Star Trek has a long history of athleticism—from shipboard gymnastics to Sisko’s love of baseball that keeps the game alive in the 23rd century, the franchise likes to explore real-world sports as a hobby, but it also likes to invent a few of its own. That was the case this week Starfleet Academywhich gave us Calica, so let’s put it in Star Trek Sports halls of fame are associated with other legendary athletic achievements.
Calica
Let’s get the newborn out of the way first. A mascot defense shootout designed to encourage our young school heroes to learn how to handle the phase, Calica is at least not a Starfleet-specific game, as many cadets say they’ve played in leagues before on their home world. Played with modified interceptors that can move the target opponent aside to finish them off, Calica’s round-based games see opposing teams try to break through defensive lines to score points by shooting at a target protected by a costumed mascot.
Geskana
Played briefly by Archer and Tucker in the game Business episode “Crossing the Desert,” Geskana was a game played by members of the Zobral family, an unknown brand that invented lacrosse with smaller goals and more opportunities for our heroes to take their shirts off.
Vajhaq
Star Trek it has a lot of one-shots that are told all at once and never again—a well-known shortcut to world-building. Vajhaq named Vajhaq is one of the notable few in it Deep Space Ninea soccer-based game played on the planet Meridian. Sisko turned down the chance to play the game. It’s amazing, considering his passion for baseball.
Tsunkatse
Star Trek has many iterations of martial arts, such as the Klingon mok’bara or the ancient Vulcan art of Suus Mahna (and another Earth iteration we’ll get to later), but few have been translated into broadcast sports the way Tsunkatse does. It’s almost literally just professional wrestling Star Trek—until Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson appeared in one of his best impersonation efforts—Tsunkatse was a fighting game where fighters wore amazing buggers on their hands and feet and played on an arena surrounded by identically punched panels. Tsunkatse games can be played to many levels of violence, from playoffs to deathmatches.
Down Zan
One of the most talked about sports is the offhand BusinessPan Zan was an Enolian sport apparently closely related to water polo.
Springball
A very popular Bajoran game like Jai Alai, springball saw two opponents try to score points by hitting a target on a walled court and it could get incredibly violent—while players couldn’t punch or kick each other, they could steal body-checking shots. While it is mostly played with only one hand (one glove, one disliked, with only a shot from the gloved hand being able to score), Major Kira is said to have wielded a springball racket many times. DS9so there may be a variant of the game that used one… or the writers are confusing Kira’s game of choice with Miles and Bashir’s love of racquetball. The confusion that resulted Lower Decks by mistake to be Bajoran security chief Shax invited Boimler to a game of springball, to play what looked like racquetball as it appeared DS9!
Pale
A field game played by Brunali, Pala comes up short Voyager when the young Borg Icheb, Brunali himself, was invited to play it and when he was given the opportunity to return to his country, but he did not.
Speed
Another game based on the same category as Calica, Velocity saw two players trade off to keep a Frisbee-esque disc bouncing between them, with points scored when the player failed to stop the disc from hitting their body. It is only shown to be played on holodecks, so it is unknown if it is a holographical game or if it can be played with a real disc and phasers.
Karo-Net
We know absolutely nothing about the Karo-Net except that it exists – it’s mentioned once by Odo when he laments to Quark about the compromises made in the relationship. Most likely, given Odo’s upbringing, Karo-Net is probably a Bajoran game or something popularized by the Cardassians during their time on Bajor.
Anbo-jyutsu
Although we have never seen Anbo-jyutsu in a competitive setting, we would be remiss not to mention the Japanese-influenced martial art that is clearly one of the world’s first martial arts in the 24th century. A one-on-one duel played in a small circular arena, Anbo players wore light armor that included a full visor to obscure their vision, fighting with a staff equipped with a proximity sensor on one of its ends to help provide an indication of where their opponents were.
Octran Fertility Contest
Another meaning is offhanded from Businessthis competition was played in the same way as basketball, according to Phlox. Probably the “fertility” factor involved the fact that it was also played with little, if any, clothing.
Hoverball
While we don’t get to see Hoverball in action, we do get a brief glimpse of the titular ball TNG‘s “Captain’s Vacation,” when Picard’s study break from Risa is interrupted by a floating anti-grav device. Hoverball was apparently incredibly popular, especially in the Voyagerand a nice group of older workers playing amongst themselves on the holodeck in their spare time.
Hydrosailing
It’s a sea game that’s also talked about inappropriately, with Kes taking holographic lessons from it Voyager. Tuvok flatly refuses the request to learn for himself, stating that Vulcans don’t hydrosail, but it is unknown if this is cultural isolation or down to Tuvok being a grump.
Parris Squares
Star Trek you love a popular game that you can’t show yourself playing again, but Parrises Squares might be the game that’s been the longest between us being introduced to it and seeing it played. First mentioned in TNG The first episode of “11001001” in 1988, would take 36 years to be displayed on the screen The ProdigyThe second season. A seemingly dangerous (and occasionally violent) game, Parrises Squares saw four teams use ion mallets to hit the ball into the opposition goal. The squares in the name may appear on the grid-based field, with each square on the grid being able to change length during the game. No wonder people get hurt a lot!
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