Flag football is a less aggressive but can be just competitive as regular football. Flag football is played with five to seven players per team.  The captains are always to make sure that their team understands the rules.  Flag football has just as many rules as professional ball does. The field is divided into 20-yard zones and there are four zones.  Usually the boundaries are marked.  As for equipment, they only need to be dressed appropriately and have a belt with two flags on it.  Some players do where knee pads, but is optional.

The game will start after the toss.  Once it is determined, who will start on offense or defense the game will begin.  Players will line up like a regular game.  In fact, the only thing that is differently is the fact that the player will be "tackled" if the one of their flags are pulled off their belt. Instead of trying to get the player on the ground, you can get the player to stop by taking on of their flags that are located one on each hip of the player. 

Usually a game lasts less than an hour.  They have two halves that last twenty minutes each. However, like any type of sport, there are overtimes.  A foul, double foul, inadvertent whistle, or some other type of untimed down may cause overtime.  Both teams are warned when two minutes is left on the clock for each half.  In the last two minutes, the clock is usually stopped for anything and everything.

A ball is considered dead by the referee. When the ball is dead, the play is stopped.  This can happen under several circumstances.  A ball is dead when it goes out of bounds, when the runner is on the ground, after touchdowns, ball touches the ground, when the opposite team takes over the possession of the ball.  The ball may also become dead when the referee calls a foul.

The game is played mostly like a real football game is usually taken just as serious.  Flag football was developed mostly because it allowed the players the change to learn good sportsmanship, but not endanger them of getting hurt from a tackle.  Some people are hurt in the game and some do take it too far, but it was made to have good, clean fun on the football field.