Website: http://www.gateball.or.jp/
Address: 7th Floor, Toranomon 35 Mori Bldg., 3-4-10 Toranomon, Minato-ku, Tokyo 105-8480, Japan
Year Founded: 1985

Outline of Activities

Gateball was devised in Japan, based on the European traditional game of croquet, in 1947 for children who did not have toys to play with during the chaos after World War II.

With simple rules, gateball can be played easily and casually by men and women of all ages. One game usually lasts only 30 minutes and players do not have to run or exert themselves, meaning that a six-year-old girl and a 93-year-old man can play gateball together on the same team. Gateball can therefore help ameliorate social challenges like generational and communication gaps among people in local communities.

At the same time, gateball is an intellectual and exciting game that requires strategy as well as sophisticated skills and techniques. This dual nature – recreational and competitive – represents the uniqueness of gateball and is why the sport attracts many players, both young and old.

Today various international championships and tournaments including the World Championships and Asian Championships are held periodically in countries around the world.

The World Gateball Union, gateball’s global umbrella organization, has member organizations from 16 countries and regions. Gateball is played by more than 10 million people in more than 40 countries.