Let’s say you’re at a party with three friends. You’ve had a couple drinks and are looking for something fun to do. Should that fun activity involve a car?
Full marks to those who said no. Drinking and driving—never the twain shall mix.
But let’s carve out an exception to that rule for Kasketball, a party game in which you and three other players hop into cars and drift about while playing basketball. It’s safe because the cars are virtual and so is everything else in the game, which can be played on either OSX or PC. Again: Drinking and driving—never the twain shall mix.
Kasketball requires a degree of strategy. Forging temporary alliances is encouraged as a way to get near a basket. This may not be the NBA’s version of basketball, but it is still something of a team sport. (Tough luck, Dion Waiters.) Score six points and you have the chance to exit the Kasketball court, which looks like a weird cross between an Olympic sprinting track and a NASCAR course, albeit with occasional basketball courts.
Now, we turn to the elephant in the room: isn’t Kasketball just Rocket League but for basketball? Well, dear reader, it’s not like that would be a bad thing. Also, yes. But ThirtyThreeGames, which made Kasketball for the MadJam Seven Day Unity Jam, offers a better answer to this question:
The true story is even sadder. We came up with this idea in response to a jam theme, completely unaware of Rocket League. It wasn’t until we were almost done that we saw RL and realized: we’re forever destined to play far-second fiddle to that awesome game.
That would be a sad note on which to end this story, so let’s cheer things up a little. Kasketball addresses basketball’s biggest scourge: travelling. Travelling, for the NBA referees and players in the house who may have forgotten, is the act of walking around on a basketball court without dribbling. Once upon a time, travelling was against the rules in basketball. That time, as anyone who has watched a basketball game this millennium could tell you, was a very long time ago. Everyone now travels. If it’s not going to be called, why wouldn’t you? Kasketball takes that logic to its ultimate conclusion. If dribbling while moving your feat in a walking-adjacent manner is no longer required, you should just hop in a car. Darryl Morey and Sam Hinkie better be listening!