Your first three weeks

The opening drive: tick each play off

A brown football lying in sunlit park grass with trees blurred behind it — A ball and a patch of grass

The game in eight lines

The field is 100 yards long between two 10-yard end zones. Recreational flag fields are much smaller, commonly 70 by 30 yards.
The offense has four downs (tries) to gain 10 yards. Make it and the count resets to first down. Fall short and the other team takes over where the ball stopped.
Every play starts at the line of scrimmage with a snap from the center to the quarterback, and ends when the ball carrier is tackled, touched or loses a flag, steps out of bounds, or a pass hits the ground.
Only one forward pass is allowed per play, and it must be thrown from behind the line of scrimmage.
A touchdown is worth 6 points, followed by a try for 1 or 2 more. Tackle football adds the 3-point field goal and the 2-point safety.
Tackle football fields 11 players a side. Flag leagues play 5-on-5 or 7-on-7, and a pickup game works with as few as 3 a side.
A pass caught by the defense is an interception, and that team's offense takes over. In most flag rules a dropped ball is dead where it lands, so there are no fumbles to dive on.
On fourth down a team usually punts the ball away. Many flag leagues replace the kick with a choice: go for it, or hand the ball over at the other team's 5-yard line.

Two lines of football players in helmets facing each other at the line of scrimmage under lights, a hand on the ball — The line of scrimmage before the snap

The full rules

A player in a black shirt carrying a football through a cone drill, other players blurred around him

Four ways to play

Touch, flag, tackle or three downs

Touch and PickupThe park game. A two-hand tag ends the play, teams are whoever showed up, and the only gear is the ball. Most people's first game looks like this.

Start here

Text five friends, pick a park with open grass and play three-on-three two-hand touch this weekend. Mark two end zones about 40 yards apart and count four seconds out loud before anyone rushes the passer.

Flag FootballThe organized non-contact game. Each player wears a belt with two or three flags and a pulled flag is a tackle. Adult co-ed, men's and women's leagues run in most cities, and the 5-on-5 version joins the Olympic program in 2028.

Start here

Search for an adult flag league through your city parks department or the governing body's league finder, set to non-contact, and register as a free agent if you have no team.

USA Football League Finder

Tackle FootballFull contact in helmet and pads, 11 a side. Adults play in amateur and semi-pro leagues that practice twice a week in season. It is the only version you should never try without a team, a coach and fitted equipment.

Start here

Find an adult amateur or semi-pro team near you and go to an open tryout or first practice. Ask what the team issues and what you bring before you buy anything.

USA Football League Finder

Canadian FootballThe game north of the border. Three downs instead of four, 12 players a side and a field 110 yards long and 65 wide make it a faster, pass-heavy game. A regular football and the same cleats work for learning it.

Start here

Watch one full Canadian league game to see how the third down changes play calling, then look for a touch or flag league through your provincial football association.

Canadian Football League

Open one for its first step. Flag and tackle each add their own gear to the duffel; touch and Canadian football play with the base kit as it is.

Choosing a football and keeping it game-ready

Close-up of a brown leather football's white laces and pebbled cover, lying across a white line on turf — Raised laces on pebbled leather

Adults and teens from about 14 throw the official size, sometimes labeled size 9. Junior, youth and pee-wee sizes are smaller and will feel like a toy in adult hands.
Composite leather is the right first ball. It is tacky out of the box, shrugs off wet grass and costs a third of a genuine leather game ball, which needs brushing and conditioning before it grips.
Check the laces. Raised, pebbled laces give your fingertips something to pull against at release, and that pull is what makes the ball spin.
Before each session, inflate to the range printed on the ball, typically 12.5 to 13.5 psi. Moisten the needle first so it does not tear the valve.
Press your thumb into the panel. A ready ball gives about a quarter inch and springs back. Cold weather drops the pressure, so top it up in fall and winter.
Store it indoors at room temperature. A ball left in a hot car or a damp garage goes slick and out of shape within a season.

A quarterback in a gold jersey with the ball cocked beside his helmet at dusk, floodlights and teammates behind him

Skills to work on first

Grip, throw, catch, cut, pull, snap

The grip

Ring finger and pinkie across the laces, index finger near the back tip, and a little daylight between your palm and the ball.

The throw

Stand side-on, step toward the target with your front foot, keep your elbow at shoulder height and finish with your thumb pointing down. The spiral comes from the ball rolling off your index finger last.

Catching

Make a diamond with thumbs and index fingers for anything above the chest, pinkies together below it, and watch the tip of the ball into your hands before you look upfield.

Route running

Sprint to a spot, sink your hips and cut hard off the outside foot. A sharp break at five yards beats a fast curve at fifteen.

Flag pulling

Watch the runner's hips, not the ball or the shoulders, and grab the flag with your hand rather than swiping at it.

The snap

As center, grip the ball like a throw and deliver it between your legs to the quarterback's hands without looking back. A clean snap starts every play.

What trips beginners up

Three to expect, three to drop

Expect your first throws to wobble end over end. The fix is almost always a looser grip and a later release, not a harder throw.
Expect sore hamstrings and a tired throwing shoulder after week one. Football is repeated sprints from a standstill, so jog and stretch for ten minutes first.
Expect the rules to feel like a foreign language for two or three games. Learn downs and the line of scrimmage, and pick up the penalties as they are called.
Drop the habit of catching against your chest. The ball bounces off your body, and hands out in front give you a second chance at it.
Drop the long bomb. Short completed passes move the ball in flag football, and a deep throw into a crowd is the usual interception.
Drop the idea that the quarterback is the only position that matters. Rushers, centers and defenders who pull flags cleanly decide recreational games.

Staying unhurt

Never play tackle without a helmet, pads and a coach who teaches shoulder-led tackling. Backyard tackle in street clothes is how most serious injuries outside organized play happen.
Treat any blow to the head seriously. A headache, dizziness, confusion or nausea afterward means you stop for the day and see a doctor before you play again.
Wear a mouthguard for flag and tackle. Flag football has no helmets, so stray elbows and heads meet teeth.
Drink water before you are thirsty and take shade breaks in summer. Heat illness is a bigger risk than contact in preseason.
Walk the field before you play and move sprinkler heads, rocks and glass. Rolled ankles on rough park grass are the most common pickup injury.
Flag belts go over your shirt and shorts should have no pockets. Fingers caught in a pocket during a flag pull are a routine cause of broken fingers.

A football team in black and red jerseys and helmets warming up on a turf field beside a coach — Warming up in full pads with a coach

Where to learn and find a game

Your city parks and recreation department is the quickest route to an adult flag league, and most take individual sign-ups. The national governing body runs a free league finder that filters by contact level and age, and publishes the flag rules that most leagues adapt. Women looking for tackle football have a national league with a team map. To learn the game itself, watch a broadcast with one job in mind: follow a single receiver for a whole drive, or count how many players rush the passer on each down. The professional rulebook is free online and worth opening the first time a penalty confuses you.

A receiver in white and a defender in red squaring off on a turf field with spectators in the stands behind — One receiver, one defender

Leagues to join

Why the kit is built this way

The ball is the only thing every version of the game needs, so it is the one essential. A pump, a set of cones and cleats come next because they are used in every session, whichever way you play. Everything else depends on the version. Pick Flag Football and the kit adds a belt set for both teams and a strapless mouthguard. Pick Tackle Football and it adds the personal gear a player brings: a mouthguard that tethers to the facemask and a padded girdle. The helmet and shoulder pads are left out on purpose: most teams issue them, and they only protect you when someone who knows how has fitted them to your head and shoulders in person. League fees, commonly $40 to $90 a player per flag season, are paid to the league and are not part of this list.

The painted number 20 on a turf football field, lit by a band of sunlight — The 20-yard line

Pack the duffel

Compare the options below, then set your tiers and check out from the duffel. Clicking a card selects it there. The ball, pump, cones and cleats start in. Belts and mouthguards join when you add Flag Football, and the strapped mouthguard and girdle when you add Tackle Football.

Official size composite football

essential · Core equipment

Every version of the game starts with it, and a full-size ball is what you need to learn an adult grip and a spiral.

budget

WILSON NFL MVP Football

4.7(12.6K)

$15.95

American Football

Your first three weeks

The game in eight lines

Four ways to play

Choosing a football and keeping it game-ready

Skills to work on first

What trips beginners up

Staying unhurt

Where to learn and find a game

Why the kit is built this way

Pack the duffel

Official size composite football

Ball pump with pressure gauge

Field marker cones

Molded football cleats

Flag football belt set

Strapless sports mouthguard

Football mouthguard with helmet strap

Padded football girdle