Section 3: Playing Area
Hornussen is played on the Ries — a long, roughly rectangular field, typically an ordinary hayfield or meadow rather than a purpose-built stadium. It is unusually long for a team sport, running several hundred metres away from the striking end, because a well-struck Hornuss carries that far.
- The striking end: One short end holds the Bock, the ramp the Hornuss is struck from. Everything else happens down-field of it, so the whole playing area fans out in a single direction rather than being shared by both sides at once.
- Numbered zones: The Ries is marked out in numbered bands running away from the striking point. Where an un-intercepted Hornuss first touches down decides how much is recorded against the fielding side — the further it flies, the deeper the band and the worse the mark. This is why distance matters even though the striking team scores no points of its own.
- The fielding side's ground: The defending team spreads out along the length of the Ries rather than holding fixed positions, because they cannot know where a strike will travel until it is in the air. Placement is a judgement about the striker.
Because the field is ordinary farmland, dimensions vary between clubs and the boundaries are marked rather than fenced. The exact regulation length, width and zone spacing are not pinned down here — see Section 6.