Rules

Streetball rules vary widely from court to court.

Fouls

No referees are employed, so almost invariably a “call your own foul” rule is in effect, and a player who believes he has been fouled, simply needs to call out “Foul!”, and play will be stopped, with the ball awarded to the fouled player’s team (few to no free throws are awarded in streetball).
A common misconception is that saying “And 1” is synonymous with calling “foul.” It is not. The phrase is commonly employed as a form of trash talk. For example, when a player knows they are going to make a shot and they think they are getting fouled as they are shooting will say “And 1”, to let their defender know, “You can’t even stop me even when you foul me.” In reality, and as the rules that follow indicate, there is no such thing as a traditional “And 1” in Streetball.
When a player calls a foul while taking a shot, and makes that shot, the basket does not count, and the fouled player’s team gets the ball back. This rule is designed to have players call as few fouls as possible ensuring speedier game play and shorter waiting times for the next game. Also, the rule helps to ensure that nobody gets hurt. As a player can not foul-out in Streetball and since the duration of the game is dictated by the score, teams will often employ the intentional foul as a last resort on defense.
If defensive players had to concern themselves with fouling the offensive player hard enough so that there was no chance they could make a shot it would certainly lead to unnecessary injury and probably a couple extra fights on the court. It goes without saying, calling fouls in Streetball is disfavored. The etiquette of what rightly constitutes a foul, as well as the permissible amount of protestation against such a call, are the products of individual groups, and of the seriousness of a particular game. Another common variation to the contest is the “skunk” rule. This merely means that if a player reaches a certain point without the other player scoring, the game is over. The skunk rule limit can vary, but is often used at the score 7 to 0.

Game structure

A common feature to Streetball is the ‘pick up game’. To participate in most streetball games around the world, one simply goes to an outdoor court where people are playing, indicates a wish to participate, and once all the players who were at the court before you have played you will get to pick your team out of the players available and play a game. Generally the team captains alternate their choices, but a mathematical argument has been made that it is fairer to use the Thue-Morse sequence instead.[1] Many games play up to 7, 11, 15, or 21 points with all baskets counting as one point (sometimes shots beyond the 3 point arc count as 2 points).
Players often play ‘win by 2’ which, as in tennis, means that the team has to win by a margin of at least 2 points. Sometimes a local “dead end” limit applies; for instance a game may be played to 7, win by 2, with a 9 point dead end, which would mean scores of 7-5, 8-6, 9-7, or 10-8 would all be final, while with scores of 7-6 or 8-7, play would continue. The most common streetball game is 3 on 3 played half court though 5 on 5 full court can be found.
Another common variation to the rules is the “skunk” rule. This merely means that if a player reaches a certain point without the other player scoring, the game is over. The skunk rule limit can vary, but is often used at the score 7 to 0.
Sometimes in a half-court game, a “winner’s ball” or “make it, take it” rule is used. This means that if a team scores, it gets the ball again on offense; one team could end up never getting the ball on offense if the other team scores on every possession. Full court basketball is not played with these rules, but, in most instances, the winning team gets to choose which basketball and usually which direction (which basket) they get to use.
Another possible streetball feature is having an MC call the game. The MC is on the court during the game and is often very close to the players (but makes an effort to not interfere with the game) and uses a microphone to provide game commentary for the fans.