CNN)It's a variation on the sort of informal street basketball played all over the world -- and now 3x3 is one of the star attractions at the first-ever European Games in Baku, Azerbaijan.
But what, exactly, does the game involve?
As its name suggests, it's a pared-down version of the traditional five-a-side version, needing just three players on each team.
That pared-down nature extends to the playing space, half the size of the court required for a full game and using only one hoop rather than two.
The popularity of 3x3 has rocketed since the International Basketball Federation (FIBA) chose it as an alternative form of the game to be played at the 2010 Youth Olympics in Singapore.
Where it started
Its large-scale roots, though, go back further than that: American organization
Hoop It Up
organized a major competition back in 1989, while similar events were held in the U.S. during the early 1990s.
After making the decision to promote 3x3 for Singapore, officials worked on the compilation of a set of rules that could be applied just as well in international competition as they could in pickup street games.
The result is a sport that just won't stop growing -- FIBA estimates that around 250 million people around the world enjoy 3x3, with more and more continuing to join a sprawling network of organizers, leagues and players.
Azerbaijani athlete Amil Hamzayev, whose achievements in 3x3 include winning the FIBA European Championship for Small Countries twice, is one of those players.
The 24-year old
tells the official Baku 2015 website
that one of the biggest challenges of playing 3x3 is the effect of weather conditions -- a hazard unknown, of course, to players of the indoor game.
"I'm excited to represent my country in front of our national crowd," Hamzayev -- who names American legend Michael Jordan as his favorite basketball star -- says.