Finally, it’s springtime, and if you’re like us you’ll be spending a lot more time outside on your deck, patio, or screened porch. One of our favorite things to do outside when we get together with friends is to play yard games, so we at Archadeck of Central South Carolina decided to share our favorite yard games with you!
1) BOCCE BALL: Starting with one of the older yard games, bocce ball is a great game for several people to play. You just need two teams of one, two, three, or four people. A randomly chosen team throws the smaller ball (otherwise known as a jack) down the playing area. The playing area by regulation is supposed to be 90 ft. long, but use whatever you’ve got. The side that threw the jack gets to bowl first, then the other team bowls, with the goal to get the ball closest to the jack. From then on, the team that does not have the ball closest to the jack takes a turn, until both sides are out of balls. When all 8 balls are thrown (4 by each team), the team with a ball closest to the jack gets a point for every ball that is closer than the other team’s closest ball. That ends one frame, and typically games are played until one team scores 7-13 points.
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2) HORSESHOES: Horseshoes is a game played between two people, with two horseshoes and two stakes that are placed forty feet away from each other, each in a small sandbox. A coin toss decides who will go first, then that person will throw two horseshoes at their opponent’s stake, and then the opponent will throw their two horseshoes at the starting person’s stake. In backyard play, it is most common to play to 15 or 21 points. To be considered for a point, a shoe must lie within six inches of the stake. If it is within that six-inch area, a shoe will get one point, and if it is wrapped around the stake so that you could draw a straight line between the two ends of the shoe, it is worth three points.
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3) CORNHOLE: Cornhole is a game played with two specifically designed boxes, where the innermost part of the box is 27 ft. away from the other so that there is a 33 ft. distance between the holes. It requires four players, two teams of two. A player from team A and one from team B will stand by each box, and take turns throwing four bags, where the goal is to land them on the board and through the hole. If a bag makes it through the hole by the end of the inning, it is worth three points. If it just lands on the box, it is worth one point. If a bag touches the ground at any point, it is out of play. At the end of the inning, the points are added up and the team that scored the most subtracts the points of the other team. So, if team A had one in the hole and two on the board, and Team B had three on the board, team A would score 5 points and team B would score 2, meaning that at the end of the inning, team A would have 3 points. The first team to 21 wins!
What are your favorite yard games? We’d love it if you’d share them with us.
