Ultimate

An Ultimate disc is a wing you can catch. 𐃏 It has no tail, no fuselage, and no static stability whatsoever — by the standards of a fixed-wing aircraft it should tumble within the first few metres. Instead it flies a hundred, because it carries its stabiliser as angular momentum. This treatise works through the mechanics in four movements: the disc as a rigid body, the aerodynamic forces on it, the gyroscopic dance that shapes every throw, and the resulting flight envelope. The canonical sources are Hummel’s flight simulations (Hummel, Sarah Ann, 2003), the Manchester wind-tunnel programme of Potts and Crowther (Potts, Jonathan R. and Crowther, William J., 2002), and Lorenz’s instrumented discs (Lorenz, Ralph D., 2005).¹

credits go to Steinar and his html exposition of the rules here.

Introduction#

Ultimate is a seven-a-side team sport played with a flying disc. It is played on a rectangular field, about half the width of a football field, with an end zone at each end. The objective of each team is to score a goal by having a player catch a pass in the end zone that they are attacking. A thrower may not run with the disc, but may pass the disc in any direction to any team-mate. Any time a pass is incomplete, a turnover occurs, and the other team shall establish possession and attempt to score in the opposite end zone. Games are typically played to 15 goals or around 100 minutes. Ultimate is self-officiated and non-contact. The Spirit of the Game guides how players officiate the game and conduct themselves on the field.

I am doing the accreditation for 2026. Here are the questions along with (some) explanations of their answers below.