Washer Toss is an easy-to-play game, similar to horseshoes, but without the requirements of digging a pit and throwing heavy things. The game is easy for all ages to learn, yet difficult enough to master that several hours can be spent in friendly competition.
What you’ll need:
- 2 wooden boxes made of 2x4s, 15” x 15” square, with plywood on the bottom.
- 2 12”x12” section of carpet for the bottom of each box (optional).
- 2 pieces of 4” wide PVC pipe, cut to the same height as the boxes when placed in the centre of the box.
- 4 2 1/2“ washers. (Use special markings on two of them to distinguish teams.)
How to play:
Place the boxes 30′ apart. One player from each team stands by one box and throws toward the other. The aim is to get the washers into the pipe placed in the centre of the box. Since this is difficult, as in horseshoes, close counts, too! Once both players at one end of the court have thrown, the score is tallied. Only one team can score in a round.
Scoring:
Inside the pipe: 5 points
Inside the box, but not the pipe: 3 points
On the top edge of the box: 2 points
Within one foot of the box (includes leaning against the box or underneath it): 1 point
Tally the score for each round. Since only one team can score per round, start with the highest scoring washer and score that. Similar to bocce ball, if the next closest washer is also from that team, its score gets added in. If the next closest washer is from the other team, it is not scored, and the round ends. With four players, play to 21 points.
Variations:
Don’t have a pipe and box components? In Alberta, the game is played with a 15”x15” piece of plywood with a hole drilled in the middle.
