Learn how to play hacky sack
From your first kick to hardcore combos, taught by 9-time World Footbag Champion Honza Weber.
What is a hacky sack?
A hacky sack is a small stitched bag you keep in the air with your feet. Also called a footbag, which is what the sport is called too.
It is filled with sand, metal or PVC and stitched from 8 to 32 panels. No hands, no court, no net required. Play it in a circle with friends, or go freestyle on your own.
How to start
The 4 kicks every hacky sack trick is built on. Learn these first.
Start with a sand-filled 8 panel bag - the best bag to learn kicks & tricks on.
Starter Footbag11,99 €
Hacky sack tricks by difficulty
36 tricks to master, in learning order. There are hundreds more in the SkillAddicts app.
Beginner hacky sack tricks
- Toe Kick
- Knee Kick
- Inside Kick
- Outside Kick
- Alt Toe Kicks
- Alt Knee Kicks
- Alt Inside Kicks
- Alt Outside Kicks
- Toes and Knees
All four kicks, then the same kicks alternating feet. The Starter Footbag is sand filled and 8 panel - the easiest bag to learn kicks on.
Starter Footbag11,99 €
Intermediate hacky sack tricks
- Toe Stall
- Inside Stall
- Clipper
- Outside Stall
- All the Kicks
- Kicking Cascade
- Alt Toe Stalls
- Alt Inside Stalls
- Stalling Cascade
This is where stalls start, and stalls need a bag that sits still. The Starter Footbag Set has two - one tuned for kicks, one for stalls.
Starter Footbag Set24,99 €
Advanced hacky sack tricks
- Around the World (in-out)
- Around the World (out-in)
- Legover
- Neck Stall
- Wrap
- Flying Clipper
- Osis
- Mirage
- Butterfly
Delays and legovers need a bag that holds its shape. The Pro Footbag is 32 panel and metal filled - it sits dead on the stall.
Pro Footbag14,99 €
Pro hacky sack tricks
- Infinity Butterfly
- Spinning Clipper
- Ducking Clipper
- Whirl
- Pixie Legover
- Double Legover
- Symposium Mirage
- Double Around the World
- Ripwalk
At this level the shoes matter. Quantum are flat soled with a wide and clean kicking surface.
Quantum Shoes139,99 €Footbag coach in the app
Learn how to play hacky sack with 9-time World Footbag Champion Honza Weber, free in the SkillAddicts app.
- 200+ video trick tutorials
- Structured and guided learning path
- Community of footbag players
- Challenges, rankings, rewards
Hacky sack rules
Two ways to play - hack in a circle with others or solo freestyle footbag.
Cooperative, no winnerHacky sack circle
Stand in a circle and keep the bag off the ground together. When everyone has touched it before it drops, that is a hack.
- No hands, no arms. Feet, knees, chest, shoulders and head.
- Pass to other players.
- Pick up your own drops.
- Add tricks for more fun.
Tricks & combos, competitionsFreestyle footbag
Stalls, delays, revolutions and trick combos that take practice. This is the competitive side of the sport - freestyle is one of the events at the World Footbag Championships.
It improves your endurance, agility and flexibility.
Pro FootbagPick your hacky sack
Designed with pro players, made to last, built for freestyle tricks.
Hacky sack questions
The toe kick. Drop the bag, catch it on the flat top of your foot and kick it straight up. Bend your knee - do not kick with a straight leg.
Keep the kick under your own body rather than out in front. If you are chasing the bag, the kick was wrong.
- Learn the four basic kicks.
- Train them alternating feet - this is the part people skip.
- Move to stalls.
- Then delays, legovers and combos.
Count your touches and add one each session. Follow the ladder in the SkillAddicts app and it will not let you skip the step that breaks the next trick.
Your first kicks come in an hour. Keeping the bag up for ten touches takes a few days. Stalls take longer, because a stall is a different skill from a kick - you are catching the bag, not hitting it.
When every player in the circle has touched the bag before it hits the ground. If everyone touches it twice, that is a double hack.
There is no winner in circle play. The group is trying to keep the bag up together, which is why a circle opens up wherever someone puts a bag down.
Yes - that is freestyle footbag, and it is what official competitions, including the World Footbag Championships, are about.
Kicking in a circle is fun and good practice, but if you really want to get good you need to practise tricks on your own - hours, every day.
Hundreds, and more every year - players invent them and combine elements into new combos.
36 of them are listed on this page, in learning order. The rest are in the SkillAddicts app, built with 9-time World Footbag Champion Honza Weber.
Nothing. Hacky Sack was the brand name that popularised the footbag in the 1970s, and it stuck. Footbag is what the sport is called, and freestyle footbag is the solo, trick-based version.
Coordination, balance, reaction time and endurance - and it is one of the cheapest ways to stay active anywhere. No court, no net, no teammates required.
Learn other skills
Each with a pro coach, recommended gear and a free learning app.
Join the crew.
New drops, restocks and tricks. Nothing else.