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Labor Day Weekend is coming up and if you haven’t gotten your fair share of lawn games in this summer, now is the time to do it.  I love lawn games because they are challenging on so many levels… not so much in getting a horseshoe around a stake in the ground or your ball closest to the pallino, but the challenge of doing these things over the course of an entire day while manning a grill and drinking lots of beer. 

Lets be honest, these games wouldn’t capture the attention of the daintiest of Man if played without outside influences… but try and toss a sack of beans trough a 5″ diameter hole cut into a piece of plywood while half in the bag and trying not to spill a fresh tapped Summer Ale after the sun’s been down for an hour and your wife is nagging you about it being “bath night for the kids” and you’ll capture the attention of any Man for hours. 

Side note:  these distractions that I speak of are the very reason lawn games are so popular at family funcions… it evens the playing field among young/old male/female.  Not sure, but I think I just implied that woman don’t have a chance against guys in lawn games unless we’re half in the bag…. I’ll stop there.

So, whats the best lawn game out there?  I am very partial to quoits, a game that was introduced to me in college.  The game originated in Pennsylvania’s Slate Belt region in the 1930′s but has recently gained national attention when it was featured on NBC’s Today Show.  The game is played with 2 slate boards and 4 rubber rings called “quoits”.  The object is to “pitch” your quoit onto the board and points are awarded for being closest to the pin and/or getting a “ringer”.  Its a classic game that takes a minute to learn and a lifetime to master. 

So get yourself a set of quoits a fresh keg of beer to distract you and have a great Labor Day Weekend! 

Official Rules of Quoits: 

1. Distance between hubs (pins) is 18 feet.

2. Choose who will throw first. All following first pitches are made by the player who scores on the previous pitch.

3. All pitching is alternated. At no time shall a player make two successive pitches.

4. Players forward foot must not extend beyond the board.

5. As soon as a quoit touches the ground it is considered dead and does not count.

6. Should a quoit hit the ground and then go onto the board and disturb other quoits, that quoit ring should be removed and the disturbed quoits replaced to their original position.

7. The quoit nearest the hub (pin) counts as one point in scoring. In the event a player has two quoits nearer the hub than either quoit ring of his opponent, he scores two points. (1 for each quoit)

8. If a “leaner” is made it counts as only one point. (a leaner is a quoit which rests on top or against the hub).  Possible house rule:personally, I dont care for this rule, but some count a “leaner” as two points.

9. A properly thrown quoit landing on the slate board or plastic board that bounces and turns upside down does not keep its scoring value.  Possible house rule: this is one I do allow: upside down quoits are called “female” qoits and are treated the same as a right side up quoit.

10. Should a player make a ringer and also have thrown a quoit ring nearer the hub (pin) than his opponent, he shall receive four points. (three points for the ringer and one point for the closest quoit)

11. Optional: If a quoit is half on the board and half off it is a dead quoit. They call this “daylight” because you will be able to see the ground through the quoit. Optional to count it or disqualify the point. Each ringer pitched counts as three points, except:
a. When some player pitches two ringers, one directly on top of the other, six points are counted.

b. When first player pitches a ringer, which is topped by opponent, the opponent receives 3 points.

c. When first player pitches a ringer, which is topped by opponent, and then again topped by first player, the last ringer made counts as 3 points for the first player.

d. When 4 ringers are made, the player pitching the last ringer wins the game.

12. 21 points wins the game.

Be A Man

-The Founding Father

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