The game invented by Boettcher is played on enclosed racquetball courts and features a hoop at one end that can be set at anywhere from five to 10 feet to offer slam dunk opportunities to a variety of players.

"You don't have to be a good basketball player to play and you can dunk it," said the 31-year-old Mount Rainier High School graduate. "Normally people can't enjoy in their leisure life what the pros do in slam dunking it. I got the idea playing when I was a kid in a guy's car port where the hoop was four feet high and we dunked the ball."

Boettcher started putting his invention into action two years ago and received the patent. The sport made its public debut at Sportsworld Lanes on Pacific Highway South in Kent between Federal Way and Des Moines Friday. It opens at the Highline Athletic Club starting Monday, Sept. 15.

Dan Haupt and Ross Simmons, Boettcher's co- workers at Boeing, were among those who tried it for. the first time Friday. "It's a lot faster than basketball coming off the walls and all that," Haupt said. "It's a good workout and I think it's great. It gets your heart going."

"It gets you sweating, man," agreed Simmons. "It's a cardiovascular workout. It's nonstop pretty much."

The only stops in a game are after a basket, when the opposing team takes the ball and bounces it off the back wall to put it back into play.

"You can't really make it slow," Boettcher said. "It's continuous running." Baskets are worth one point, or two if the player is fouled in the act of shooting, and the 2-on-2 teams play to 20 points to complete a game. A team must win two of three games to take a contest.

Most of the rules are the same as basketball, with the major exception being that the walls are in play and can be used to bounce the ball to a teammate or for a shot.

"You can do passes off the walls and you can do double bank shots," Boettcher said. "You can use the back wall, too, and even the ceiling is in play. We're still learning things all the time about this game. The ball bounces a lot and takes a lot of weird bounces."

"You get all the angles and everything," said Boettcher's wife, Heidi, who is also a Mount Rainier graduate. Those who are familiar with racquetball can have some familiarity with those angles, since Slam Box is set up on refurbished courts.

"We're not taking a space up," said Heidi Boettcher. "Just taking the space and recycling it." Robert Boettcher sets up the game for clubs and receives 40 percent of the money paid. "That's pretty good," he said. "You're sitting at home making 40 percent."

The cost to play Slam Box is $20 per hour for two 2-on-2 teams, or $5 per player per hour. By comparison, the cost to play racquetball at Sportsworld is $7 per hour.

Official Slam Box shirts and athletic apparel are also offered. "Street ball is popular, and here you can bring it inside out of the rain an go play," pointed out Boettcher.