Beto’s Game
Beto’s Game is a traditional game that is part of the history of the Central region of Portugal. It is unique in the country and was found in Serpins, in Lousã.
It’s a team game, one team against another, but with a singularity that can’t be found either in other games or in sport: one of the teams is made up exclusively of attackers and the other team is made up exclusively of defenders.
The teams are made up of two players. The defenders are the ones who have the beto (the stick with which the house is defended) and the attackers are the ones who have the ball. The defenders defend the house by constantly hitting the stick on the ground in front of the tripod and hitting any balls that come towards it, with the aim of knocking it down.
The attackers, on the other hand, try to knock over the tripod inside the circle called the house so that, by switching roles, they can get the defenders’ stick and score points. In other words, the teams change roles and positions on the pitch: those who were attackers become defenders and vice versa. This is another uniqueness of Beto’s Game: once the objective of the game has been achieved, which is to knock down the tripod, you don’t score points, but you do get the bat and the chance to score points.
Points are scored when the ball is knocked away by a defender and one of the attackers goes out to retrieve it. At this point, when there is no danger of the ball hitting the tripod, there is no need to defend it.
Points are scored when the ball is knocked away by a defender and one of the attackers goes out to retrieve it. At this point, when there is no danger of the ball hitting the tripod and there is therefore no need to defend it, the defenders switch between themselves, running from one tripod to the other. Each exchange between the defenders counts for 1 point and each match can have a maximum limit of between 24 and 30 points.
The playing field is demarcated by the houses (circumferences marked on the ground) which are 15 to 20 meters from each other, and on which are the tripods, originally made of 25cm to 30cm fork-shaped branches of acacia, olive or willow.
The mobile object originally used was a wheel, roundel or wafer made of cork or wood, 10cm to 20cm in diameter, pinecones or rags. Because it was more difficult to find or obtain the cork disks, we opted to use the rag ball to develop the game.
The clubs, sticks or sticks with which the house is defended, i.e. the betos, must be large, with a curve at one end, measure between 50cm and 70cm, and be made of acacia, olive or willow.
