Bladderball was a game traditionally played by students of Yale University, between 1954 and 1982, until being banned by the administration. Revival games were played in 2009 and 2011.

Bladderball was conceived by Yale student Philip Zeidman, owner of a six foot leather exercise ball, as a preliminary event before the Yale-Dartmouth game in 1954, according to Yale bladderball historian Sarah Hammond. Hammond traces the name "bladderball" back to a rugby-like game played by Yale students on the New Haven Green in the first half of the 19th century, featuring an inflated animal bladder.

Once each year, at 11 a.m. the Saturday before the Yale-Dartmouth game, the inflatable six foot ball was rolled through Yale's Phelps Gate onto Old Campus, where a throng of Yale students waited. At the sound of a whistle, teams from each residential college and various extracurricular organizations would fight for possession of the ball. Teams were allowed to use any means at their disposal to seize control. In 1975, the Jonathan Edwards College team attempted to capture the ball using a meat hook which predictably popped the ball, inciting enraged chants of "J.E. sucks!" from the other participants. The phrase "J.E. Sux" remains the unofficial motto of Jonathan Edwards College to this day.