At the beginning of their freshman year in 2022, Sophomore Samuel Durst and his friends created a game they call KEVA Ball.
After school, Durst and four of his friends push the tables in the library together, creating either two or four quadrants. What started as putting KEVA planks together to create a tower turned into creating a divider to put on the tables to represent a net. A ball similar to a ping pong ball came with the KEVA plank set, and that is what they use as the ball for KEVA Ball. With all of these elements combined together, Durst created a new engaging way to pass time.
“It was fun to exercise creativity to come up with the rules to an entirely imaginary game,” Durst said. “It helped build a friend group too.”
The game is essentially table tennis. The ball cannot bounce twice on either side of the table, and cannot be hit out of the boundaries which are chairs. Although the ball is not permitted to go outside the boundary, it is able to hit the chairs as long as it stays in. If there are more than four players, the game will rotate players, and whoever gets out is replaced.
“It’s like ping pong,” Durst said. “Don’t let the ball bounce twice on your side, and don’t hit the ball out.”
Freshman Ethan Kang, the group’s newest member, believes the game gives him something to do while he waits for his specialty center hub bus to arrive at school.
“I just got bored waiting 30-40 minutes for my bus, so Alexander [his friend] showed up and I asked him ‘Where are you guys for 30 minutes?’ they said the library, and I just joined them,” Kang said.
Durst expresses that after a long day of school, KEVA Ball allows them to unwind and blow off steam. In the future, Durst wishes the game to stay small, relaxed, and not too competitive.
“It’s the best way to relieve stress,” Durst said. “We just want to keep up fun and relaxed gameplay, and as long as it doesn’t get too serious, I’m happy.”
