Four wall paddleball

It is played with a paddle and small rubber ball on a standard American handball or racquetball court, with similar rules to those sports.

Four wall paddleball was invented in 1930 by Earl Riskey, a physical-education instructor and later Director of Intramural Sports at the University of Michigan.

The university's Intramural Sports Building was built with a large number of squash and handball courts, and the school's tennis players often practiced on them during bad weather.

Riskey thought that a game played with paddles on a handball court might be a good addition to the intramural program.

The courts at the Intramural Sports Building in Ann Arbor are still the site for many national championship tournaments.

Other players—most notably Bud Muehleisen—started with commercial paddles by Spalding or Marcraft, and modified them to meet their personal preferences.

Paddles are made in home shops by craftsmen such as eight-time national champion Mike Wisniewski of Bay City, Michigan, who builds a few paddles—more than needed for personal use, but not enough to be considered a manufacturer.