Garbuildman Tetherball Set with Ball & Rope for Backyard

We love the game of tetherball, and this set came to us ready to put together and get to playing. It’s amazing to get a 10-foot-tall tetherball pole in a small box, but as you see in the first picture, it was packed quite successfully. In picture number two, you can see all of the parts after they were removed from the box. And picture number 3 shows the ball inflated and the pole standing tall. The ball is heavy duty and should stand up to a lot of punching and slapping. Included was a pump to quickly air the ball up and keep it inflated. Note that the air needle is almost hid from view in the handle of the pump. I almost overlooked it! But it was there and included in the set. The rope is plenty long and good to go. The pole pieces fasten together securely with the included screws and nuts using the included hex wrench. By leaving out one or more sections, the pole can be shortened as appropriate for participants. The forked base works amazingly well to quickly secure the pole to the ground. The soil in our yard was pretty dry and hard when I set up the pole, so I used a hard, rubber mallet to carefully pound the forked base deeper in the ground. The forked base works surprisingly well to keep the pole vertical and seems to hold the pole firmly in place. However, the reason for 4 stars instead of 5 is that each pole joint piece gives way a tiny bit when pulled back and forth by the swinging ball. The accumulated result is that the pole at the top, where the ball is tied, becomes wobbly. The instructions do caution to be sure the screws are tight, but the screws are not enough to hold the pole ridged. It still works, but the pole movement side to side concerns me a bit. So far so good. I may end up brazing or welding the joints to make the pole more secure. This tetherball set is providing lots of active fun for our family, and I’m glad to have it available to play with the grandkids (from ages 9 to 21). It’s a nice, compact game set, ready to be enjoyed. But know its limitations.

Assembly was super easy. It allows you to build it at 3 different highs, so you can choose to build it for kids or for adults. I assembled the 10ft, but if I want it shorter, I just have to remove a section.
This kit comes with everything you need to play. You don’t need anything extra. It comes well packaged and the tubes are protected so they don’t roll and scratch during shipment. It brings the nuts and screws and 2 L-screwdrivers (one for holding the nut and the other to tighten the screw). Having screws instead of the ‘snap-click’ gives sturdiness to the pole. It took me less than 10 minutes to assemble. It brings instructions but they are really not necessary for assembly. It also brings the rules of the game.
The ball comes deflated, of course, but they included a pump with the needle (mind the needle is stored on the handle (pull) of the pump). I thought it was going to be hard to pump the ball, I had had bad experiences with other manual pumps, but it was not. The ball was inflated in a couple of minutes without too much effort.
From beginning to finish, it did not take me more than 15 minutes to set everything up and start playing.
The gameplay is very simple: bat the ball with an open hand to tighten the cord around the pole. Your opponent does the same in the opposite direction undoing what you do. The first to wrap the ball all the way around wins. Fun clean exercise for all ages.
The pole seemed unstable and bent a little back and forth while we batted the ball, but it is secured to the ground with the 5 legged stake so it would not fall. Having the pole shorter, and/or making sure the screws are well tighten, helps.
We had fun playing, this is great for family gatherings, picnics, or just having in your backyard for the kids to play. I can recommend this.

The best part about this set is the ball. Unfortunately, the pole would flex and bend constantly, even with the screws all the way tightened down. The anchor didn’t seem to work well in any type of grass or sand, and it bent the prongs after trying to hammer them into the ground. The prongs were a light-weight metal that was easy to bend back, but it also makes me think that our 15-minute game was probably all the action this set will see.

My great grandson will love this