in 2024?

Graz, the country's second-largest city after the capital, hosted the tenth world championship in 2024.

The 2013 Dodgeball World Championship was staged in Queenstown, in which country?

New Zealand's resort town of Queenstown, on the South Island, hosted the second world championship, a year after the inaugural event.

Super Dodge Ball belongs to which long-running Japanese game series?

Kunio-kun: Super Dodge Ball's Japanese title, Nekketsu Koko Dodgeball Bu, puts the hot-blooded delinquent Kunio on the school dodgeball team, in the same series as Renegade and River City Ransom.

In the schoolyard variant played on a round court, where do the throwers stand?

Outside the circle: in circle dodgeball the throwers ring the court and fire at the players inside, who dodge until one survivor is left or swap places with whoever hit them.

In gym-court games, what can a ball that drops through the basketball hoop do?

Return all eliminated teammates: in many gym games a ball sunk through the basketball hoop frees every player on the thrower's side who had been knocked out, even if it was deflected in.

In which language is dodgeball known as 'Eri Pantu'?

Tamil: 'eri pantu' simply means 'throw ball' in Tamil, the language of Tamil Nadu and northern Sri Lanka; Gend Tadi and Maram Pitti are northern Indian names for the same game.

Claims that dodgeball resembles assault have led to calls to remove it from where?

School PE programmes: US school districts began dropping dodgeball in the early 2000s over bullying and injury concerns, and a 2019 Canadian study branded the game 'legalized bullying'.

Which actor plays Gordon, the Average Joe's member with a mail-order bride?

Stephen Root plays Gordon Pibb, the meek Average Joe's regular whose mail-order bride ignores him; Root also voiced Bill Dauterive on King of the Hill and played Milton in Office Space.

Which US channel aired all three seasons of Extreme Dodgeball?

Game Show Network aired every season of Extreme Dodgeball, launching it in the summer the dodgeball movie hit cinemas; teams of themed players competed in a bracket format.

Which company made the 1987 arcade game Super Dodge Ball?

Technōs Japan, the studio behind Double Dragon and Renegade, made the arcade original; its 1996 Neo Geo Super Dodge Ball was the company's last release before it folded.

In the arcade Super Dodge Ball, what happens to a player who is eliminated?

Each character usually takes three or four hits before ascending; the life bar tracks how many team members remain.

Which NES mode has Team USA’s six dodgeballers brawling in a schoolyard until one remains?

Bean Ball is the NES game's free-for-all mode: the whole American roster fights one another in a schoolyard until only one player is left standing.

Which publisher released the dodgeball game Knockout City in May 2021?

Electronic Arts published Knockout City at launch under its EA Originals label; the developer took the game over a year later, made it free-to-play and shut the servers in June 2023.

In Knockout City, what can players hurl at opponents besides a ball?

A teammate: any player can curl into a ball to be picked up and thrown by an ally, a mechanic the 'Ball-Up Brawl' mode is built entirely around in the self-styled 'dodgebrawl' game.

The 2021 sports RPG Dodgeball Academia came from a studio based in which country?

Brazil: developer Pocket Trap is based in São Paulo and had previously made Ninjin: Clash of Carrots; the game follows a student named Otto through a school devoted to dodgeball.

The dodgeball manga Dodge Danpei ran from 1989 to 1995 in which magazine?

CoroCoro Comic, Shogakukan's children's monthly, serialised Tetsuhiro Koshita's manga, which spawned a 47-episode anime in 1991-92 and a run of video games.

Gaga, the walled-pit version of dodgeball, is usually said to have been invented where?

Israel is the usual answer: the game is said to have come out of Israeli youth camps before spreading through American Jewish summer camps, where it became a staple.

In gaga, where must the ball strike a player to eliminate them?

On or below the knee is the target: players slap the ball with an open hand rather than throw it, and a player who hits themselves there is out as well.

What shape is a purpose-built gaga pit usually?

Octagonal: the standard gaga pit is an eight-sided enclosure of low wooden walls, portable enough for camps and schoolyards, though hexagonal pits are also built.

Who plays tournament announcer Cotton McKnight in Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story?

Gary Cole, already famous as Office Space's boss Bill Lumbergh, plays Cotton McKnight, the deadpan play-by-play man who anchors the fictional channel's coverage of the tournament.

Jason Bateman plays which dim-witted colour commentator in the film?

Pepper Brooks is Jason Bateman's gum-chewing colour commentator, whose deadpan non-sequiturs include 'It's a bold strategy, Cotton, let's see if it pays off for 'em'.

Globo Gym’s Fran Stalinovskovichdaviddivichski hails from which fictional country?

Romanovia is Fran's fictional homeland, as the commentators announce her; she ends the film as the love interest of Average Joe's Owen Dittman.

Which Star Trek captain plays the Dodgeball Chancellor who oversees the tournament?

William Shatner, Star Trek's Captain Kirk, plays the Dodgeball Chancellor, the tournament's top official, seen presiding over the final.

Which Firefly actor plays Average Joe's resident 'pirate'?

Alan Tudyk, Firefly's pilot Wash, plays the crew member who talks, dresses and lives as a pirate; Tudyk later voiced Heihei in Moana and K-2SO in Rogue One.

The nickname 'The Ocho' was a play on which 1990s nickname for ESPN2?

The Deuce was ESPN2's nickname from its 1993 launch, so the film's 'eighth' channel mocked a lineup of only four English-language networks; ESPNU arrived the year after the film.

Which Revenge of the Nerds actor plays Mr. Ralph, host of the sub-regional qualifiers?

Curtis Armstrong, Booger in the Revenge of the Nerds films, plays Mr. Ralph, the blazer-wearing official who runs the qualifier where Average Joe's advance only on a disqualification.