Doubling is good...
Two teams of two members each defends their 13x13 meter court. The two courts are separated by a 17 meter long dead area.

Two disc are continously in play at the same time, which requires good split vision and fast thinking of the players.

To make up for the wind direction, the teams switch sides every 5th point.

Tony Pellicane and Conrad Damon, USA. They are both among the worlds top ten ranked players.

A point is awarded to your team when a disc lands in the opponent team's court (and stays there...), when the opponent team drops a disc, or when a throw from the opponent team lands outside the court.

Two points is awarded at a so called "double". That is, when the opponent team is forced to touch both discs simultaneously.

A match is played in either one set to 21 points (common in the base rounds of a tournament), or 3 sets to 15 points each (usually in the semifinals and finals).

This game probably has more complex strategies than any other man-invented sport, and there's always a "next skill level" where your play can go.

Christian (closest) has just tipped the leading shot, Joakim prepares to catch and return the second disc before Christian catches his again.

DDC is fast, fun to watch, and is the flying disc event that requires the greatest variety of throws.

 Downloadable match & round
robin pool play charts (pdf)
 WFDF Official rules
 World player ranking
 Damons DDC-page
 

A game in short...
The teams starts with one disc each. Play is started by one team counting "Ready, two, one, throw" to synchronize the serve. At "trow" both teams throws their disc towards the other team's court.

In the rest of the game, the team that did the counting (the initiating team) has to throw first in situations where the teams hold one disc each, and are waiting for the other team to throw.

Before the game, it's randomly decided, e.g. by flipping a coin, which team that starts as "initiating". During the game, it's always the team that scored the previous point that is considered the "intitating team"

Now the non-initiating team can wait for the other frisbee to come flying towards the own court. When it's almost there, you usually throw a high leading shot with the disc you're already holding.

Here Amy (to the right) has waited to the moment immediately before Judy catches the approaching disc, before throwing the one she held...

Next, you catch the second disc that has now reached your court, and return a low hard throw, with the intention of this disc arriving simultaneously at the opponent team's court as the first slower high leading shot.

The other team now has to avoid touching both disc at the same time, which would cause them losing 2 points.

The most common defense to this threat, is to try to "tip". i.e. hit the bottom of the first disc to arrive in the court, to tip it straight up in the air again.

Before the tipped disc comes down again, it's the other players task to quickly catch the second frisbee and throw it back to the other team's court again to start another rally.

The tipping player now catches the tipped disc and tries to create a threatening double situation towards the other team.

Mpeg Video: Tony Pellicane and Conrad Damon avoids a "double" at the 2001 World Championships in San Diego. (490 Kb)

If you see that the other team has left part of their court unguarded, you can also try to score a point by throwing a hard low shot, a so called "burner", to land and stay on the ground within the other team's court.

It is not allowed to run within the court if you're holding a disc. You can catch a disc outside the court, but then have to get back within your court to throw it back at the opposing team.