It's light and hollow, with holes on one side only. Kick it clean and it darts late. Kick it with spin and it bends hard. It's built for backyards, small goals and arguments about whether that one was on purpose.
How it works
A real soccer ball curves because of spin. A Wiffle ball curves because of its holes. This ball does both, and it's light enough that the air really pushes it around.
1 · HOLES
Air tumbles over the slotted half and slides cleanly over the smooth half. The pressure difference shoves the ball sideways, with no spin needed. That's the Wiffle trick.
2 · THE KICK DECIDES
Strike with spin and the holes keep rotating, so their push averages out and you get a clean free-kick curl. Strike flat through the middle with no spin and the holes take over: a late, unpredictable dart.
3 · LIGHT
At about a third of a regular ball's weight, air drag and the hole push matter far more. It slows fast and moves most near the goal. It's also kind to windows, shins and little brothers.
Try it
A top-down toy model of a 7 m shot. The orange line is the light holed ball and the grey line is a regular ball kicked the same way. The numbers are educated guesses until we film real prototypes.
The ball
| Size | 19 cm (between a size 3 and 4) |
| Weight | 110–150 g, the same size-to-weight ratio as a real Wiffle ball |
| Material | Flexible TPU, ~1 mm wall. It squashes when kicked and pops back instead of cracking |
| Holes | 6–8 rounded slots on one half, each with a raised rim so cracks can't start at the ends |
| Inside | Hollow and open. No bladder: air has to get into the holes |
| Markings | Holed half in a bright colour, so you can aim the break before you kick |
| Scaled-up Wiffle (PE) | learn with Cheapest, truest feel, but cracks at the slots |
| Flexible TPU shell | product pick Pops back from dents; rims stop tears |
| Dense foam (EPP) | wildcard Near-indestructible, but thick walls may kill the effect |
| 3D-printed TPU | prototype tool A new hole pattern in a day; test only |
Weight check: shell area × wall × density. A 19 cm ball needs ~1.0 mm of TPU or ~1.3 mm of polyethylene to land at 130 g.
The goal
Keep the goal open so the ball's movement beats the keeper. Then wrap the posts and bar in thick, rounded foam, so a shot that clips the frame can bounce in or out.
A keeper only has two gaps to cover, so it's easy to save. Only works without a keeper.
Two 45 cm slots with a darting ball. That's a skill challenge, not everyday play.
A keeper can play. The late curve beats them, and the bumpers add a final bounce.
The open-goal and chaos bars are judgment calls to check in playtests, not measurements.
How you play
Like pitcher vs batter. The shooter sets the ball on a spot 7 m out and secretly turns the holes to choose the break. The keeper has to read it. Five shots each, corners count double. Needs two people and one goal.
Small pitch (~25 × 15 m), a goal at each end, no shooting from inside a 3 m box, so every goal is a bent shot. Over the fence means the other team's ball. First to 11.
Reality check
| Physics | likely The one-sided-hole effect is proven in Wiffle balls, and a bigger ball with the same size-to-weight ratio should behave similarly. Not tested yet. Phase 0 answers it. |
| Durability | main risk Slotted shells crack. A flexible TPU shell is the bet, but does a squashy shell still curve? |
| Manufacturing | standard Hollow balls are already rotomoulded and blow-moulded at scale. Get quotes. |
| Goal | easy Off-the-shelf frame plus foam covers. |
| Name / legal | check "Wiffle" is a registered trademark; "Bendball" is a placeholder. Check prior art, and talk to a patent attorney before buying tooling. |
| Market | unproven Backyard games, soccer families, Wiffle nostalgia. Test with a pre-order page first. |
The plan
Each phase has a gate. Don't spend on the next one until the current one passes. Step-by-step instructions are in the build docs.
Gate: the cut ball clearly moves more, and you know which way it breaks.
Gate: one pattern bends consistently and survives 100 kicks.
Gate: people who aren't your friends ask where to get one.
Gate: the samples curve like the printed ball and survive the abuse test.