Cricket spitting is a unique sport invented at Purdue in 1996 by Professor Tom Turpin.
All ages are invited to participate; no pre-registration is required before the day of the event.
Cricket spitting takes place on the Purdue Memorial Mall.
Open Qualifying rounds take place each morning and afternoon. The top 5 spitters in each category from qualifying rounds are called back to the spitting circle during the Spit-Off finals.
The four competition categories are:
- Senior men
- Senior women
- Junior women
- Junior men
The break point between senior and junior age category is 14. Ribbons are awarded for 1st through 4th place in each category.
Cricket Spitting Contest Qualifying Rounds:
10:00 am – 12:30 pm
2:00 pm – 5:00 pm
Spit-off Finals:
1 pm and 5:30 pm
Cricket Spitting Rules
- The crickets are brown house crickets (Acheta domesticus), weighing between 45 and 55 milligrams on average.
- Crickets are frozen, not alive!
- Contestants must spit within 20 seconds of placing the cricket in their mouth.
- Contestants must not step outside of the red spitting circle.
- The cricket must be fully intact, and held fully in the mouth before the contestant may enter the spitting circle.
- If the contestant swallows the cricket rather than spitting it, one additional attempt may be made before disqualification.
- The cricket must remain intact, and an official will check the spat cricket for six legs, four wings, and two antennae before the spit can be counted.
- The distance is measured from the center of the edge of the spitting circle to where the cricket comes to rest, using a measuring wheel.
Yes, it’s a real sport!
The current world record Cricket Spit is 32 feet, 0.5 in (9.766 m), held by Dan Capps.
Dan performed this feat on the set of Guinness World Records: Primetime on June 26, 1998.
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