Beach volleyball with more players, the most widely played version of the game, and the only one contested at an elite level, has only two players per team. Beach volleyball grew in popularity in the United States during the Great Depression in the 1930s as it was an inexpensive activity. The sport also began to appear in Europe during this time. By the 1940s, doubles tournaments were being played on the beaches of Santa Monica for trophies. In 1948 the first tournament to offer a prize was held in Los Angeles, California. It awarded the best teams with a case of Pepsi.
Summer Heat Beach Volleyball were experiencing a period of renewed popularity for the first time in many years, although it received considerably less hype and critical praise than its contemporaries "Beach Spikers", "Dead or Alive Xtreme Beach Volleyball", and "Outlaw Volleyball". It currently has a score of 68.09% on GameRankings and 65 out of 100 on Metacritic. The game was one of several poor-selling titles that would lead to Acclaim's bankruptcy in 2004. In 2006, Canadian game publisher Throwback Entertainment acquired the property rights for "Summer Heat Beach Volleyball" from Acclaim. Throwback had planned on developing another "Summer Heat" volleyball game for release on