Game: Group Bags

Type/Purpose: Ball/Throwable Objects, Community Builder, Outdoor

One of my new favorite lawn games is bags, where players toss bean bags onto a playing board, with a hole cut in the top. This game adapts it for groups.

Materials:

• 6 beanbags, 3 each of 2 different colors (swipe them from a bags game)
• 2 beach towels
• 2 hula hoops
• 12 cones

Set-Up:

• Set up one of the boards as follows:
  • Mark a rectangle with 6 cones, or 3 rows of 2.
  • At the far end of the rectangle, set a hula hoop
  • Repeat the process at the other end, so that you can stand in one hula hoop, and look down the range to the other hoop.
• Place the playing areas so that the entire playing space is roughly 50 feet across.
• Divide the group into 2 teams, and divide each team into 2 groups, with each group at a board.

Play:

• Play like a normal game of bags. If unfamiliar with the game, check out the official rules:http://www.bagtoss.com/how_to_play.htm:
  • This site will also give a diagram of how to set up the field.
• When play starts, 1 group should place a beanbag into their towel, and launch the bag to the other board.
  • The other team launches 1 of their bags, and teams rotate until each team has launched 3 bags.
• If a bag lands in the rectangle, it counts as 1 point, and if it lands in the hula hoop, it counts as 5.
  • At the end of the round, players score their bags, and the teams subtract the larger total from the lesser. The team with the higher score gets to “bank” the difference of points.
• The other 2 groups now take turns, launching their bags across.
• Play ends at 21 points.

Extra Ideas:

• With a larger group, have a tournament with brackets.
• Include this with a variety of other lawn games, and a cook-out.