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Auto Polo

I’m sure many of us are reminded immediately of the old Top Gear auto football matches:

https://youtu.be/SIeu7_-iwdw

41 minutes agocheschire

"The official inventor of auto polo...devised the sport as a publicity stunt in 1911 to sell Model T cars."

Amazing to see how little has changed in 100 years when it comes to competing for attention

2 hours agoarlobish

Unsurprisingly, it died out "mostly due to the high cost of replacing vehicles". Was it the inspiration for demolition derbies?

2 hours agoTomMasz

Australian Motorcycle Chariot Race

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1avID4bJ3pw

2 hours agomsuniverse2026

These days I have to check the upload date to see if I'm being duped. At 8 years ago this one passes!

an hour agoOarch

> though deaths due to auto polo were rare.

Oh well, then...

42 minutes agoxg15

I guess the modern day equivalent (technology that’s relatively new, unsafe and unregulated) would be electric scooter polo? I found no sign of a sport like this though.

I think kick scooter polo exists. And bike polo[1] is well known.

[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hardcourt_Bike_Polo

3 hours agomerelysounds

My first thought was that Segways would be ideal for the nerdiest fun modern-ish recreation of polo. It turns out that it was a thing.

> The Segway polo world championship is the Woz Challenge Cup. It is named after Steve "Woz" Wozniak, cofounder of Apple Inc., and a player of Segway polo

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Segway_polo

3 hours agoconsumer451

WhirlyBall[1], which is kind of like pelota + basketball in bumper cars, seems like a pretty good bet. There are only a handful of courts left, but I've done a few offsites at the Seattle one, and it's good fun.

The bumper cars are truly weird - they draw power from the conductive floor of the court, and have a one-handed control system that makes you trigger forward/reverse by turning the steering wheel a full rotation...

[1]: https://www.whirlyball.com

2 hours agoswiftcoder

There's also e-wheel polo

2 hours agovhcr

I for one wish for mobile crane joust.

an hour agotigerlily

Nope. The modern version uses motorcycles.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motoball

>>Motoball is played in a 5v5 format. There are four players on motorcycles, and one on their feet as the goalkeeper.

2 hours agosandworm101

Was? Not with this attitude!

2 hours agohaunter
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