5 Odd Balls

Sure, you know your footballs, baseballs, tennis balls and basketballs. But what about the lesser-known balls? Let's take a closer look at some, er, odd balls now.

1. Jai Alai Balls

AKA: Pelota (Spanish for ball, duh)
Weight: 125g–140g
Let's get the ball rolling: Considered the most lethal ball of any sport, the pelota is 3/4 the size of a baseball, harder than a golf ball, and has been clocked at speeds in excess of 180 m.p.h. The Guinness Book of World Records calls it "the world's fastest ball." The pelota is constructed of hand wound Brazilian rubber with two hand-sown goatskin covers. Pelotas cost more than $150 each and must be re-covered after 15 minutes of play. No machine has ever been developed to construct an official pelota.

2. Qigong Balls

3. Skee-Balls

4. Pinballs

Why are they called "pin" balls?The early version of what we now call pinball was actually called bagatelle. Players rolled balls up an inclined table and tried to knock down little pins for points.
Made of: Early pinballs were made of glass, like big marbles. When the game became "electrified" the standard steel pinball, measuring 1 1/16" in diameter, was born.

Tilt! The tilt mechanism was invented in 1934 as a direct answer to the problem of players physically lifting and shaking the games. The tilt debuted in a game called Advance made by Harry Williams.

5. Bocee Balls

Made of: While cheap bocce balls can be made out of wood, stone or metal, the most popular (and tournament approved) are made of hard plastic, similar to bowling balls or billiard balls
The other ball: is much smaller and called the pallino, or "the jack"; it's used for scoring
Meaning: From the Italian word boccia, which means "to bowl"