Gnome Punting Gnome Punting is a sport enjoyed by all walks of life in Azeroth . It is a test of skill , strategy , testosterone , manliness , cunning , guile and strength . Members of the Horde as well as the Alliance compete in this daring sport , often times against each other . Basic Game Play . The goal of the game is to punt a gnome as far as possible , usually at a predetermined target . This target is usually a solid rock face , making Mulgore and the Shimmering Flats in Thousand Needles popular locations for matches due to the presence of high rock faces and vast , relatively flat fields , with The Barrens and Westfall as popular practice and training grounds . At the start of the game , both teams punt a gnome to see who can punt farther . Whichever team wins the " punt - off " , chooses either to defend or punt first . Each team fields 25 players ( 5 groups ) and each team has a designated Punter . No one but the Punter may handle the gnome . A team may change its Punter after every other round to shake things up . At the start of each round , both teams start huddled at their respective starting zones . The punting team with the Gnome in the middle of them , sometimes everyone holding the hapless gnome to throw off the other team as to who the Punter is for that round . At the start of the match , both teams break and start moving . Punting Team . The Punting team starts at the predetermined distance from the target rock face , usually around 100 - 200 yards . The punter is then given the Gnome and the entire team charges towards the target , and the other team . The goal of the punting team is to try to punt the gnome at the rock face , without the Punter getting KOed by the defending team . Should the defenders successfully take out the entire punter without punting the gnome , the punting team receives zero points that round . The other 24 members are their to defend the punter and take out the enemy team . Should the punting team punt the gnome , points are awarded ( see scoring below ) . Defending Team . The defending team sets up at a predetermined distance from the target rock face , usually somewhere halfway between the punting team and the rock face . The goal of the defending team is to take out the punter before he / she has a chance to punt the gnome . Reversals . Should the Gnome be coming down after a punt , the Defending Team ' s punter can " reverse it " by catching the gnome before it hits the ground and immediately punting it back the other way . Should the gnome land and not be reversed by the Punting Team ' s punter , then the defending team is awarded 1 point per yard from where the gnome landed to where the punter was standing at the time of punt . A Punting Team ' s punter can reverse it in a similar fashion . No special abilities ( such as Death Grip ) can be used on the gnome if it is considered Live . Only on Undead Gnomes . Volleys . A volley occurs when the gnome is being continually reversed by the two punters . Managing a volley requires skills . Should the defending punter find himself being slowly backed up towards the rock face , he / she may want to consider shortening the punt to get way he can and avoid the running the risk of the other team hitting the rock face . A similar scenario exists for the Punting Team should the punter find him / herself getting farther from the rock face . Scoring . For each yard that the gnome travels in the air , the team is awarded one point . For every yard the punter runs towards the rock face whilst holding the gnome , half a point is subtracted , unless the the gnome hits the target rock face , in that case , the team is awarded full points for the round , which is equal to however many yards are between the punting team and the rock face . Should the gnome hit the ground and bounce forward a few yards , those yards are added to the total as well , if the gnome bounces backwards a few yards , then forward progress is given . Example . If the punting team is 200 yards away from the rock face , runs 50 yards before punting , and punts the gnome 80 yards , the team is awarded 80 - 25 points or 55 points . Strategies . Winning a game of Gnome Punting is more then brute strength . Cunning and guile factor into it as well . Below are some of the more common strategies used by teams to make sure the gnome hits the rock face for maximum points : Bubble - feint . A tactic favored by Paladins . Before the match , a Paladin punter will set his or her hearthstone to somewhere outside the general area of the match ( and if possible , behind enemy lines ) . When the two lines engage , the punter will Bubble Hearth away and proceed to return to the match through conventional means . This throws the defense off as they have to co - ordinate as to where the Paladin will be returning , often splitting their forces , allowing the other side to take them down . One of the most famous instances of Bubble - Feinting was done by Rupert " Goldshire " McGardenhose of the Sentinel Hill Footpads in a match against the Crossroad Manglers ( a Horde Team ) . After a wild night in Goldshire , McGardenhose accidentally set his hearthstone there instead of Gadgetzan , which would have made a flawless tactic as the match was being held at Shimmering Flats , with the punting team punting to the south . McGardenhose ' s team could have easily kept the other team distracted long enough for him to slip back into the area and punt the gnome . Alas , because he found himself in Goldshire , he had to scurry back to the game , by which time , the Footpads were already down and out and the surviving Manglers were more then ready and in position to take on one Paladin . There are those who argue that instead of taking the traditional path of Goldshire to Stormwind to Irongforge to Menethil Harbor to Theremore to Gadgetzan to Shimmering Flats , he should have instead gone to Ratchet , and run through the Barrens , arriving in Thousand Needles from the North . This would have allowed him to sneak back into the field and at least gotten SOME points by punting from his team ' s starting position . The opposite side to this argument claims it would be moot point since a Paladin carrying a gnome running through the Barrens would have garnered the attention of Barrens Chat , and the Manglers could have prepared that way . Despite this , the Bubble - Feint remains a popular and effective tactic , provided the Paladin in question does not have too good a time in Goldshire the night before . Summoning . Summoning is a useful tactic , but has risks . The basic strategy calls for a warlock and two other to create a summoning portal somewhere outside of the field of vision of the defending team , but close to the target . The summoners then summon the Punter who slips back in and punts the gnome into the wall . The risks involved are that if the defending team notices that lack of players , they will immediately alter their tactics to compensate , often by feigning ignorance , but it might become obvious to the defenders when a handful of people start backing off from the melee . Blinking . A hazardous ploy of using a Mage as the Punter to Blink past the enemy lines . Recent Changes . In recent times , with the advent of countless strategies , such as Bubble - feigning or summoning , and Punters escaping en mass , teams have had a high rate of success in hitting the target rock face . As a result , matches would go on for days with neither side getting ahead of the other . To shake things up , bulls - eyes have been erected at popular playing fields to offer a greater challenge . Punters still get the full points for making the gnome impact the wall , but by adding the bulls - eye , the punter now has something to aim for , and a well - executed play which gives the punter ample time to line up the punt , now speaks more then a hasty punt as the defenders barrel towards the hapless punter having just arrived after a Bubble - feint which saw his team get annihilated before he could get back . Hitting the target closer to bulls - eye is like archery : more points for getting closer to the middle . Goblins . When it became known that Goblins would eventually be joining the ranks of the Horde , several potential Alliance teams that were hesitant to harm their Allies petitioned the AGPC ( Azerothian Gnome Punting Committee ) to allow for the use of Goblins as well as Gnomes . At the behest of several well - entrenched Horde Teams , the committee passed the resolution allowing Goblins to be used as well . And it was changed that a team can use either a Gnome or a Goblin as their projectile . As a result , almost a dozen new Alliance teams organized overnight and began practice . Some of the Horde teams have even begun practicing with Goblins to see if the scrawny creatures are more aerodynamic and thus fly farther than the chubby gnomes . Rumours exist that Deathwing prefers Punting Goblins to Gnomes , and the real reason why the AGPC agreed to include Goblins was because Deathwing threatened to incinerate them otherwise . Due to Deathwing ' s preferance of punting Goblins , Goblins shall be coming out in Cataclysm along with Deathwing . Criticism to the Sport . Several people have protested the game due to the Astronomically high fatality rate of Gnomes , and proposed creating hoops to punt the gnomes through instead of solid rock faces . This was immediately shot down and the protesters were used as projectiles for next championship game , even though some of them were not gnomes ( some Blood Elves , Night Elves and Humans were among the protesters ) . It was decided there that anything except gnomes ( and now goblins ) make terrible projectiles . TRADITIONAL GNOME PUNTING : IN GAME :