The game is sometimes referred to as Frisbee Football, because it looks just like a football or soccer game played with a flying disc. The pickup lunch-hour games started with a group of Tandem employees playing on the field next to the Cupertino Library. But later it included employees from Apple. A decade later the men and women come from all over Silicon Valley, as well as various walks of life. Al Esquivel, a Cupertino resident and one of the original lunchtime Ultimate players, has been faithfully playing on his lunch hours for all 15 years.
Ultimate players come and go, but anyone can return after no matter how long and fit right back in.
Sometimes old and new faces reappear. In the game, two teams of seven players face off on opposite ends of the field. The object of the game is to pass the disc down the field and score in the opposing team's end zone. No matter what the level of competition, be it lunch-hour pickup games or international tournaments, there are no referees. Players work out rule violations among themselves, sometimes by just redoing a play.