"We now use tennis balls," said Van resident Ercan Tubtemur. "Our village is the only settlement in the area which plays now, but we learned it from our grandparents."

The game's rules are similar to baseball, but there is no winner or loser, Tubtemur says. "There's no winning or losing. You play it for fun."

The game consists of a pitcher, a batter, and defensive positions, similar to baseball, but the defensive positions try to tackle the batter as they run the bases to prevent them from scoring. 

"It's nice to play with a view of the Van Lake. Of course, we slip and fall sometimes, but it's worth the risk," says player Mehmet Tubdemir.