I never played dodgeball in grade school. We had another game, suicide, that was played with a tennis ball. It was similar in some senses. If you were the loser, you got the tennis ball hurled at you. Guys cupped thier balls to avoid a painful hit. I think I would have enjoyed dodge ball more, as there seems that there was more of an involvement of all the players than there was in suicide. Suicide tended to be dominated by the best throwers (you had to throw the ball, with it hitting the wall before it bounced) and you had to make an effort to be involved. With dodge ball, it seems, from this description that everyone was on more equal terms.