Section 2: Equipment
Hornussen needs four purpose-built pieces of kit, and none of them have an everyday substitute — the striking side and the fielding side use entirely different equipment from one another.
- Hornuss (the puck): The projectile the whole game is built around, weighing roughly 78 grams. It takes its name from the buzzing hornet sound it makes in flight. Originally turned from cow horn — hence both the name and the sport's — it is now moulded from hard plastic. Struck well, it leaves the ramp at up to 300 km/h (about 185 mph).
- Stecken (the striking club): A long, whippy rod of roughly 2–3 metres, tipped with a dense wooden or composite head called the Träf. It is not swung like a bat but whipped, so the flex of the shaft does the work; traditional shafts were wood, and carbon fibre is now normal in competition.
- Bock (the launching ramp): A curved metal ramp that holds the Hornuss at the striking end. The Hornuss rests on the ramp rather than being thrown or teed by hand, so every strike starts from the same position.
- Schindel (the interception board): The fielding side's equipment — a flat board of about one square metre fitted with a handle, which players hurl spinning into the air to knock the incoming Hornuss down before it lands. Each fielder carries their own.
The game is played on a long field known as the Ries; see Section 3.