A lawn game is an outdoor

game A game is a structured type of play usually undertaken for entertainment or fun, and sometimes used as an educational tool. Many games are also considered to be work (such as professional players of spectator sports or video games) or art ...

that can be played on a

lawn A lawn () is an area of soil-covered land planted with Poaceae, grasses and other durable plants such as clover lawn, clover which are maintained at a short height with a lawn mower (or sometimes grazing animals) and used for aesthetic an ...

. Many types and variations of lawn games exist, which includes games that use balls and the throwing of objects as their primary means of gameplay. Some lawn games are historical in nature, having been devised and played in different forms for centuries. Some lawn games are traditionally played on a pitch (sports field). Some companies produce and market lawn games for home use in a front or

backyard A backyard, or back yard (known in the United Kingdom as a back garden or just garden), is a Yard (land), yard at the back of a house, common in suburban developments in the Western world. It is typically a residential garden located at the ...

History

The lawn game

bowls Bowls, also known as lawn bowls or lawn bowling, is a sport in which players try to roll their ball (called a bowl) closest to a smaller ball (known as a "jack" or sometimes a "kitty"). The bowls are shaped (biased), so that they follow a curve ...

(lawn bowling) dates back to the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and ...

period in England.Sports and Games of the Renaissance – Andrew Leibs
/ref> Many local forms of round ball throwing and rolling games, such as bocce in Italy and bowls in England became popular by the Renaissance. It has been suggested that bowls itself likely originated from

Ancient Rome In modern historiography, ancient Rome is the Roman people, Roman civilisation from the founding of Rome, founding of the Italian city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the Fall of the Western Roman Empire, collapse of the Western Roman Em ...

, in a game played by Roman soldiers that involved rolling a ball "as close as possible to mark on the ground".

Lawn games

Ball games

Many types and varieties of ball games exist. Several cultures have created forms of ball games. For example, the

Maya Maya may refer to: Ethnic groups * Maya peoples, of southern Mexico and northern Central America ** Maya civilization, the historical civilization of the Maya peoples ** Mayan languages, the languages of the Maya peoples * Maya (East Africa), a p ...

and

Aztec The Aztecs ( ) were a Mesoamerican civilization that flourished in central Mexico in the Post-Classic stage, post-classic period from 1300 to 1521. The Aztec people included different Indigenous peoples of Mexico, ethnic groups of central ...

peoples played a ball game using a rubber ball. The Yanoama people in northwest Brazil played a game using a ball made from the bladder of a monkey, in which the ball would be hit upwards by participants, who would play the game in a circle. Bocce is typically played on a bocce court, and involves rolling a ball on the ground in efforts to place it near a smaller ball.

Bowls Bowls, also known as lawn bowls or lawn bowling, is a sport in which players try to roll their ball (called a bowl) closest to a smaller ball (known as a "jack" or sometimes a "kitty"). The bowls are shaped (biased), so that they follow a curve ...

involves

rolling Rolling is a Motion (physics)#Types of motion, type of motion that combines rotation (commonly, of an Axial symmetry, axially symmetric object) and Translation (geometry), translation of that object with respect to a surface (either one or the ot ...

a ball toward a smaller target ball to make the rolled ball stop as close as possible to the target.

Croquet Croquet ( or ) is a sport which involves hitting wooden, plastic, or composite balls with a mallet through hoops (often called Wicket, "wickets" in the United States) embedded in a grass playing court. Variations In all forms of croquet, in ...

involves hitting wooden or plastic balls with a mallet through a series of hoops. Croquet became popular in England in the 1860s. In the United States, the game is governed by the National Croquet Association, which coordinates annual tournaments. Several variations of the game exist.

Pétanque Pétanque (, ; ; ) is a sport that falls into the category of boules sports (along with Raffa (boules), raffa, bocce, boule lyonnaise, Bowls, lawn bowls, and Crown green bowls, crown green bowling). In these sports, players or teams play thei ...

is a form of

Weird Sports and Wacky Games around the World: From Buzkashi to Zorbing – Victoria Williams Ph.D.
/ref> and boules where the goal is to throw hollow metal balls as close as possible to a small wooden ball called a ''cochonnet'' (literally "piglet") or jack, while standing inside a circle with both feet on the ground. Pétanque has been described as "the world's most played form of bowls". Backyard golf is a game played in the United States that involves elements of golf.Rowell & Tukey 2012, pp. 14–16 Golf balls or whiffle balls may be used, and targets may include lawn furniture, buckets and tree branches, among others. Sholf is a game that is a cross between table shuffleboard and

golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various Golf club, clubs to hit a Golf ball, ball into a series of holes on a golf course, course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standa ...

Player Player may refer to: Role or adjective * Player (game), a participant in a game or sport ** Gamer, a player in video and tabletop games ** Athlete, a player in sports ** Player character, a character in a video game or role playing game who i ...

s take turns putting golf balls into scoring zones printed on a putting green. File:Bocce players scoring.jpg, Bocce players tallying the score of a match File:Gavarni - Le joueur de boules 1858.jpg, An engraving by Paul Gavarni depicting a Boules player, 1858 File:Croquetplayers.jpg,

being played at a croquet club in Edinburgh, Scotland File:Artificial Putting Green.JPG, A

putting green created using artificial grass File:Dscn0054-boules-in-action 600x800.jpg,

players on the beach in

Nice Nice ( ; ) is a city in and the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes department in France. The Nice agglomeration extends far beyond the administrative city limits, with a population of nearly one millionSholf

Throwing games

Throwing games involve throwing various objects as the primary form of gameplay. * Horseshoes involves players throwing horseshoes at stakes in the ground, with the goal of the horseshoe becoming wrapped around the stake (known as a "ringer") or the nearest to the stake compared to the others. * Washer pitching (also referred to as washers, washer toss, huachas, washoes and Texas horseshoes) involves players in teams tossing washers toward a hole or box. Many variations of the game exist, and it has been described as similar to horseshoes. * Lawn darts involves throwing large darts at targets that are placed on the ground. Lawn darts have been subjected to product recalls at times, due to children dying from head wounds from the darts or otherwise becoming injured by them. In the United States in 1988, the Consumer Product Safety Commission banned the sale of lawn darts.Top 5 product recalls in US history – Jarts (lawn darts) – CSMonitor.com
/ref> They were also banned in Canada in 1989. * Ladder Toss involves throwing stringed balls at racks with three rungs, with points earned when the stringed balls are wrapped around a rung. * Cornhole, also called bean bag,– Go outside and play
/ref> is a simple lawn game involving throwing bags of corn or beanbags at an inclined board that has a hole in it. Points are earned for bags going through the hole or remaining on the board.The Browns Fan's Tailgating Guide – Peter Chakerian
/ref> * KanJam originated as a game called "Trash Can Frisbee", whereby a participant attempts to slam or slap a thrown flying disc into a garbage can.'Trash Can Frisbee' – a local game – goes global as KanJam , WBFO
/ref> The game evolved into KanJam, which also involves slamming the disc into a can, along with points earned for the thrown disc hitting the can. File:Donnie at horseshoes.jpg, A person playing horseshoes File:Washers player.png, A player tosses a washer during a washer pitching tournament in Indiana File:Lawndartsthrow.jpg, A man throwing lawn darts File:Ladder Golf Pati rzuca.JPG, People playing ladder toss Image:Cornhole.jpg, A cornhole board File:KanJam2.jpg, People playing KanJam

References

Bibliography

* 208 pages.