Outdoor games: things to do while the barbecue is grilling

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

Picnics are wonderful: sun, friendly company. But things can be even better if you think about your leisure time. These 7 games will keep you entertained in the fresh air.

Outside the city, you can disconnect the phone and the brain from the Internet, calm down, find harmony. But what to do at a picnic if you have already eaten and taken pictures? The options are like mosquitoes. In the spring, for example, you can collect birch sap and fish, and in the summer you can look for berries and swim. If you are having a romantic picnic for two, you can fly a kite, read aloud to each other, or arrange an impromptu open-air cinema.

But for large companies, more active activities are needed in order to run, and compete, and have fun. Here are some options.

Ultimate

This is a team sport with a flying disc - frisbee. For the first time, the Ultimate Competition took place in 1968 and has been held regularly since then. Ultimate was brought to Russia by Canadian schoolchildren who came to St. Petersburg in 1989 on an exchange. Now the Ultimate has its own and thousands of fans, many cities have their own teams.

Purpose of the game: Earn points by passing the disc to your teammates.

Number of players: two teams of 5-7 people.

Playground size: 100m x 37m (center 64 x 37m plus two 18m goalscoring areas at the edges).

Equipment: frisbee.

Rules of the game

Players line up along their zones. The disc is played by the team that wins the toss. Opponents must either intercept the Frisbee in the air, or wait until it touches the ground.

The player holding the disc cannot run with it. You can make a pass within 10 seconds, while you must not take your supporting leg off the ground. The task of the opponents is to prevent an accurate pass and intercept the frisbee. Ultimate has no referees: everything is based on mutual respect of the players. Therefore, when selecting, you must not touch the owner of the disc.

To earn a point, you need to pass the disc to your player who is in the opponent's goal zone.

The subtleties of playing Ultimate are shown in the following story.

Ultimate is a very dynamic game with no age or gender restrictions. Ideal for outdoor recreation with a big noisy company. All you need are frisbees and markers to mark the boundaries of the playing and goal zones. If there is little space, then the size of the site can be reduced.

Country squash

Squash is similar to tennis, except that the ball is not thrown over the net with the racket, but rather hitting the walls. Usually squash is played on a special court surrounded by four walls, but in the country you can get by with just one vertical plane.

Purpose of the game: Win the most games.

Number of players: 2 or 4.

Playground size: any.

Equipment: rackets and squash ball.

Rules of the game

Find a level wall with no windows or doors that you can throw the ball into. This could be the wall of your house (not your neighbor's!) Or your garage. You can play one on one or two on two.

The game consists of draws. The one who dropped the ball lost. Whoever wins the rally gets a point. The player with 11 points wins the game. When the score is 10:10, the game continues until the gap is two points. How many games you play is up to you.

You should not treat country squash as a serious competition. It's just a fun way to warm up and compete with your friends in between meals.

Petanque

This is an old game, known in Ancient Rome and Ancient Greece. In those days, they threw round stones, thereby practicing accuracy. In the Middle Ages, the authorities put a taboo on petanque: fencing and archery were considered more useful activities. But in spite of everything, the game has survived to this day and is very popular in Europe, especially in France.

Purpose of the game: score 13 points.

Number of players: two teams, each with no more than 3 people.

Playground size: 15 × 4 m.

Equipment: wooden ball with a diameter of 3 cm (coxonet), 12 metal balls with a diameter of 7–8 cm.

Rules of the game

The game uses no more than 12 metal balls. If a team consists of one or two players, then each of them plays with three balls. If teams have three players, then they have two balls at their disposal. Team balls must be visually distinct.

The draw determines which team starts the game. She draws a circle with a diameter of 30–50 cm on the platform and throws a wooden ball - cossacks. After that, the players stand in a circle and throw their balls, trying to place them as close to the cost as possible. You can touch and knock down the balls of your opponents, as well as change the position of the cochonet, but you cannot go beyond the border of the circle.

When all the balls are thrown, the score is calculated. The team whose ball is closer to the cochonet wins. But to find out how many points the winners have earned, you need to count how many balls of the victors are in the radius bounded by the ball of the losing team closest to the cost. How many balls are in the radius - how many points the team earned in this round. The game goes up to 13 points.

As soon as you master the rules (you can get acquainted with them on the Russian Federation of petanque or in the video:,), you will understand how addicting petanque is. It has both a sports and an intellectual component. It is necessary not only to accurately throw rather heavy balls, but also to build the tactics of the game.

Unusual volleyball

The ball in nature is irreplaceable. If you want - chasing, if you want - chase football, but if you want - play dodgeball or volleyball. The rules of these games are familiar from childhood. What if you modify them and play volleyball … without hands?

Purpose of the game: score 15 points.

Number of players: two teams of 6 people.

Playground size: any.

Equipment: volleyball net and ball.

Rules of the game

The essence is the same as in regular volleyball and pioneerball: to throw the ball over the net. If he fell in the territory of opponents, your team earned a point. The only difference is to take the ball, put blocks, you can pass with your head, shoulder, legs, whatever, but not with your hands. Hands can only introduce the ball into the game. The game is played up to 15 points.

Perhaps this volleyball is not as sporty as the classic one, but it is very fun. Ask someone who is not involved in it to take a picture of the game: you will laugh heartily at the pictures later.

Small towns

This is a Russian sports game with a two-century history. Lev Tolstoy, Fyodor Chaliapin, Maxim Gorky, Vladimir Lenin and other eminent persons played in the towns with pleasure.

In the twentieth century, the game was wildly popular: there were sports clubs in the towns, all-Union competitions were held. In the 21st century, this fun was almost forgotten. Representatives of the YAYA generation prefer bowling to towns, but maybe they just haven't tried it?

Purpose of the game: Knock out pieces with the fewest throws.

Number of players: any.

Playground size: city - 2 × 2 m; the farthest distance from the place of the throws (end) is 13 m, the near (half-way) is 6, 5 m.

Equipment: city ruffles and bits.

Rules of the game

The towns use 15 figures: "cannon", "fork", "star" and so on. The rules for constructing figures and their sequence are described.

You can play either one-on-one or in teams (at least five people in each). The maximum task for the player is to knock a piece out of the city (and suburb) with the minimum number of throws of the bat. The first throw is made from a knight. If it was not possible to knock out the figure with one blow, then they throw it again, already from the half-height.

Towns are a democratic game. You can play on any flat surface: asphalt, ground, lawn. The markings can be done with chalk or spray paint. In this case, the size of the site can be reduced, and the rules can be simplified. For example, you can skip the suburb or just use the simplest shapes.

Treasure hunters

This game can be classified as intellectual. Both players and organizers need to use their brains. Especially to the organizers. If you take on this mission on yourself, then you need:

1. Come up with what will be the treasure (for example, a keg of beer).
2. Decide where to hide it (it's more interesting to play in the forest).
3. Come up with clues and draw a map.

Purpose of the game: find the treasure.

Number of players: any.

Playground size: any.

Equipment: map, treasure, tips, healthy adventurism.

Rules of the game

The rules depend on your imagination. Here are just a few tips.

1. Cut the card into several pieces. To find the treasure, you will first need to collect the entire map.
2. Divide into two teams: one - treasure hunters, the second - organizers. The latter should meet treasure hunters at intermediate points and give out parts of the map.
3. Come up with assignments. Giving a card just like that is boring. Let the treasure hunters fight for every treasured scrap.
4. Hide the treasure better. For example, bury it in the ground or hang it on a tree. The more difficult it is for players to get a prize, the more valuable it will be for them.

Lapta

This is an old team game with a ball and a bat, which the writer Alexander Kuprin called one of the most interesting and useful.

In a bast shoe, you need resourcefulness, deep breathing, loyalty to your party, attentiveness, resourcefulness, fast running, a good eye, the firmness of a blow of the hand and the eternal confidence that you will not be defeated. There is no place for cowards and lazy people in this game.

Alexander Kuprin

Many readers will probably remember the times when rounders were played in the courtyards and a picket was used as a bat. Nowadays it is played mainly in schools. But going out into nature is a great reason to shake off the old days.

Purpose of the game: score the most points.

Number of players: two teams of 4 or more players.

Playground size: length - 40–55 m, width - 25–40 m.

Equipment: tennis balls, bat 70-110 cm long.

Rules of the game

There are many rules and game nuances. You can choose the charter that you are used to from childhood or that you like best. The following are just general instructions.

The platform for rounders is divided into several zones:

1. Town. From there, the feed comes.
2. House, or con. You need to run there.
3. The playing field between them. The players are salat there.

The player of the serving team must knock the ball into the playing field and, putting down the bat, run to the house and back. At the same time, he must dodge the ball and observe the following rules:

1. Do not touch the ball.
2. You can't run out of the side lines.
3. You cannot return to the city without visiting the house.
4. You cannot return to the house if you have already run out of it.

A player who successfully returns to the city earns one point for his team and the right to the next move. If a player is salted, the teams are swapped.

The players of the driving team are in the playing area during the throw. Their task is to catch the ball on the fly (and in this case, throw it back into the city as quickly as possible) or pick it up from the ground and throw it at a running player. You cannot move around the playing field with the ball in your hands (in some variations of the game, you can and even need to), you need to pass from the spot.

The team with the most points wins.

What do you do with friends and family at a picnic? Replenish your collection of ideas in the comments.