Official Rules and Information for FIBFA™ Events

Bottle flipping develops hand-eye coordination with quickness and focus under time pressure. Encouraging athletes to learn and practice playing skills will lead them to develop confidence, self-motivation, perseverance, and concentration. By participating in FIBFA™ events, athletes develop friendly competition, honesty, respect and good sportsmanship. Bottle flipping promotes skill-building and community as players work hard to beat personal records while displaying kindness and respect to competitors.

Volunteers make up majority of the FIBFA™ workforce. We encourage athletes, spectators, referees, and other participants to do their best to build a positive culture of building community.

Definition of Terms:

1. Bottle - An approved plastic bottle selected for the sport of bottle flipping.  All authorized bottles must be approved by FIBFA™ with the designation “Official Game Bottle”™ . The top is the end with the threaded opening and the bottom is the flat base where the bottle rests. There is a cap affixed to top of the bottle and must be securely screwed to the container. There must be water in each bottle with the volume guided by the Water Fill Line. Bottle(s) used for competition at a FIBFA™ recognized event cannot be tampered with or altered in any way from the original manufacturer’s specification. At each event, bottles will be inspected prior to each match. The designated Lead Bottle Inspector has authority on the legality of any bottle and may re-inspect bottles to ensure compliance. Click here for list of official game bottles.
2. Bottle Flip - The collective action of a bottle flipper holding, lifting, and/or tossing a bottle. It includes the motion of the bottle.The bottle flip can be categorized as a counted bottle flip or miss flip.
3. Bottle Flipper - The athlete  participating in a bottle flipping competition or event.
4. Water - Water is oxidane with the chemical formula of H2O. Water comes in different types and forms and thus, water will be regulated at each FIBFA™ recognized event for uniformity. Game bottles are filled up to the Water Fill Line. Bottle flippers can expect that water will be untreated, at room/venue temperature, liquid state, and of the following approved types:
    • Spring water derived from an underground formation from which water flows naturally to the surface of the earth.
    • Purified water produced by distillation, deionization, and/or reverse osmosis
    • Municipal/public water system water (“tap water”)
    • Natural water with dissolved mineral and trace elements at the point of emergence from the source. No minerals   added.
    5. Water Fill Line - On each bottle is a line marked by the manufacturer as the highest level water can reach when filling.There is no minimum level but water has to be visible through the bottle. Filling a bottle involves placing the bottom end on a level surface and pouring water through the opening at the top. After the bottle is filled to the approved volume, the top end is secured with the cap.
    6. Round: Each round lasts for 60 seconds.
    7. Counted bottle flip - A bottle flip is counted if, after holding and tossing the bottle, the bottle is released and rotated at least 360 degrees around its center and lands upright on the game mat. The first foreign object the bottle can touch is the game mat. At some point during the rotation, the bottom of the bottle must be higher in altitude than the top. The bottom of the bottle must be 100% flush on the mat for the bottle to be counted. The game referee determines a properly counted bottle flip. Once a flip attempt is considered counted by a game referee, the flip is counted in the scoring system. The scoring system will give a visual and audio cue. A bottle flipper can clarify his bottle flip moves with a referee before his round starts. If however, the round starts and the flips are not counted, the clarification and lost time cannot be recovered.
    8. Miss flip: A bottle flip attempt that is not counted nor scored by the game referee is considered a miss flip. There are factors that contribute to a miss flip including:
      • The bottle was not tossed by the bottle flipper.
      • The bottle was not released by the bottle flipper.
      • The bottle was touched by the bottle flipper before it was counted by the game referee.
      • During the rotation, the bottom of the bottle does not go higher than the top.
      • The bottle does not ultimately land on the mat. One example of a miss flip is when the bottle lands upright and 100% on the floor.
      • In the process of landing upright, the bottle wobbles and the bottle flipper grabs the bottle before it is 100% flush on the mat.
      • The bottle flipper grabs the bottle before the game referee can evaluate the category of the flip. The default category is miss flip.


          1. These purpose of these rules to all bottle flippers are to maximize fairness of the game, satisfaction of accomplishment, motivation to excellence, clarity of goals, orderliness of events, and standardization of awards, records, and claims
          2. These rules are meant to be applied to all FIBFA™ sanctioned events. Independently organized events whether fully or partially supported by FIBFA™ may deviate from these rules but may result in limitations of awards, records, and/or claims.
          3. For the purpose of simplicity and successful roll-out of the sport of bottle flipping, the inaugural style will be singles only. More complex styles will follow in later seasons.


            • Singles
            • Teams (Coming Soon)
            • Target Bottle Flipping (Coming Soon)
            • Creative Bottle Flipping (Coming Soon)
            4. Tournament Structure (Singles):
              • Scoring:
                • Each bottle flipper receives two scores per round.
                • First Score: The first score is the number of counted bottle flips within the time limit.
                • Second Score: The second score is the longest streak point. The first streak point is counted after the first counted bottle flip. The streak points increment for every successful counted bottle flip. The first streak point stops after the first failed bottle flip. A second streak point is counted on the next successful bottle flip and increments up until the next failed bottle flip. This repeats indefinitely until the round ends. The longest streak point is recorded for that round.
                • Qualifying Rounds will take place on the first half of the allocated time for the event. During the qualifying rounds, bottle flippers are assigned random opponents and are given two scores per round. The bottle flipper with a higher first score (counted bottle flips) is given one Qualifying Point. The other player with the lower first score receives zero Qualifying Point. In the case of a tie for the first score, the second score (streak points) becomes the tie breaker where the player with the higher second score receives one Qualifying Point and the other player receives zero. The top 16 bottle flippers based on earned Qualifying Points moves on to the Playoff Rounds. In the case of tied earned Qualifying Points, the average of the second score becomes the tie breaker. If the average second score is a tie, then the players would go to a sudden death round to determine who moves on the playoffs.
                • Playoff Rounds will take place on the second half of the allocated time for the event. The top 16 bottle flippers will be paired up in pairs and can move on with the tournament by winning their round. The winner of the round is the player with the higher 1st score. In case of a tie, the higher second score determines the winner. In case of a second score tie, the players enter a sudden death round.