Dear Sean, my students are organizing a charity four squares tournament at our school for the local food pantry, and we want to make sure we've got all the rules right. I'm a former Ragin' Narwhal and think I have most of them down pat, but we came up with one question. If someone legally hits the ball into your square, but the ball immediately starts to roll OR the ball stops cold (i.e. it's unable to play off), who is out?

A lot of people from a lot of different industries are looking to us to answer questions about the standards of this playground game. Somehow we have become the official source for rules clarifications, managing behavior, and even consulting about world records. This week we're addressing a couple of questions about the size of a four square court. I will answer your questions in the order they were received...

Dear Sean, if the ball enters a square on the fly, and the player hits the ball in their own square before it goes to another square, is the player who hit the ball out?