American 21 is a fun basketball game that teaches many important, fundamental basketball skills. This article shows you how to play it.
It was a regular day in 1996 and my friends and I were extremely bored. School had just ended and we didn’t know what to do. So, one of my friends suggested that we head over to the basketball court to play some ball.
We all agreed. We walked over, dribbling and passing my basketball back and forth. I asked them what game we should play and one of them suggested 21.
“Since there are three of us, we should play American 21.”
“What’s that?” I asked.
“It’s 21, but instead of just catching and shooting, there’s also a one vs all game in it.”
“Whoa, sounds fun!”
“It is.”
(This one friend didn’t have much personality.)
“Okay, so who goes first?”
“Let’s do ‘do or die.’”
I shot the first ‘do or die’ shot and missed. My other friend shot after me and missed, too. But my third friend made the shot and got to start the game off.
This marks the first time I played 21 (or American 21 if you’re from a specific region in Canada and was a 90’s kid).
Okay, so maybe that isn’t the exact account of what happened. But the event was very, very similar to the story above (please don’t discredit my credibility).
What Is American 21?
American 21 is a basketball game that can teach many basketball skills because you have to do so many things. You have to score in a multitude of ways, rebound against many players, and defend in a variety of ways against multiple opponents.
It’s a game that combines free-throw shooting and a free-for-all basketball game.
How to Play American 21
21 is a simple basketball game. All you need is a basketball, a basketball court, and a few friends to play with. If you don’t have any friends, there is also a solo version that I created because I, too, am lonely.
Anywhoo, if you don’t have a basketball for the game, I suggest you get the Spalding Indoor/Outdoor basketball. It’s a durable ball that can be used on a variety of surfaces. It also won’t hurt your bank account. You can buy one from Amazon here (affiliate link).
Once you’ve gotten all that housekeeping stuff settled, you can begin the game.
Here’s how to play 21:
The first person to shoot will start off by shooting free-throws (here’s a guide for how to shoot them perfectly). This person will shoot until they miss or until they make three in a row. This will depend on how you and your mates want to play.
If the first player misses a shot, then the other players have to fight for the rebound so that they can get possession of the ball (the tip-off, basically). Whoever rebounds the ball has to clear it first before they can attempt to score.
If they are able to make a basket, they get the opportunity to go to the charity stripe (or 3-point line if you’re that good) for free-throws. Then they shoot foul shots until they miss.
And you just circulate through these steps until a player scores 21 points.
If you decide to play the “three-in-a-row” way, then after the player makes three free-throws in a row, he/she would check the ball and the free-for-all game would start. If this player scores again, he/she would get another chance to shoot free-throws.
Other than that little change-up, all the other steps stay the same.
Variations to 21
If you want to make 21 more challenging, you can add house rules to it too.
One of the things my friends and I did was if a free-throw was made, but a rebounder was able to alley-oop that shot back in, the player shooting free-throws would lose points. We would make him go back to one or eleven points, depending on how many points he had.
This makes the game more fun and difficult because there are perks for achieving certain things.
The Solo Version of 21
To play 21 by yourself, you start off with the first possession (obviously). You take free-throws (or threes) until you miss. If you miss a shot, you have to sprint in to rebound the ball and try to get a putback. You want to make a bucket as quickly as possible. Then, you go back to the free-throw line and shoot more free-throws.
The goal, again, is to get 21 points. You can also increase this number if 21 is too easy. But I think it’s better to play multiple games of 21 instead of one long game.
To make this game more challenging, you can set a timer (or goal time) and try to finish the game before the time runs out.
If you like playing or practicing by yourself (or have to), check out this list of the top solo basketball games.
Benefits of Playing 21
21 is a great game to practice a variety of skills. You can play it to work on your rebounding, as LaMelo Ball did, or to work on your 1-on-1 skills. It’s also a good game to tighten up your defence, free-throw shooting, and ability to play under pressure.
The free-for-all aspect makes it challenging to do anything in the game. There’ll always be defenders on your back.
So, all your skills have to be on point or else the ball will get swiped from you (or worst, you won’t even get the chance to shoot if your defence sucks). And the free-throws will be hard too because the other players will for sure try to distract you.
But all of this will only prepare you for real (or pick-up) games later on.
All in all, 21 is not only a fantastic basketball training drill, but it’s also a fun, competitive game to play. There’re many components to it and you can get creative and tweak it however you like.
It’s one of my favourite basketball games and I think it’ll be yours too! So give it a play.