From croquet to horseshoe, people have been enjoying outdoor games since long before The Bay Club was founded in 1977. However, these days, everyone spends far too much time playing games on their tablets, computers, and smartphones. That’s why we’re encouraging families to put down their screens and return to a simpler time. Every weekend during the summer months, our team is pulling out popular lawn games for members to enjoy. Game night—or afternoon—doubles as family bonding time, so why not grab the kids and see who can stack the giant Jenga blocks the highest? Wondering what other games you’ll find on the lawns of your Bay Club? We share five fantastic options below.
Giant Connect 4
The classic tabletop game turns into crazy fun when playing on a life-size version. Two players take varying turns dropping a colored disc into a grid of seven columns and six rows. The first person to form a straight line consisting of four of one’s discs—be it horizontal, vertical, or diagonal—wins. The first player often wins, so be sure to flip a coin or play Rock, Paper, Scissors to decide who gets the coveted first move. Connect 4 is an easy game that is suitable for practically all ages.
Cornhole
In the past 30 years, cornhole—the bean bag toss game—has become wildly popular popping up at breweries, backyards, and social events like tailgates, across the nation. Players take turns throwing bean bags at a raised platform with a hole in the center. The platforms are placed 27 feet apart, but you might find ours placed at shorter distances so the whole family can play! Cornhole is played with either singles or doubles. When doubles play, four people split into two teams. One member pitches the bag from one platform and the other member pitches from the other platform. Pitchers want to get the bag through the hole—this scores three points. A bag that lands on the board is worth one point. The team or person who reaches 21 points first wins.
Ladder Golf
Ladder Golf is a relatively new lawn game that was patented in 2005. The game is played with two to six players; if six people are playing there will be three teams of two. Each player or team has three bolas, a 13-inch nylon rope with a golf ball attached to each end. The three-rung ladder is placed at least five paces from where the players stand. Taking turns, each player tosses their three bolas attempting to get each bola on a ladder step. After all the players have tossed their bolas, points are tallied. Any bolas on the top step receive three points, bolas on the middle step are worth two points, and those that land on the bottom step receive one. If a player gets all three bolas hanging from the same step or on all three steps, they are rewarded an extra point. If players get all three bola on the top three-point step, they get 10 points. Any bolas that are knocked off the ladder or that land on the ground receive no points. The team that reaches an exact 21 points first wins.
Yardzee
Yardzee is an oversized outdoor version of the classic tabletop game, Yahtzee. Dice are placed into a bucket before being tossed onto the lawn. Each player is given a laminated scorecard and a dry-erase marker. The objective of the game is to score different combinations of dice. Players take turns rolling five dice and filling out their scorecard. Players are looking for like dice—all aces, all twos, all threes, and so on and so forth with a varying number of points depending on what is rolled. Players also look for poker-themed categories like Full House or Four of a Kind. The highest amount of points one can win in a single role is 50 for a Yahtzee, or five dice that are the same. After thirteen rounds (in which each player takes a turn rolling the dice and filling out their scorecard), the game is over. Players tally the points on their card and the one who scores the most points wins.
Giant Jenga
Like Giant Connect 4 and Yardzee, Giant Jenga is an oversized version of the traditional tabletop game that is meant to be played outdoors. The game consists of 54 hardwood blocks that are stacked in levels of three. Once the tower is built, players take turns carefully pulling a single block from the stack and adding it to the top of the tower. The game ends when the tower falls. The player who was moving the block when the tower toppled is the loser. It’s a simple game, but it can be incredibly exciting—and stressful!—as the tower grows higher and higher. Especially when playing outdoors—sometimes a stool or boost is needed to stack the blocks on the highest level.
Ready to get your game on? Discover everything we have to offer this season and live summer weekend happy. Games vary by Bay Club location.