Play and winning involves strategy, hand-eye coordination, quickness, and teamwork. The first team to get five points wins a game. Beginners typically use two target balls. Experienced players use four. Players can pick up steel balls anywhere on the table, but if they touch a target ball, it is a point.
Players launch steel balls and target balls down their chutes only by the force of gravity.
Goalies relaunch scored target balls in their goal area for continuous play. The attached video file shows Birkball being played by six people for 17 seconds. The play starts with two target balls in motion after having been served from the goalie on the right side. They quickly hit the defending steel balls. The brown target ball heads to the opposite side and stays there for a few seconds.