A couple of months ago, we went to pick up a friend to play some goaltimate. He hates the game, but somehow, we forgot to mention that we wouldn’t have the numbers for a full game of ultimate until he got in the car. On the way there, we fleshed out a game that would bring an extra element to goaltimate that would keep him interested: namely adding half of a boot field on the other side of the goaltimate check line.

There are a bunch of different variations on boot, but we play with a single cone on the back line where play is restricted to the marked off field (outside the lines including behind the cone you score on is out of bounds).

The basic rules we use for goaltiboot are as follows:

*You must check the disc across the center line that bisects the goaltimate/boot fields after a turn or a goal is scored. You may then score on either the boot or goaltimate side as you would in a normal boot game.
*The goaltimate side of the field is unrestricted. There are no out of bounds(unless you want to set up the official back and side lines, but we never do).

*Play does not stop unless a time out is called. Meaning like goaltimate, after you score, you stay on offense until a turn and continue playing(setting up the boot cone as needed).

*As mentioned above, you must remain within the bounds of the boot side of the field when crossing the center check line in the boot direction.

*The center line remains a 2 point line going towards the goaltimate side.

*Stall count is to 5.

We’ve had a lot of fun playing this game on days when we could only get 3s or 4s. Anyone who’s played a lot of boot knows that it is absolutely essential to keep one player posted on each side of the field to prevent easy scores, which makes this game incredibly chaotic and fast paced due to the 3v2/4v3/2v1/3v1/4v1 swings that shift as the game goes on. It reminds me of the way the Warriors play offense: at any time and anywhere on the field, you can put the disc up to someone for a point.

I’m sure there have been groups that have played a similar game or even 2-sided goaltimate before(which also has gotta be fun), but I’ve loved playing this so much lately that I thought I’d share it here. It has that element of goaltimate where all the most glory-filled parts of ultimate are condensed into a rapid-fire game and kicks the points scored total up a notch compared to relatively low scoring goaltimate due to a team having to guard two sides of play. There are brief bursts, again like the Warriors, where you could score 4-5 points in a row before the opposing team knows what happened combined with tons of Ds and absurd passes. If you have a goaltimate set and enough cones, I’d definitely recommend giving the game a try the next time you can only get 6 or 8 out.