PELOTA, pti-lo'tn., or `.1m-ALAI' (Sp., from pi/o/a, pelota, little ball, from Lat. pita, ball). A Basque game introduced into the South Ameri can republics, and to Cuba, from the northern provinces of Spain, and imported thence to the United States. It can be played either in or out of doors. Its necessities are a concha or court, with level concrete floor 200 feet long and 65 feet wide, with a wall 36 feet square, called the frontis or front wall at one end, and at the opposite another similar wall, called In pared de rcbote. or rebounding wall. On the front wall iron strips painted red mark the boundaries within which the ball must strike. On the floor of the court. occupying the whole space between the two ends, are also boundary lines within Nvh;ch the ball nmst, on its rebound. strike. to be counted. A narrow strip 29 feet parallel with the concha is the contra-concha, within which the ball must remain to avoid being counted as a fault. The instrument with which the game is played is a light wickerwork basket arrange ment fastened to the hand by means of a glove attachment. It is called a 'costa.' The ball is about the size of a lawn-tennis ball. It has a core of india-rubber hound round with yarn, and is covered with sheepskin.
The game is played by four, six, or eight play ers, mostly by four, two on each side, one of whom on each team is the tic/at/taro, or forward, and the other the zaguero, or back. Play is on when the forward of the side first entitled to do so runs to a certain mark on the court and throws the ball to the floor, catching it on the bound in the basket attached to his hand, and striking it against the front wall within the red lined boundaries, whence it should rebound so as to touch the floor between the lines thereon defined. The forward of the opposing side must then strike it with his basketed hand either while it is in the air as it rebounds, or on its first bound front the floor, and throw it against the front wall again: and so on by each team in turn, until one side loses the point. if the ball falls or strikes outside the boundaries, it is a fault to the credit of the opponent. No player may hold the ball in his hand or in the basket; it must always be kept in motion. The first team to gain fifty points wins the game.