Indoor Ultimate Frisbee Rules

Here is a list of 7 key changes for Indoor Ultimate Frisbee.

1. The field for indoor Ultimate, which is now a court.

Indoor Ultimate Frisbee court size

Indoor Ultimate Frisbee is typically played on a gym court rather than a turf field.
You can play with your team on any sized court with any sized end zones for practice. At
an official tournament the court is usually played on a basketball court sideways from
sideline to sideline. In other words, an official full-sized Basketball court will contain two
Ultimate fields. The sidelines of the Basketball court will be the beginning of the end
zones. The end zone will then be from the sideline to the wall. That’s right, the wall is the
back of the end zone which makes for some sick Spiderman Jumps (and tends to cause
some injuries, so be careful!).

The end zone length is only about 2-3 yards which is significantly different than
the 25-yard end zone of outdoors. If one or both sides of the end zone do not have a wall
then the end zone can be any size, as long as they are both equal. In the image you can
see the size of an indoor court relative to an average Basketball court. There are no brick
marks since there are no pulls.
2. The Pull
There isn’t one in indoors. To begin the game the team starting with the disc will
line up on their end zone line. The opposing team will line up 5 feet from them. The team
will be holding the disc in which they will tap it to the ground, or an opposing player, to
start the game. That’s it, the game will begin and the team that tapped the disc will try to
score in the opposite end zone. There is also no Pull when a point is scored which you
can read about in the next part.

3. Indoor Scoring

Indoor Ultimate Frisbee is super fast-paced. There are no pauses like when a point
is scored in outdoor. Instead, when a point in scored the player will simply touch the disc
to the ground and they will now be trying to score in the opposite direction. The team that
was trying to defend the end zone will now be trying to score in it. After a point there is
no turnover, play continues and the team that scored keeps possession. This happens after
every point scored.

For example, you can score in an end zone and tap the disc for a point. Instantly
after, you can throw the disc to the other end zone in which your teammate catches and
taps it for another point. Your teammate can instantly throw it back to you to score a third
point. This process could technically be repeated until the defense gets a block.

So many points are scored in indoor Ultimate that the games are often timed
instead of point capped. So it is not unusual to see high scores.

Remember to ALWAYS TAP THE DISC!!! Some tournaments allow you to

clap the disc to symbolize a point, that’s okay too (be sure to check with the tournament).
If a player scores and does not tap the disc to the ground the point is not registered and
the end zones do not get flipped. The team that forgot will have to score in the same end
zone until the disc is tapped in that end zone.
4. Indoor Stall Counts

The stall count is now 7 seconds, instead of 10 seconds. This takes the most getting
used to because it speeds up the game by 30%. In addition, Stall-outs happen much more
frequently because this new rule is often forgotten in the heat of the moment. To clarify, a
stall-out occurs when the staller says the “S” in “stall Seven.” If a stall-out occurs it is still a
turnover and the game resumes.

5. Indoor Subbing

Subbing is now hockey style, yay! Instead of waiting until the end of the point a
player can now run off the court at any time. The official rule is that a player subbing out
must cross the sideline before his/her teammate crosses the sideline to come into play. But in
most non-official games the players cross each other within the court, as long as the subbing
player refrains from affecting play. A player can sub out at any time but must not exit
anywhere in the end zone. The player coming in should enter in middle third of the field.

A helpful tip to remember is to never sub on defense. In indoor, Man on Man Defense
is used 99% of the time so when a player subs on defense, his/her mark is completely open
until the new player comes into play, which is bad news. The best time to sub is at the instant
there is a turnover resulting your team to be on offense.

Number of Players

In indoor Ultimate, there are 5 players on the court per team. In outdoor there are 7 so
this also takes some getting used to. You’ll notice that even with 5 teammates the court will
still get pretty crowded. Be sure to keep those lanes open and to only allow 2 people (3 max)
to be in the end zone at one time. Otherwise it makes it very challenging to score.
 6. Obstacles

Some gyms have stationary basketball hoops or hanging ropes. Not to mention
ceilings and walls. Unfortunately we have to overcome these obstacles and play around them.
If the disc touches any of these obstacles it results in a turnover, even if the flight of the disc
is not affected. The disc will be taken from the closest in-bounds position (excluding end
zones) where the interference happened.

7. Pick Calls in indoor Ultimate

A pick is when a player cuts off another player resulting in a completed pass that
could have otherwise been blocked. An indoor court is much more crowded and compact so
picks happen very frequently. Because of this There are no Picks in indoor Ultimate.