On a gear-heavy glamper type paddle-in trips we are fond of bringing group activity games. Base camped, or even wind bound for a day, having a group game to play is a delight.
We usually bring all-terrain bocce, using old croquet balls and a golf ball as the jack (or boccino). Teams of two or three, alternating throws. One team starts the game by drawing a line in the duff and throws or rolls the jack some distance away, and teams alternate turns, each throwing/rolling the croquet ball as close to jack as possible.
We play one point each for closest ball (or balls), play to some set number, 11 or 21 or whatever). The team that won the last point(s) gets to draw the line and throw the Jack next time, so the “losing” team gets the last throw and a chance for control of the jack.
PA040042 by
Mike McCrea, on Flickr
We have played AT Bocce hundreds of times, from Maine to Florida, including one very long game played, not to a set number of points, but across a mile wide barrier island from bayside to ocean. Barrier islands with wild pony populations can present unusual hazards.
EK_0046 by
Mike McCrea, on Flickr
Playing one cross-island game friend Doug hurled the jack a long ways off, and as we were lining up to throw our croquet balls a pony came out of the wood, sniffed the jack, turned around a deposited a load of pony poop like he had a Norden bombsite on his ass. No one really wanted to “win” that point, although Bart insisted that some more vintage piles of pony poop smelled better than his partner.
EK_0008 by
Mike McCrea, on Flickr
You don’t need to hurl the Jack a 50 yards away (thanks Doug, my throwing arm hurt for two days), sometimes the short distance throws, using the terrain, slope and obstacles are the most challenging. Loft the jack behind a big log or into a hidden hollow and no one knows who won the point ‘til you walk up and see. I recommend bringing an extra golf ball or two; wood croquet balls float, golf balls do not.
The group “color commentary” during AT bocce is half the fun, there is always a lot of good natured banter and ribbing. Bonus points for the guy who does a convincing English-accent golf commentator impression
“It’s a left to right slope on a tricky dog leg with a hemlock bough in play, and a fallen log precluding a rolling approach. Yes, he’s lofted nicely over the logs and. . . . . oh my goodness. . . . . bounced off a rock and rolled into a water hazard. Bad luck that”
AT bocce is a wonderful canoe camper game with four or more people, and you get to intimately know every slope, hollow, stump and fallen log in the area around camp. Which can be helpful later that night if you are a drinking man.
The other group game, a longtime favorite on Gentleman’s trips, is horse shoes. We use real steel shoes and stakes when gear weight is no object, and there is no one around whom the CLANG-CLANG will bother. For lighter packed trips, or with other folks camped nearby or even across the lake, we now bring plastic shoes and stakes.
Not just “regular” horse shoe games; the most delightfully enjoyed variation is NIGHT Horse Shoes. Rubber band different color glow sticks to the shoes and stakes and let ‘em fly. The visual oddity of a glowstick flying through the dark is trippy, and hilarity always ensues.
PA040063 by
Mike McCrea, on Flickr
If playing with steel shoes at night I HIGHLY recommend that the non-throwing team stand well clear of the stake on their end; with no soft landing pit, and the occasionally wobbly throw, steel shoes can bounce a good ways off target. Best to set up a goodly distance from the tents.
We have been playing the night version for 30+ years; everyone who has tried it was smitten enough to want to arrange future games.
The steel shoes are more fun, or at least more familiar, but the plastic ones are lighter (the stakes need to be closer together), quieter and less dangerous at night. On a cool night even small glow sticks will last for hours, sometimes into the next night.
I can all but guarantee that, at either game, there will be some “Golden Arm,” deadly accurate thrower amongst the group (freaking Conk, who told me, not untruthfully, that I suck at my own game). And that folks not playing will call dibs as the next challengers.
Finally, and this may be more of a kids-along game, since we have golf balls we sometimes carved wooden putters and played miniature golf.
EK_0014 by
Mike McCrea, on Flickr
Slowly, trickily, building a miniature golf course is as much fun as playing it. Build a couple holes, play ‘em, build a couple more holes, play on. That course on the low water beach evolved, over a subsequent wind bound day, to improved 9 holes, including a spinning windmill of sticks and birchbark.
Hell, you could bring a couple real golf clubs and a few balls and lay out a wilderness links course. Or bring a badminton net and shuttle cocks, maybe using “rackets” from forked sticks and duct tape for a little whackier DIY challenge.
Something follow-up-ish I often ask on suggestion/recommendation threads; if you do bring group games of some sort please let us know the enjoyment results.