Randy Rogers of West Des Moines says ultimate Frisbee is a pretty simple game.

“If you look at the sport, you need eight cones and a disc,” he said.

But to be successful in the Iowa Games ultimate Frisbee tournament, you’ll need a little more, said Steve Postma of Urbandale, captain of the Urbandale Ultimate Frisbee Club team.

“We knew how to play ultimate Frisbee; we didn’t know how to play an ultimate Frisbee game,” he said.

Saturday marked the first large-scale competition his club had entered. The Urbandale team finished seventh.

“Athletically we’re on one of the top levels,” he said. “It’s been the tactics and the throws that have beaten us.”

Rogers, the Iowa Games commissioner for the sport, said he is excited about the growth in participation in the sport’s second year on the Iowa Games schedule.

Nine teams took part Saturday, compared to seven in 2002. But three teams from that competition, Rogers said, went to Madison, Wis. for a tournament instead participating in the Iowa Games, meaning that interest had almost doubled.

“We have the potential of actually making this a pretty big tournament,” he said.

Members of the summer ultimate Frisbee club in Des Moines appreciate the chance to take on new challenges by playing against unfamiliar teams, Rogers said.

“That’s how you learn more about the sport,” he said. “You can actually play to win. It’s healthy competition.”

Players showed off throws from all angles and sprinted after long passes throughout the day.

The play became a little more intense around each goal line, where jumbles of players would jump for a pass and crash down — sometimes with and sometimes without the valuable Frisbee disc.

The Des Moines team finished third by using a variety of game-specific skills gathered through experience, said Matt Royal, a West Des Moines native who attends the University of Kansas.

“We’ve got a lot of older players and not a lot of height,” he said.

A team composed mainly of ISU students, the Ames Fern Betterment Society, won the tournament.