While on vacation in Sarasota, Florida, our family & our best friends had, in previous years, traversed down to local park & played volleyball a few times during our stays.  Great fun & times with family & friends.  This year, March 2020, just at the outset of the Covid 19 Pandemic outbreak, we travelled down to the same spot to challenge each other for bragging rights & to intermingle a wide variance of volleyball skilled players into a lovable family game.  To our dismay the net to the sand court had been torn down & with the Covid Cloud coming in we did not anticipate  anyone running quickly out to replace the net that we had cherished for years.  We were “netless!”  

We were distraught for a few days & to pass the time, keep the family busy  & keep competitive fever intact, we played a few other “normal” beach games but mostly sat around the beach bored!  One day we said to ourselves “who needs a net” & started making some lines in the sand & coming up with some rules, which changed on a play by play basis according to our self-appointed “Board” that was “making up” the game as we went along.  Our families, & a few others from far distant lands like Toronto, Canada & Riverside, IL (we love those people), helped us establish what was quickly named Bufferball, for the area between the occupation zones.  To start, our buffer zone was only 16’ wide so the spiking was intense & we quickly knew that preparing for defense was absolutely necessary to protect our facial configurations!  We loved the idea that height, weight, movement or athletic ability did not impede someone from being able to spike, dig or serve during the game.  We loved the idea of being able to hit the “person in the “middle” with the ball & score a point.  We played it everyday for the entire rest of vacation & did not need a net!

Our families came back to Des Moines, IA & we continued to play the game in our backyard on grass & to perfect the configuration & rules of the game.  We introduced the “person in the middle” as the Stokos & created the Dyo, the “Two point play.”  Both of those are Greek names in honor of our Greek Canadian friends from Toronto, Canada.   Everyone we introduced the game to seemed to genuinely enjoy the inclusion of all abilities, especially those who would love to spike the ball but were never able to do it because of height or ability.  We understand that this game can be very competitive & with any amount of practice & skill we think you’ll never have a better time.  However, we also appreciate the inclusion that it offers to those that may not have the time to practice, abilities or, like our family, a little height problem!…  We hope that your family & friends will enjoy Bufferball as much as we have had playing & developing the product.  We also hope that those who like competition, will take this game to new heights & share their amazing spikes, digs & new forms of play with us along the way.