The history of this sport begins in the Middle Ages. In the 19th century the interest in “palant” increased, and so some competitions were held. This sport was so popular that the Polski Związek Piłki Palantowej (Polish Organisation of Palant Ball) was founded. Unfortunately, this organisation didn’t last long. It was transformed into Polski Związek Baseballu i Softballu (Polish Organisation of Baseball and Softball). To play, you need two teams with at least 7 players and no more than 15 players, a bat called a palant, and a ball. As one team tries to hit the ball, the other attempts to catch any balls hit. The teams switch position after all players on the first team take a turn at batting. Once all the players on both teams have taken their turn, the game ends and the highest scoring team wins. A more formal variation splits the game into 2 periods of 20 minutes, regardless of all the players who batted.
The field of play includes two zones labeled ”heaven” and ”hell”. The batting area is part of the heaven zone while the field where the catching team waits is part of the hell zone. Once a player hits the ball, they run from the heaven zone to a finish line in the hell zone then return to a safe base called the nest in the heaven zone. With the influence of cricket and baseball, some games now use 4 bases but the traditional games still involve running to hell and back to heaven. The catching team attempts to catch the ball before it hits the ground, counted as an out, or to grab the ball and hit the player before he or she reaches the nest.
