Rain, wind, or occasionally other adversities can make for a testing match with rapid turnovers, heightening the pressure of play.

[9] Ultimate is played across the world in pickup games and by recreational, school, club, professional, and national teams at various age levels and with open, women's, and mixed divisions.

[11] From 1965 or 1966 Jared Kass and fellow Amherst students Bob Fein, Richard Jacobson, Robert Marblestone, Steve Ward, Fred Hoxie, Gordon Murray, and others evolved a team frisbee game based on concepts from American football, basketball, and soccer.

Joel Silver, along with fellow students Jonny Hines, Buzzy Hellring, and others, further developed ultimate beginning in 1968 at Columbia High School, Maplewood, New Jersey, US (CHS).

Beginning the following year, evening games were played in the glow of mercury-vapor lights on the school's student-designated parking lot.

Initially players of ultimate Frisbee (as it was known at the time) used a "Master" disc marketed by Wham-O, based on Fred Morrison's inspired "Pluto Platter" design.

This disc quickly replaced the relatively light and flimsy Master frisbee with much improved stability and consistency of throws even in windy conditions.

[21] Discraft, founded in the late 1970s by Jim Kenner in London, Ontario, later moved the company from Canada to its present location in Wixom, Michigan.

In recent years college ultimate has attracted a greater number of traditional athletes, raising the level of competition and athleticism and providing a challenge to its laid back, free-spirited roots.

[33][full citation needed] In 2006, ultimate became a BUCS accredited sport at Australian and UK universities for both indoor and outdoor open division events.

If a pass is incomplete, it is a "turnover" and the opposing team immediately gains possession, playing to score in the opposite direction.

Part of the area of ultimate where skill and strategy meet is a player's capacity to plot and execute on throwing and passing to outrun another team, which is colloquially known as "being a deep threat".

For example, multiple throwing techniques and the ability to pass the disc before the defense has had a chance to reset helps increase a player or team's threat level, and merging that with speed and coordinated plays can form a phalanx that is hard for competitors to overcome.

Apart from these formal strategies, there is also a freestyle practice, where players throw and catch with fewer limitations, in order to advance their ultimate handling skills.

Frequently, these offenses are meant to isolate a few key players in one-on-one situations, allowing them to take advantage of mismatches, while the others play a supporting role.

From this position, players in the stack make cuts (sudden sprints, usually after throwing off the defender by a "fake" move the other way) into the space available, attempting to get open and receive the disc.

The idea behind this strategy is that it opens up space for the feature to cut, and at the same time it allows handlers to focus all of their attention on only one cutter.

[62] Poaching is a term used to describe one or more players temporarily leaving their match up to strategically cover space in an otherwise person-to-person defensive scheme.

Zone defense is frequently used in poor weather conditions, as it can pressure the offense into completing more passes, or the thrower into making bigger or harder throws.

The other three defenders form a horizontal "wall" or line across the field in front of the handler to stop throws to short in-cuts and prevent forward progress.

The players in the second group of a zone defense, called "mids" and "deeps", position themselves further out to stop throws that escape the cup and fly upfield.

Spirit of the game is described by WFDF as an expectation that each player will be a good sport and play fair, as well as having high values of integrity; including "following and enforcing the rules".

In some international competitions, game advisors are used who may provide rules clarification or their perspective on plays, though calls and final decisions remain in control of the on-field players.

In 2013 the league was bought by Ultimate Xperience Ventures LLC, a company founded by Rob Lloyd who was serving as VP of Cisco but has since become the CEO of Hyperloop.

[80] In 2014, the league entered an agreement with ESPN to broadcast 18 games per season for a two-year period (with a third year option) on the online streaming service ESPN3.

The mission of PUL is "to achieve equity in the sport of ultimate by increasing accessibility to and visibility of women* players through high-quality competition, leadership experiences, and community partnerships.

After successfully running a series of professional showcase games in collaboration with the AUDL in 2019, a group of team organizers in the western United States set their sites on joining the PUL in its second season.

[33] Beginning in 1993, the goals of UC include representing the interests of the sport and all ultimate players, as well as promoting its growth and development throughout Canada.

[19] Founded in 1986, incorporated in 1993, the Ottawa-Carleton Ultimate Association based in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, claims to have the largest summer league in the world with 354 teams and over 5000 players as of 2004.

The largest and first known pre-high school league was started in 1993 by Mary Lowry, Joe Bisignano, and Jeff Jorgenson in Seattle, Washington.