Butts Up



This is my favorite outdoor games to play as an adult or a kid! This game will need at least two people, a tennis ball and a wall to throw it against. The first person throws the ball against the wall. As it's bouncing back toward the players someone has to catch it and throw it against the wall again. When catching it you cannot drop it! Once you've touched the ball it can't touch the ground. If you catch it successfully then you throw it against the wall and repeat until someone drops it or tries to throw it against the wall and it hits the ground first. If a player drops it, they must immediately run and tag the wall before the other player picks it up and throws it against the wall. If you touch the wall first you're safe, if not you get a point. If the second player also drops the ball they must do the same. First to 3 points loses.


21

I hope you're not thinking about Blackjack because I said 21! This is an outdoor game specific to basketball.  If you have an odd amount of people or you just don't feel like playing an intense game of basketball then 21 is for you! The object of the game of course is to get to 21 points OR knock everyone out.  First everyone takes turns "breaking the ice" by taking foul shots.  The first to make a foul shot gets 2 points for breaking the ice and gets to go first.  Each foul shot after breaking the ice is worth 1 point.  When the foul shooter misses the other players go for the rebound and obviously try to score. Scoring off of the rebound gets you 2 points.  Two tricks - 1) When the foul shooter misses, if one of the players catches the rebound with both hands, in the air, and makes the basket without touching the ground then the foul shooter goes back to zero!  2)  Same concept, but if the player catches it with one hand and makes the basket in the air then that knocks out the foul shooter completely.  They must wait for the next game to start.  Also, the foul shooter can only make 3 in a row. If that happens they get the ball at the top of the key and try to make a basket against the other players defense. 

Outdoor Games for Adults



Capture the Flag

This is a very exciting game to play outdoors, but it requires a lot of room and it's better with a lot of players. The best way to play in a standard yard is to use the driveway and "No mans Land". Break up into two teams and each team picks a side of the yard and woods that they want to defend. Each team also has a Flag that they must hide and guard (recommended) in the woods of their side. Boundaries should be set before the game begins. Once both teams have hidden their flag the game begins. The object is to capture the other teams flag and bring it back to your teams side. The trick is that when you are in the other teams territory they can tag you, and if they do they have escort you to "jail". They must escort you to jail and cannot tag anyone else along the way. There is only one jail spot per side and the players in jail are free when someone on their team tags each of them. No one can be tagged in "No mans Land". This is an intense outdoor game to play!



Pickle


Pickle is a fun game to play outdoors if it's nice out! It's very similar to a "pickle" situation in baseball. Set up 3 bases in a triangle and a person stays on each base. There will be 2 runners and 3 throwers. The throwers start tossing the ball back and forth until one of the runners decide to go! The object of the game for the runners is to get points. One point for each time they steal a base. The throwers obviously try to tag them with the ball and get them out. Throwers cannot throw the ball at the runner to get them out.