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Camp games

8K views 25 replies 21 participants last post by  whip 
#1 ·
Let's hear your best camp games, from cribbage to drunken kayak jousting, everybody has something to keep the troops sane during down time in camp.

I'm a fan of the standards - horseshoes, bags, bocce, etc, but always looking for something new and interesting. I just tossed together a giant yahtzee set (just add bucket) for a Smith trip next week, and I'm looking for more ideas.


Cheers!
 
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#13 ·
I'm a big fan of Kubb. I call it Swedish logs.

A table saw and a couple of 4x4s is all you need. Not the most compact, but I took it down Deso a few years back.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kubb
This one was probably the biggest hit on my Grand trip in February/March this year. You need a decent beach for it, but its a lot of fun and is easy to do yourself with cheap materials. Someone brought a ladder ball set too. More bulky to carry but was fun.

I saw another private trip that went as far as to bring a "corn hole" set i.e. angled plywood box with a couple holes that you throw sand bags through. Seemed super like a super bulky item to carry down the river for 30 days (they were on a long trip) but I saw it setup at their camp pretty regularly.
 
#8 ·
Beer Can Golf - Bring a couple old goodwill golf club irons, like a 7 or a 5 iron. Each player gets their own crushed beer or soda can. Someone chooses a target, like a tree trunk or a particular shrub or a tent or something, and all players take turns hitting their can towards the target, trying to hit in in as few tries as possible.
 
#10 ·
Great thread idea, I'll play. We've tried most of the above ideas plus a few more, but these three end up being the go-to staples of every trip:

Frisbee golf - everyone grabs a frisbee and a drink, someone picks a "hole" (rock, tree, tent, whatever) and a route to get there (left around that tree...), low score picks the next hole. Must always keep an active beverage in your non-tossing hand.

Bocce - I just picked up a lightweight set that comes in a small bag from REI. Nothing to break like the standard sets we've used that crack when they hit rocks, small, and easy to pack. It kept 4 kids busy for hours chasing little balls around the riverbank on the Owyhee last weekend.

Farkle - Simple rules and all you need are five dice. Strategy isn't about winning, but making sure you aren't the loser. Loser has to do some task that no one wants to do. One on one farkle sessions can also be used as an alternative to roshambo or coin tossing.
 
#12 ·
Frisbotch

We've been playing frisbotch lately. For those of you that don't read Latin good, it's basically bocce w/ frisbee's. We play with one small crappy disc as the target and a pile of larger crappy discs. Its important that the paulina disc has a different flight path so the first throw can never be replicated. These should all say "10 barrel brewing, Play for life, Happy tooth dental" or some other advertising stuff. This levels the playing field and assures all game pieces are procured for free and fly equally unpredictably. Sharpie art to identify your disc is strongly encouraged. Play recklessly and stay beerdrated my friends!
 
#14 ·
We play Canasta of the river. We draw for partners at the beginning of the trip and start the tournament. We love to teach new folks, and we often have two tables going. We are serious about our Canasta and it can get down & dirty. Lots of other card games. Bocce. Farkle is an easy one.
 
#15 ·
I have a washer set that I made up of two 4" pvc coupllings, 8 washers, and two 2' cam straps. You loop the cam strap and put it over the couplings like a bullseye. 3 points in the hole, 1 point in the cam strap, and 2 points leaner. Best part of this game is you can play it from your camp chair (AKA drunken command station), and can be held together with the cam straps so they dont take up much if any space on your rig.
 
#17 ·
Another vote for Kubb

This game is a hit on every trip I bring it on. I have probably built 6 sets so far bc I keep selling or giving them away to folks. In my group we have re-named it "Game of Throws" and I have modified the rules to speed up the games and make it a little easier. Anyway, Its a great game and it takes over camps and everyone can't wait to play again.
 
#19 ·
Beat me to it again....just thought of that last night. Our trip leader was assassinated before all of the paper slips had even been handed out when someone handed him a pitcher or orange juice in the Kitchen. His wife was the last remaining person.

For those who haven't played. You get three hats and put everyone's names in one, an object in another, and a location in a third and each trip member picks one slip out of each hat. You then attempt to assassinate them by getting the person on the slip to take the object you drew, in the place you drew i.e. you give Jane the groover key next to the campfire. Its sort of like clue but with real objects in real places.

The object and location have to be things/places that are available frequently throughout the trip. No fair picking specific places like Silver Grotto or Blacktail canyon or places and objects that you'll never see on a river trip.Its fun to get really creative with objects and places though, and to see people plotting.

If you get assassinated, the person, place and object goes to your assassin. Eventually it will get to a small group of people and maybe even just one person if they are either good at it or lucky.

Certainly makes for some shifty behavior. One guy on my GC trip last time went as far as to very realistically pretend to cut off his finger with a hatchet so that he could get someone to take it from him.

The BBQ lighter was the most successful murder weapon on the last trip...I think it got at least 5 people.
 
#23 ·
I know bocce is a given but we brought led light-up bocce balls and had visits from our neighbors inquiring about them (all positive) and it greatly extended our play time (and happy hour).

I have the Playaboule set which has held up really well and is very servicable.
 

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#24 ·
We had some card games plus Farkle on our trip too. Someone brought cards against humanity and another person brought exploding kittens. Cards against humanity is nice since you can play with a ton of people. The other two work better with 6 or less.

A dedicated roll a table for card games, chess/checkers, and other table top games is nice if your group is big into games.
 
#25 ·
No need to bring the boards for cornhole as long as you have rocks. Just make two rings of rocks any distance apart, like a fire ring. In the middle and not touching a rock + 2 and anything touching a rock = 1 point. Bags made of heavy canvas, need a wife that sews, will last longer as well.
 
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