Swingshot

**Swingshot** was an event played in several incarnations of the television series *Gladiators*. In this event, two Gladiators and two contenders are attached to bungee cords and must jump off a raised platform, bouncing up to a central pole with scoring balls.

## Rules

Two contenders stand on the two raised platforms on the left hand side of the arena, 15 feet in the air. The two Gladiators stand on platforms of the same height on the arena's right. In the centre, hanging from the ceiling is a pole, attached to which are sponge balls of three different colours. On the whistle, contenders have 60 seconds to jump as many times as they can, bouncing upwards towards the pole and grabbing as many of the sponge balls as they can and depositing them in the baskets located on their platform. 1 point is awarded for each yellow ball deposited, the lowest tier of scoring balls on the pole, 2 for a blue, the middle tier, and 3 for a red, the top tier. The Gladiators must attempt to block the contenders or push them out of the way. Gladiators must not deliberately kick the contenders, knock the pole out of the way or knock the balls off the pole. Gladiators may not remove a scoring ball from a contender's hands. Headshots by Gladiators are also forbidden.

## Event History

### America

* Years active: 1989 (untelevised), 1991-1996

An event named Swingshot was first played in the original 1989 series by the women only, whilst the men played Breakthrough & Conquer, yet for unexplained reasons, the event was never televised, with only the results being shown. Because the event was never televised, it is unknown whether this event is the same as the Swingshot introduced in the third season. Swingshot was first televised during the third season of American Gladiators, listed as a new event. During its first series, three Gladiators faced two contenders, with the third Gladiator's platform being located on the right hand side in the center of the other two Gladiator platforms. The event originally lasted 45 seconds. Blue balls were originally worth 3 points and red balls originally worth 5 points. From the fourth series, the number of Gladiators was cut down to two and the event increased to 60 seconds. The scores for blue and red balls were also reduced to 2 and 3 points respectively. Swinsghot was replaced by the event Rocketball in the second series of the 2008 revival, although it was rumoured that swingshot was 'on standby' as a replacement event should it be needed.

### United Kingdom

* Years active: 1992-1999

Swingshot was one of the few events to appear throughout the entire initial series of British Gladiators, appearing in both the very first and last ever episodes. The 1992 sticker book for Gladiators shows the blueprints for Swingshot as having three Gladiator platforms, akin to its first televised appearance in America. The third platform was removed prior to filming. For the 1992 series, contenders could only take one ball per swing. This was changed from series 3, in which contenders were allowed to grab as many balls as they could. Swingshot was modified for the junior Gladiators series Train 2 Win. Like the American Version, Rocketball is used for the second series of the British Revival.

### Australia

* Years active: 1995-1996

Swingshot debuted as one of three new events for the show's second series. It did not return for the 2008 revival. In Australia, white balls were used instead of yellow balls. Also, contenders must immediately jump from their platform on the whistle, or once they have returned from a previous jump. The use of "faking" to throw off the Gladiator's timing would result in the disqualification of all points collected on that swing.