If that's not enough buzz, it's now an Olympic sport and is set to be on the programme for the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Games.
"I think that sevens, once the international community catches it on a stage like the Olympics, it will be like the ice hockey of the Winter Games," said United States coach Al Caravelli, who led his team to a bronze medal on Sunday at the Pan American Games in Guadalajara, Mexico.
Canada ended up winning the inaugural gold medal, beating Argentina 26-24 in the final event of the games. The Americans defeated Uruguay 26-12 for bronze.
Rugby sevens won a spot in the Olympics two years ago. Since then, the International Rugby Board has stepped up its promotion of the game, which consists of seven players, two seven-minute halves and a two-minute break in between. It's played on a full-size rugby field, and a match that's tied after regulation goes to sudden-death overtime.
The game is so quick that 24 games were packed into two days at the Pan American Games, the sport's first inclusion in the regional event.
"I mean, it's made for broadcasting on TV," Caravelli said.
Beth Coalter, the IRB's manager for rugby sevens, said it might be almost too quick for television. She recalled a recent conversation in New York with officials of the American television broadcaster NBC.
"They can't keep up with the game because it's so fast," she said. "They want to be able to get more breaks in there, but that's not what the game's about. It's fast and furious and it's really fun."
Caravelli and Coalter said interest in the sport has grown rapidly since it's Olympic inclusion. The next World Cup will be held in 2013 in Moscow, which is reported to be spending heavily to promote it. Caravelli said the Chinese have introduced the sport into schools.
The sport runs an annual Sevens World Series, a six-month season with the world's top teams playing in eight different countries from November to May.
This season the tour goes to Australia, United Arab Emirates, South Africa, New Zealand, United States, Hong Kong, Japan and Britain with stops in Scotland and England. Argentina will be added in 2012-13.
Rugby sevens is a bit like beach volleyball, an attractive and simplified version of the original game, which is sure to attract young fans but might also detract from the 15-man game.
"I think it's a less sophisticated game than the full game, but much easier to understand," said Rodrigo Becker, a 20-year-old Mexican who came to watch his cousin, Jorge Bermudez, play for Mexico's national team.
"There's a lot of speed and everyone likes to see the hitting. I can't really say I am a fan, but I could be convinced," Becker said.
At least one fan at the sevens venue wandered around wearing a T-shirt that read: "I'm the 1 percent in Mexico who follows rugby."
"Most Mexicans are not going to take to it," Bermudez added.
Coalter said she recognizes that sevens could steal a some limelight from the 15-man game.
"It will be interesting to see after 2016 what effect the Olympics has, if sevens becomes an elite sport as opposed to the 15 game," Coalter said. "I would hate to think the 15 game would lose out. I don't think it will. I think it's going to attract more players."
