A lawn game is an outdoor game that can be played on a lawn.[Rowell & Tukey 2012] Many types and variations of lawn games exist, which includes games that use balls and the throwing of objects as their primary means of gameplay. Some lawn games are historical in nature, having been devised and played in different forms for centuries. Some lawn games are traditionally played on a pitch (sports field). Some companies produce and Marketing lawn games for home use in a front yard or backyard.
History
The lawn game
bowls (lawn bowling) dates back to the
Middle Ages Periodization in England.
[ Sports and Games of the Renaissance – Andrew Leibs] Many local forms of round ball throwing and rolling games, such as
bocce in Italy and bowls in England became popular by
the Renaissance.
It has been suggested that bowls itself likely originated from
Ancient Rome, in a game played by Roman soldiers that involved rolling a ball "as close as possible to mark on the ground".
Lawn games
Ball games
Many types and varieties of
exist.
Several cultures have created forms of ball games.
For example, the
Maya peoples and
Aztec peoples played a ball game using a rubber ball.
The Yanoama people in northwest Brazil played a game using a ball made from the bladder of a monkey, in which the ball would be hit upwards by participants, who would play the game in a circle.
is typically played on a bocce court,
[ Sports Fields: A Manual for Design, Construction and Maintenance – Jim Puhalla, Jeff Krans, Mike Goatley] and involves rolling a ball on the ground in efforts to place it near a smaller ball.
[ Let's Play Bocce!] Bowls involves
rolling a ball toward a smaller target ball to make the rolled ball stop as close as possible to the target.
involves hitting wooden or plastic balls with a mallet through a series of hoops.
Croquet became popular in England in the 1860s. In the United States, the game is governed by the National Croquet Association, which coordinates annual tournaments.
Several variations of the game exist. Pétanque is a form of
bowls[ Weird Sports and Wacky Games around the World: From Buzkashi to Zorbing – Victoria Williams Ph.D.] and
boules where the goal is to throw hollow metal balls as close as possible to a small wooden ball called a
cochonnet (literally "piglet") or jack,
[The cochonnet is also sometimes called a bouchon (literally "little ball", from the Occitan language bochon) or le petit ("the small one").] while standing inside a circle with both feet on the ground. Pétanque has been described as "the world's most played form of bowls".
is a game played in the United States that involves elements of golf.
[Rowell & Tukey 2012, pp. 14–16] Golf balls
or whiffle balls may be used, and targets may include lawn furniture, buckets and tree branches, among others.
is a game that is a cross between table shuffleboard and
golf. Players take turns putting golf balls into scoring zones printed on a putting green.
[ Sholf featured on Good Morning Arizona]
File:Bocce players scoring.jpg|Bocce players tallying the score of a match
File:Gavarni - Le joueur de boules 1858.jpg|An engraving by Paul Gavarni depicting a Boules player, 1858
File:Croquetplayers.jpg|Croquet being played at a croquet club in Edinburgh, Scotland
File:Artificial Putting Green.JPG|A Backyard golf putting green created using artificial grass
File:Dscn0054-boules-in-action 600x800.jpg|Pétanque players on the beach in Nice, France
File:SholfTailgate2.jpg|People playing Sholf
Throwing games
Throwing games involve throwing various objects as the primary form of gameplay.
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Horseshoes involves players throwing horseshoes at stakes in the ground, with the goal of the horseshoe becoming wrapped around the stake (known as a "ringer") or the nearest to the stake compared to the others.
[ Horseshoes – Steve Boga]
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Washer pitching (also referred to as washers, washer toss, huachas, washoes and Texas horseshoes
[ Reminiscing the Red Dirt Roads: Growing up in East Texas – Neal Murphy]) involves players in teams tossing washers toward a hole or box. Many variations of the game exist,[ and it has been described as similar to horseshoes.
]
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Lawn darts involves throwing large darts at targets that are placed on the ground. Lawn darts have been subjected to product recalls at times, due to children dying from head wounds from the darts or otherwise becoming injured by them.
[ Lawn darts: 1988 – Most notorious recalls ever – CNNMoney] In the United States in 1988, the Consumer Product Safety Commission banned the sale of lawn darts.[ Top 5 product recalls in US history – Jarts (lawn darts) – CSMonitor.com] They were also banned in Canada in 1989.
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Ladder Toss
[Rowell & Tukey 2012, p. 134] involves throwing stringed balls at racks with three rungs, with points earned when the stringed balls are wrapped around a rung.
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Cornhole, also called bean bag,
[ – Go outside and play] is a simple lawn game involving throwing bags of corn[ or beanbags at an inclined board that has a hole in it. Points are earned for bags going through the hole or remaining on the board.][ The Browns Fan's Tailgating Guide – Peter Chakerian]
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KanJam originated as a game called "Trash Can Frisbee", whereby a participant attempts to slam or slap a thrown flying disc into a garbage can.
[ 'Trash Can Frisbee' – a local game – goes global as KanJam | WBFO] The game evolved into KanJam, which also involves slamming the disc into a can, along with points earned for the thrown disc hitting the can.
File:Donnie at horseshoes.jpg|A person playing horseshoes
File:Washers player.png|A player tosses a washer during a washer pitching tournament in Indiana
File:Lawndartsthrow.jpg|A man throwing lawn darts
File:Ladder Golf Pati rzuca.JPG|People playing ladder toss
Image:Cornhole.jpg|A cornhole board
File:KanJam2.jpg|People playing KanJam
See also
Bibliography
Further reading
