All 163 outdoor basketball courts in Indianapolis.

Lockefield Gardens opened in 1938 as a segregated federal housing community for Black residents on the near west side of Indianapolis, and its playground court became known as the Dust Bowl because it was cinder and gravel rather than asphalt. For three decades it was the most important court in Indiana.

Oscar Robertson played here. So did the Crispus Attucks High School teams that won the state championship in 1955 and 1956, the first all-Black school in the country to win an open state title. George McGinnis and hundreds of Indianapolis players after them used the Dust Bowl as their proving ground, and the summer tournament it hosted became one of the most anticipated events in the city.

Most of Lockefield was demolished in the 1980s and the land became part of the IUPUI campus. The site was redeveloped with three basketball courts, and a historical marker went up at Blake and North streets in 2016. The courts at IUPUI's outdoor recreation facility sit on those old grounds.

Tarkington Park sits at 40th and Illinois, where Meridian-Kessler meets Butler-Tarkington, and it holds the deepest outdoor basketball setup in north-central Indianapolis. OpenStreetMap confirms four courts thirty metres from the pin, and the basketball comes up again and again in the park's reviews.

742 Google reviews at a 4.5 average. With four courts, the summer evening runs can absorb a crowd, which makes this the most reliable place on the north side to find a game.

Frederick Douglass Park opened in 1921 on East 25th Street as the park Indianapolis set aside for its Black residents, who were kept out of Garfield Park and the city's other recreation grounds. It was known for decades simply as the city's Black park.

The community built it into a centre of Black civic life: a pool in 1927, a golf course in 1928 that was for years the only one Black golfers in the city could use, and courts that served Martindale-Brightwood through the whole segregation era.

The park posts 481 reviews at a 4.3 average today, with the Frederick Douglass Family Center on site for indoor basketball.

Garfield Park is the oldest park in Indianapolis, dating to 1881, and the most-reviewed in our data at 3,392 reviews and a 4.5 average. OpenStreetMap confirms a court forty metres from the pin, among the park's conservatory, sunken gardens, and pagoda. A handsome south-side setting for a relaxed run.

The Washington Park Basketball Courts on the northeast side are a dedicated Google listing rated 4.6, the best score of any purpose-listed outdoor court in the city. The park has served the surrounding neighbourhoods for generations, and the courts are its most-used feature.

Watkins Park sits on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Street on the near north side, 368 reviews at a 4.4 average, with a court OpenStreetMap places sixty metres from the pin. A neighbourhood run a short drive from the old Lockefield grounds.

Christian Park on the east side posts 1,293 reviews at a 4.3 average, with two courts in OpenStreetMap a short walk from the pin. A large neighbourhood park with a pool and a steady summer run.

Brookside Park on the near east side holds four courts by our OpenStreetMap count, the deepest outdoor setup on this list, with 1,339 reviews at a 4.0 average and a community centre on site. With that many hoops you can almost always find one open.