When the sun is shining and family and friends gather in back yards and at beaches and parks for shared food, drink and camaraderie, the lasting memory may be the games they played that made the good times roll.
And there is data that backs that sentiment up. According to a study by U.K.-based University of York, games and activities lasting for 20 to 90 minutes lead to the most positive outcomes for improving mood and reducing anxiety.
Of course, some games are more fun than others. That’s why we’re listing the 15 best outdoor games for summer and fall. Play one or play all 15, and see how fun competition in games can keep you active and fit mentally as well as physically.
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GoSports Cornhole Regulation Size bean Bag Toss Set ($123.19, originally $139.99; amazon.com)By many accounts, cornhole rules the roost as the top outdoor game for beaches, backyard barbecues, and tailgates, among other popular outdoor social landing spots.
Cornhole is easy to learn, fun to play, and any age group can learn how to toss a bean bag onto (and through) a wooden or fabric board on the ground 20 feet away.
So grab a beer, ice tea, or other beverage of choice and arrange a cornhole tournament at your next outdoor festivity.
Pro Kadima Beach Paddles ($15; amazon.com)If you can swing a tennis racket or ping pong paddle, you can swing a beach paddle – as many people do on the nation’s beaches every summer.
Like cornhole, beach paddle is a popular game because people off all ages can play it, and can accommodate as many players as you have rackets.
Rules are fairly flexible, too. Whether it’s a one-on-one game or teams of five a side, all you need to do is draw lines in the sand and start paddling away, with the goal being to make sure the ball doesn’t hit the ground. Play with or without a net, and play games where the winner ais determined by the first team to five, 10, or 15 points.
Giant Jenga ($69.84, originally $79.99; amazon.com)Jenga has always been a great game for anyone, old and young alike. Families with young kids will love the easy-to-learn-and-play game, too.
Now, Giant Jenga takes things up a notch, with the original Jenga’s strategy of blocking, stacking, and balancing now supersized for play on concrete, patios, or on a well-mowed lawn. Play with two people or play with 20 – Giant Jenga offers room for all in an outdoor setting.
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L.L. Bean Maine Coast Croquet Set ($329.99; llbean.com)Let’s take the traditional route with an old gaming chestnut – croquet. Popularized in the late 19th century and early 20th century, croquet can be played by anyone who appreciates the value and fun of taking a wooden mallet and knocking a round ball through a hoop in the ground, and do so the right order. Most points wins the match.
Croquet is simple and can be played on a level grass field (or artificial turf) with six to eight players, depending on the croquet set you choose. It’s great for picnics and barbecues – and feel free to take along a beverage of choice while you navigate the croquet circuit.
Kan Jam Original Disc Throwing Game ($59.99; amazon.com)One good way to downsize the frisbee experience for a backyard or beach gathering is with the Kan Jam Original Disc Throwing Game.
Instead of having to traverse an entire football field, Kan Jam frisbee allows you to play the game at 20 paces, with the goal of throwing a smaller frisbee at an opponent’s can placed on the ground. While hitting the can is the name of the game, any toss through the can’s slot crowns an immediate game winner (it’s first to 21 points otherwise.
The game can be played anywhere and by anyone, with a glow-in-the-dark version for frisbee action after dusk.
Chess Set ($36.99; amazon.com)Chess is long known as the thinking person’s game – it’s known to develop critical thinking skills and to sharpen on-the-spot decision making. It’s also a game that chess purists have played outside, especially in parks and cafes, where the fresh air and camaraderie enhance the intellectually competitive experience.
So why not add a brain-building game like chess to your outdoor activity list? Chess can especially be a great learning tool for youngsters, while also allowing older friends and relatives who always aren’t able to play more aggressively athletic games. Give it a try and low your brain to break a sweat, too.
Redux: The Original Glow in The Dark Capture The Flag Game ($49.99, originally $60; amazon.com)Variations of capture the flag have been played for centuries – we bet you didn’t know the game was played during the Civil War as a way of letting soldiers blow off steam during long periods of boring inactivity. In past decades, capture the flag has become a neighborhood game, usually for kids ages eight and up. The game is often played at night, too – so why not give capture the flag a new shot of adrenaline and play it at night, with “glow in the dark” features?
Players can wear glow in the dark wristbands, making them easier to spot at night, while so-called “jails” can be marked with glow in the dark boundaries to make jail marker easier to see, as well. Territory lights complete the capture the flag set, giving an old game a new look for the 21st century.
Back Yard Bocce Set by GoSports ($42; amazon.com)The venerable Italian actually rolled out (literally) in ancient Egypt, but grew so much in popularity, international travelers took the game to England, France and Italy, where it’s still celebrated and played by bocce bowlers today.
Today the game can easily be played at family parties, barbecues, and neighborhood get- togethers, and for less than $50 for a good set of bocce balls, with options for “hard” or “soft” bocce balls, depending on who’s playing the game. Bocce can be played on grass or sand, and an entire generation of families can get in on the action.
Yard Games Giant Yard Pong ($42.99, originally $54.99; amazon.com)Any collegian know the deal on beer pong, one of the most intoxicating (okay, quite literally) table games in fraternity history.
Now you can take do-it-yourself beer pong outside, with giant beer pong, which replaces the red solo cups as targets with larger, clean cans of your choosing – plastic gardening cans, household water buckets, or even (preferably clean) trash cans can do the trick.
Add a soccer ball or a volley ball and 20 feet of space and you’re off and tossing with the gang. Make sure to keep the red solo cups for the actual drinking phase of the game.
More importantly, keep the underage drinking set away from beer pong of any size – and put a cap on the cans when you’ve had your fair share of cold beer.
GoPong Pool Lounge Beer Pong Inflatable ($28.82; amazon.com)OK, we can’t let beer pong go, at least until we’ve quenched our thirst.
So let’s add floating beer pong to our list of outdoor activities. You do need a swimming pool for this event and a floatable pool raft (GoPong offers a ready-made one complete with built-in coolers and plastic cup holders included.)
Unlike regular beer pong, where ping-pong balls are bounced off a table and into the cup, beer pong is more like shooting free throws in basketball, only with floating balls. A bonus: when you’re done playing, the floating raft acts as a ready-made cooler for your beverages – adult or otherwise.
Spikeball ($100; amazon.com)For tight confines – think smaller yards, driveways, and patios – Spikeball is a good game at parties that favor quick action and, better yet, quick reflexes.
The game is modeled after volleyball, but in a downscaled fashion. All you need is four players, a mini volleyball net, and a stable playing surface. Think of Spikeball as a combination of ping pong and volleyball and you get the idea. The idea is to get your Spikeball past your competition on the other side of the table – loser buys/gets the next drink.
Ring Toss Game by Elite Sportz ($33.86; amazon.com)Like cornhole, beer pong, and volleyball, ring toss has its outdoor origins in older, more traditional games like horse shoes and lawn darts.
Since you don’t want to be tossing iron horse shoes or sharp lawn darts around an outdoor party with children and inattentive humans, try the Ring Toss Game from Elite Sportz Equipment. It’s safe, easy-to-play, and can be used either indoors or outdoors, depending on the weather.
Ring Toss Game is easy-to-set up and user-friendly to play. Components include three sets of rings and a wooden peg base. Three layers can match up at a time, with the player landing the most “rings” the winner.
Bean Bag Bucketz ($69; amazon.com)The original cornhole is an outdoor party classic, so it’s no surprise that the game has spawned offshoots that offer the same premise (toss an object into a hole) but with different tools.
So it goes with Bean Bag Buckets, a “toss” competition just like cornhole but only with bean bags for tossing and seven buckets with varying distances and point totals. First team to 21 bags first place.
Bean Bag Buckets can be played any age group, and can be easily played on sand, grass, driveways, larger patios, and even dirt parking lots for tailgating enthusiasts.
Tabletop Baseball Game by Ryan and Kim McDaniel ($72; uncommongoods.com)Ballpark aficionados may recall Strat-o-matic, a board-based baseball game that allowed players to match up major league baseball players statistics and use dice rolls to move players around the bases and onto the scoreboard.
Tabletop baseball is cut from the same horsehide. The game, developed by baseball fans Ryan and Kim McDaniel from St. Louis, Mo., can be played on any hard top surface – picnic tables, patio tables, or even on top of a beer cooler, if you’re so inclined.
Two teams of up to four players use dice rolls to move players from base to base, with an attached dry erase board as a scoreboard. Players can choose boards with the names and logos of their favorite MLB teams, so matching the Red Sox-Yankees or Cardinals-Cubs, for example, is easy to do.
Chipster Chipping Portable Practice Net ($18.23; wayfair.com)Golfers can tee it up, so to speak, with a portable practice chipping net that let’s hackers fire away at targets from different distances on a lawn, beach or driveway.
Play for drinks or play for pride – the important thing is to bring your golf wedges and chip away at your next outdoor party.
Prices are accurate and items in stock at time of publishing.