• Pick up basketball is played in gyms and parks across the country.basketball image by aline caldwell from Fotolia.com
  
  Pick up basketball is a popular recreational pastime for many millions of young men and women across the globe. While many of the same rules apply as in the NCAA or NBA, pick-up basketball is a more informal game. The scoring is simplified, and players call their own fouls; and there are a number of different conventions on dividing into teams and waiting to play. Many courts, especially smaller ones, usually play four-on-four instead of five-on-five.
  
  

Typical Pick Up Basketball Scoring Rules

• Unlike regular basketball where each basket is worth two points, in pick-up basketball each basket is worth just one point. Most pick up basketball games are played to either 11 or 15 points and you must win by at least two points, which means that occasionally games can turn into marathons. A few courts also have rules about longer shots being worth two points. Many urban basketball courts play mostly half-court basketball so more people can play at one time, and these half-court games are often played "make it, take it", in which the team that just scored gets the ball back again rather than exchange possession.
  
  

Dividing into Teams and Calling "Last in Line"

• If the game is just getting organized when you arrive at the court, then the initial teams are usually divided up by taking turns shooting free throws, with the first four or five to players to make their free throws forming one team, and the remainder the other team. If there are extra players, sometimes free throw shoot-offs are necessary to see who will play the first game and who will wait for the next game.
  
  If you walk up to a court where a pick up basketball game is under way and you see other players hanging around, you can be sure that most of them are waiting to play in the next game. So the usual procedure is to walk up and say "Who's last in line?" Then note who speaks up, and reply "Ok, I'm last now." That way everyone on the court who wants to play knows their place in line.
  
  

Calling Fouls

• Since there are no referees in pick-up basketball, each player calls his own fouls just by yelling, "foul!" Different courts have different standards for what is a foul, and you should certainly call a foul if you get hacked in the arm while shooting or if you get knocked down, but in general you should expect some physical play as part of the game. And in general you do not call a foul on defense unless it is flagrant. Fouls do not result in free throws for the other team, just a stoppage in play and restarting play by throwing the ball in from the sideline.
  
  

Other Pick Up Basketball Etiquette

• One important near-universal rule of pick-up basketball to remember is that the winning team keeps playing, and it is the losing team that has to leave the court and be replaced by players who are waiting to play.
  
  Trash talk is common at pick-up basketball games, and at some courts it is even pretty much expected. But if you are new at the court, it is probably best to keep relatively quiet, at least for a few games. After you have played few games and you are one of the regulars, then you have earned the right to trash talk and it is less likely to result in any kind of altercation.