There’s nothing like enjoying a nice autumn afternoon in your backyard with family and friends. If you’re picturing fancy lawns with croquet mallets and wickets, that’s certainly an option, but yard games have come a long way over the last few years. It’s not all croquet, horseshoes, and bocce anymore. Nowadays, there are a ton of fun games that have been adapted — either scaled up or scaled down — for fun in the backyard.
Bump, Set, Spike
Spikeball is a newer game that feels a lot like a cross between traditional volleyball and the old four-square games we used to play in primary school. Two teams play, surrounding a small, bungee net that springs the ball back into the air. The aim is for each team to have three touches — ideally a bump, set, and spike — to send the ball into the net, where it rebounds and the opposing team has a chance to return. And, of course, there’s the immensely popular corn hole, where players attempt to loft beanbags into a ramp with a small circle set near the top end. Corn hole is popular enough that competitive games have begun airing on cable sports TV networks. Want to increase the difficulty? Try Kan Jam, where teams of two players try to toss a flying disc into a canister while an opposing team member defends the can.
That’s a Wrap
Ladder toss is an old game that feels new. Players throw bolos at a three-tiered ladder, trying to wrap the bolos around one of the ladder’s horizontal bars. It’s one of those games that looks easy but turns out to be a little more difficult than anyone realizes. The crossbars have different points assigned to them, and players can increase the difficulty by attempting a different bar or by increasing the distance from which they throw. Another fun backyard game is Giant Jenga, where wooden blocks are stacked in a column, and players remove the blocks and replace them at the top of the column. As the column becomes more unstable, it’s a race to see who brings the whole thing down.
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Be Safe
As always, the point of backyard fun is to have a great time, but remember to be safe about it as well! Follow the instructions on the games and make sure everyone enjoys themselves!
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