At Carson Beach, in Boston, two beachgoers toss tethered golf balls in a game of Ladderball. The sky is clear, and they’re both wearing swimsuits. Photo: Colm O’Molloy for The Boston Globe/Getty Images

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It’s hot yard game summer

Get in, loser, we’re going to a cookout — and we’re not playing bags!

By Charlie Hall, Zoë Hannah, and Chris Plante
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Whether you’re out in the backyard grillin’ brats, at the local park flippin’ burgers, or floatin’ on a pontoon boat with a lovely vintage from Michigan’s wine country, there’s nothing quite like a good yard game. So who wants to play another round of bags? I mean... I do. That sounds great, actually.

But when I’m done playing bags, and before we wander off to wherever Dale saw that one dilapidated old Frisbee golf course, I’d like to try some new yard games. So I asked around the Polygon Slack for recommendations. Here’s what came back.

Ladderball

Want to enjoy an easy tossing game with your friends and family that doesn’t require good aim? I got you. Ladderball is a simple and silly tossing game, but rather than individual balls or bean bags, it’s two balls connected with about six inches of rope between them. As such, when you toss the ball, it cartwheels through the air in a semi-unpredictable way (at least that’s what happens when I throw it, because I am terrible at throwing things in the direction I want to throw them).

To play the game, you set up the vertical ladders several feet apart, then split into two teams. My family usually plays one-on-one for fast games that allow plenty of time for snacks between rounds. One person from each team stands by one ladder as the teams alternate tossing their three balls at the other ladder, aiming for the highest rung. The string between the balls often wraps around one rung, but the game gets fun when you realize how easy it is to knock your pieces (or your opponent’s pieces) off the rungs. When that round is over, switch to the other ladder.

The top rung is worth three points, the middle is worth two, and the bottom is worth one. Most people play ladderball by seeing who can get to 10 points fastest. In addition to family-friendly fun, I also love this game because the balls are relatively soft, so it’s easy to play barefoot by the pool without worrying about getting lobbed. It’s also drunk-people-friendly, if that’s your thing. —Zoë Hannah

Ladderball set, steel frame

  • $65
  • $70
  • 8% off

Prices taken at time of publishing.

Kubb

A blong person in a blue hat and a red vest stands over a setup for Kubb. The wooden blocks are bound in blue tape.
Irina Kohoutkova from the Czech Republic knocks over the wooden blocks in a preliminary round match at the European Kubb Championships in Bürgerpark, 2022.
Photo: Jens Büttner and dpa/Getty Images

Kubb’s nickname, “Viking chess,” doubles as an elevator pitch. The lawn game — in which players stand on opposing sides of a rectangle, hurling batons at wooden pylons — mixes the strategy (if not quite the depth) of its heady board game peers with the Scandinavian pleasure of smashing hard things together. As with many great yard games, the rules are tedious to explain, yet easy to grok by simply watching folks play.

With that in mind, think of kicking off a match of kubb like starting a dance party: The toughest part is getting the first person to join in. But once a couple of people start playing, expect friends and neighbors to ask for their turn to toss one stick at another one. As these newcomers munch on snacks and sink into the game, they’ll discover tactics, like where to position skulls on the field. Or whether to gamble on long shots or take easier short-distance targets. Matches can last minutes or hours, with power shifting within a few tosses of the baton.

There’s one other detail that helps kubb earn its Viking chess shorthand. It can be played entirely with one hand, perfect for those adults who enjoy a game best when carrying some mead. —Chris Plante

Kubb

  • $45

Prices taken at time of publishing.

Roundnet, aka Spikeball

2022 Wimbledon Preview - Tuesday June 21st - All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club
Emma Raducanu playing a game of Spikeball during a practice session ahead of the 2022 Wimbledon Championship.
Photo: Adam Davy and PA Images/Getty Images

While the history of some beloved yard games goes back hundreds if not thousands of years, there’s one that sprang to life much more recently — circa 1989, in fact. I’m not talking about pickleball. In fact, I’m never talking about pickleball. Instead, I’m talking about Spikeball, also known as Roundnet.

Jeff Knurek is credited with creating Roundnet in 1989. In it, players gather near a round, trampoline-style net and spike a ball back and forth between two teams. The game is usually played 2v2 or 3v3. Either way, the action is fast and furious. Could you play the game seated with beer in hand? Sure, but it’s a lot more fun to tear it up barefoot on the beach and get a little silly as you’re able.

The entrepreneurs at Spikeball ran with the idea in the 2000s, leading to a successful appearance in 2015 on Shark Tank. (That’s when Daymond John got all excited and asked for 50% of the company. The deal ultimately fell apart.) Regardless, the marketing boost indirectly helped spur on interest in a professional circuit, and this summer you’ll likely see a few games played on ESPN. —Charlie Hall

Trac-Ball

Black and yellow Trac-Ball II frames and balls from Wham-O
The recently redesigned Trac-Ball II, from Wham-O. The previous iteration, a circa-1990s design, is also available online.
Photo: Wham-O

Wham-O, the same brand that first marketed the Hula-Hoop, cracked off another winner in 1976 with Trac-Ball, my personal favorite backyard game. The thing is... it’s not really a game. Technically it’s just a toy, but through trial and error I’ve turned it into a game — a game that I’m going to type out the rules of for the very first time today.

Trac-Ball is loosely based on jai alai, a sport where players use scoop-like cesta to hurl balls at speeds approaching 200 miles per hour on an indoor court. Trac-Ball uses similar biomechanics, but the wicker cesta is replaced with a light plastic racket with a toothed track inside. The ball is also much lighter and hollow. Get the arm motion just right and you can create an absolutely amazing amount of rotation on that little ball, lofting and curving its flight as you see fit.

My version of semi-organized Trac-Ball is a lot like Great Catch, a game that should be familiar to anyone who has ever played youth baseball. Basically, two players line up across from each other and try to make each other look as cool as possible catching the ball. Maybe you’re lofting the ball over your opponent’s head just far enough away that they can barely reach it before it hits the ground. Or maybe you’re curving it to such a degree that they must run headlong to the right or left to intercept it before it passes them. Or maybe you’re chucking it right at their chest, forcing them to post up and intercept the missile like a laser blast aimed at a Jedi. Matches go to 15, like a short game of volleyball, but with tennis-like scoring. That keeps the tension on until the very final few throws.

The only trick is that scoring is all based on the honor system. It’s up to you and your opponent to call out a bad toss and score it accordingly, or to note when you missed a catch that you should have had — no matter how graceful you thought you looked while attempting it. —CH

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