Jai Alai (Hi-Al-Eye), which means ‘merry festival’, was introduced to the United States in St. Louis at the World Fair in 1904. The sport peaked in the United States between the 70’s and 80s mostly in Florida and Las Vegas. The sport became popular in Las Vegas because fans can bet on the games played in the fronton much like betting on horse races. The biggest payoff on a Jai-Alai bet was in Palm Beach, Florida when a person wagered $2 and won over $900,000.
What is a fronton you may ask? A fronton is a fancy word for “big stage in a stadium.” The fronton resembles any auditorium or theatre, but with a stage with specified dimensions for the game to be played.
The court in the fronton consists of three walls, front, left, and back. It is 175 ft long, and forty feet wide. Once the ball is served the walls are in play, and a player can get the ball if it hits the ground once. It is also out of bounds if the server does not serve the ball over the 1-meter line on the front wall. Once a player catches the ball in the “zesta” they need to throw the ball at the front wall in a continuous motion to receive a point.
A “zesta” is the wicker basket used to throw and catch the “pelota”, the hard ball that Jai Alai players use. A good Jai Alai player can throw the “pelota” out of a “zesta” at up to 170 mph, which makes the “pelota” the fastest moving ball in sports!
The game is played with nine teams of two standing in a line. The first two teams play for a point. The winning team stays on the court, and the losing team moves to the back of the line. The match is played in a round-robin format between all nine teams until the first team reaches nine points and wins.
Jai-Alai had a difficult time surviving in the United States mostly because the sport makes its money on wagers, and not every state allowed wagering in the frontons. It is also very expensive to obtain Jai-Alai gear. Each “zesta” is hand made for each individual player and takes over 14 hours to complete. Each “pelota” is made from hand woven rubber from Brazil, costs $100 each, and has a lifespan of only 20 minutes in each game because it is being hit so hard. Therefore it was way too much money to keep this sport going in the U.S. Jai-Alai may be best known for its appearance in a “Most Interesting Man in the World” commercial by Dos Equis.
Hoosier Bloggers 