Fun Campsite Games and Activities

Every year during our annual camping and fishing trip, my buddies and I bring along a few lawn games to fill up our idle time. While these games were intended to help pass time when the fish weren’t biting, they have evolved into a tradition that is looked forward to as much as the trip itself. The following is a collection of some of our favorite competitive campsite games with modified rules that make playing them in a campground even more challenging and fun.

The Game of Bocce:

Bocce is a game of skill that is best described as a combination between bowling and horseshoes. In the version my friends and I play, a player is randomly picked to throw the target ball (sometimes called the pallino or jack) across the ground approximately 25′ to 75′ away. The same player will then attempt to roll his bocce ball as close to the “jack” as possible. Once the first player has gone the remaining player(s) attempt to roll their bocce balls as close to the jack as they can. The team having the closest bocce ball to the jack gets one point for each ball that is within the other team’s closest ball.

Scoring: In the above “frame”, team blue has three of its four bocce balls closer to the “jack” than the red team’s closest ball. Team blue is awarded 1 point for each ball scoring a total of 3 points.

Bocce does not require flat ground to play; in fact, the more undulations and obstacles in your campground, the more challenging the game becomes.

A set of bocce balls is fairly inexpensive and easy to buy online. One thing to keep in mind is bocce sets are heavy; leave your bocce set at home if your campsite requires you walking more than a half mile or to get to it!

For more information on the game of bocce check out The Joy of Bocce - 2nd Edition or log on to www.bocce.org.

The Game of Horseshoes

Another excellent game for your campsite is the game of horseshoes. A set of horseshoes is lighter and easier to pack than a set of bocce balls, although you still wouldn’t want to bring them along if the location of your campsite required you to walk more than a few miles.

Almost everyone understands the basic rules to horseshoes and you always have the option of adapting them to suit your group. When scoring, my buddies and I usually award 3 points for a “ringer”, 2 points if the shoe is leaning on the stake, and 1 point if the shoe is thrown within one horseshoe length of the stake. We usually play to games of 15 or 21 depending on how “dialed in” we get.

Disc Golf

Without question, one of the fastest growing sports across the country is the game of disc golf.  Did you know that there are some athletes who make a comfortable living playing professional disc golf?  Like the traditional game of golf, disc golf is played on 18 hole “courses”. The objective is to throw a disc from the tee box area into a metal basket (the hole) in the least number of “shots”.  The design of each hole is based on the terrain and can vary in length from 100 feet to 600 feet +. Some campgrounds have even begun constructing disc golf courses on their properties to attract new business.

While the chances of your campground having an official disc golf course is slim, adapting the game so that it can be played at your campsite is easy providing there is a good amount of open space.  Golfing discs are cheap and easy to buy online. Instead of bringing along heavy metal baskets, my buddies and I simply designate a tree, post, or other object as the hole and then mark off a few tee boxes.  The more creative you get with your hole designs, the more fun you and your opponents will have!

For more information on disc golf check out the book Disc Golf: All You Need to Know About the Game You Want to Play or visit the Professional Disc Golf Association.

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