One thing that most universities have no lack of is inventions. Another thing that they have no shortage of is slightly off-kilter folk eager to try said inventions. What they didn’t have, until recently, was a good opportunity to try out the oft-deranged products of their fertile minds.

Enter Aetherball.

There is some debate as to who invented the sport, but for the most part, folk care less about who invented it than when the next match is. All it really is, at the end of the day, is an excuse to showcase various contraptions and see how they hold up under stress.

The rules are reasonably simple:

1) All equipment is allowed.
2) No lethal force, please.
3) No more than ten people per team
4) Score by getting the ball to exist in a quantum state of both existing and not existing.

Though it sounds impossible, there are many ways to achieve goals, such as putting it in a chamber with a perfect 50% chance of destroying the ball when opened and then not opening it. It is important to remember that there are many, many items scattered around an aetherball field, including malfunctioning steam engines, thumb tacks, and, in the case of the grand arena at Hautriesenburg, a small rift to three minutes ago. In essence, if there is something peculiar that nobody really has much use for, it can always find a home in the Aetherball ring.