9-Square in the Air (Blackham Style)

 

Have you heard of 9-Square (in the Air)? It's similar to four-square, where you bop a ball from square to square, but instead of the squares being painted on pavement, these squares are above your head, framed from PVP pipe. There is an official website and sets can be purchased (well, they are backordered as of this posting) but they are pricy! $700. Keaton decided he wanted to make his own. It really IS just PVC pipe and the correct connectors (he found those on Amazon). He went with a sturdier size (1.5 inch) too. It still added up to $250, but he said the hardest part was picking up the pipe from the store and getting it home. A few hours of cutting pipe to the correct length, and he was good to go. Did you know that with the addition of two daughters-in-law ... there are NINE Blackhams in the bunch? We even got Gray to play (grudgingly). Perfect for play.

    

On a different day ... had to stop and snap a photo.

All five Blackham boys in chronological order (the center is the #1 spot)

Next up ... Westra Father's Day party!

As Keaton got quite a bit of feedback (how did you do it, was it hard, how much did it cost, where do you find the supplies) I had him write up a little "how-to" if you wanted to do it on your own.  So here you go!

Get the PVC sticks at Lowe’s or Home Depot. They come in 10’ sticks (you will need 28 total, maybe grab an extra in case you cut something incorrectly). You’re going to trim the pipe (I used a sawzall, buy a chop saw would work too) to 7’ for the vertical legs (you need 16 of these) and 4 1/2’ for the top connectors (you need 24 of these). (Height and width are pretty standard but you can adjust how you’d like. 5’ height is preferable for children under 10.)

Home Depot and Lowe’s most likely do not carry any of the connectors because they may not be frequently used in construction or other places, so I got mine from Amazon. Make sure the fittings match the PVC Pipe size (I used 1 1/2”) and note that some of the connectors are sold in sets, while others are sold individually.

• 4 3 way PVC fittings for the corners.
• 8 4 ways for the sides.
• 4 5 ways for the middle square.

I found the ball  at Walmart for $2. 

Setting up the game is pretty straight forward but does take some time. It's good to have a ladder and hammer. I start with the middle square and 5 way fittings so we can move it to its desired location. Then you start adding on leg by leg to the middle square. I do the corners last. It’s important that you have the center square where you want it because once the whole thing is built, it isn't going anywhere.

You may want to prepare a carry bag for all of the fittings (I don’t glue any of them on to play so that it can be stored easier and it works just fine). To store and transport the pipe, I wrapped the 7’ sticks together with a bungee on both sides and did the same for the 4 1/2’ sticks.