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Top 12 Best Portable Yard Games for Your Outdoor Family Vacation

By
on
June 16, 2019

Looking for a no-nonsense list of the best portable yard games to play during your family vacation? Need a guaranteed way to keep both kids and adults, groups, couples, and or families entertained when you’re outside partying, mingling, vacationing, or camping?

After years of being cabin owners and outdoor enthusiasts, we’ve tried and tested our fair share of lawn games. I have put together a list of our favorite ‘go-to’ games that our family comes back to time-after-time, year-after-year.

The following list contains the highest rated and best-priced options of my Top 12 recommended yard games. While you might not be able to pack your trampoline, these yard games are easy to pack when on the go.

If you’re headed to a cabin, resort, campground, or to your own backyard, these games will provide hours of built-in entertainment.

The following links on this page are Amazon affiliate links. If you click on the links and purchase them, I receive a small commission at no extra cost to you. I only recommend products on my site that I personlly use and enjoy.

Kubb

Number of Players: 2-12 players. Kubb is played one team against another with a minimum of 1 player on each team. For larger groups, up to 6 players can play on a team.

Equipment: The equipment consists of 10 small, wooden skittles (kubbs), one larger, wooden skittle (the king), and 6 throwing sticks (batons). Sometimes 4 small corner stakes are also included to mark out the court.

Objective: Be the first team to knock down all of your opponent’s kubbs. Fianlly, knock over the king, all by throwing wooden batons.

How to Play Kubb

Kan Jam

Number of Players: 4 players. Kan Jam is played one team against another, with 2 players on each team.

Equipment: Kan Jam consists of 2 black circular bins (each bin with a mail slot in the front), and 2 frisbees. 

Objective: Be the first team to score exactly 21 points by throwing your frisbee into the mail slot of your opponent’s bin, or by having the Deflector hit the frisbee into the top of the bin. 

How to Play Kan Jam

Ladder Toss

Number of Players: 2-6 players. Ladder ball is played one team against another. There is a minimum of 1 player per team and a maximum of 3 players per team.

Equipment: 2 ladders each consisting of 3 steps: a top, middle and a bottom step. 6 golf ball bolas. A bola is 2 golf balls attached by a nylon rope. Each player or team gets 3 bolas.

Objective: Be the first team to score exactly 21 points by wrapping bolas around the rungs of your opponent’s ladder.

How to Play Ladder Toss

Bocce Ball

Number of Players:2-8 players. Bocce ball is played by one team against another with a minimum of 1 player per team. The number of bocce balls played by each player is determined by the number of players per team.

One player per team yields four bocce balls per player; two players per team yields two bocce balls per player; four players per team yields one bocce ball per player.

Equipment: 8 larger bocce balls (4 of each color), and 1 small pallino ball also called ‘the jack’.

Objective: Be the first team to score exactly 12 points by rolling your bocce balls closer to the pallino (jack) ball than your opponent.

How to Play Bocce Ball

Lawn Darts

Number of Players: 2-4 players. Lawn darts is played by one team against another. There is a minimum of 1 player per team, and a maximum of 2 players per team.

Equipment: 2 circular target areas, and 4 total lawn darts (2 darts per color, per team).

Objective: Be the first team to score exactly 21 points by tossing your darts in or near your opponent’s circular target area.

How to Play Lawn Darts

Croquet

Number of Players: 2-6 players. Croquet can be played one team against another, or player versus player depending on the style of croquet that you are playing.

Equipment: 6-player croquet consists of 6 different color wooden mallets, 6 corresponding colored croquet balls, 2 stakes, and 9 wickets.

Objective: Be the first player or team to advance your croquet ball(s) through all of the scoring wickets (hoops) in the correct order and direction.

In more advanced play, the object of the game is to advance your ball through the course scoring points for each wicket and stake in the correct order and direction. The winner is the first side to score 14 wicket points and 2 stake points for each of its balls.

How to Play Croquet

Frisbee Golf

Number of Players: 1-8 players. Individuals can play by themselves or play one team against another similar to a regular golf game. However, no more than 4 players per team are recommended.

Equipment: Different sizes and weights of frisbees/discs that serve as the golf ‘clubs’, 1 (or more) elevated metal basket disc catchers.

Objective: The main objectives of frisbee golf is the same as traditional golf in the sense that players follow the same scorekeeping technique. The player or team with the lowest score at the end of 9 or 18 ‘holes’ wins the game.

How to Play Frisbee Golf

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SpikeBall

Number of Players: 2-6 players. Spikeball is played one team against another. There is a minimum of 1 player per team, and a maximum of 3 players per team.

Equipment: 1 small trampoline-like playing surface with string netting, and 1 small bouncing ball (the ‘spikeball‘) with a 12-inch circumference.

Objective: Be the first team to score 21 points upon serving, setting, and spiking the ball from anywhere around the net upon which the opposing team is unable to return the ball.

How to Play Spikeball

Washer Toss

Number of Players: 2-8 players. Washer toss is played one team against another. There is a minimum of 1 player per team, and a maximum of 4 players per team.

Equipment: 8 metal washers (4 per color, per team), and two washer toss boxes.

Objective: Be the first team to score exactly 21 points by pitching your washers into the opponent’s washer box and/or cylindrically-shaped cup inside of the box.

How to Play Washer Toss

Badminton

Number of Players: 2-12 players. Badminton is played by one team against another. There is a minimum of 1 player per team, and a maximum of 6 players per team. (You must have enough racquets for each player.)

Equipment: 1 badminton net and desired number of racquets along with a feathered or plastic projectile called a shuttlecock.

Objective: In badminton, a match is played as the best 2 of 3 games, with each game played up to 21 points. Points are scored when the opposing team is unable to return the shuttlecock back over the net after being served to by the opposing team.

How to Play Badminton

Cornhole

Number of Players: 2-4 players. In addition, cornhole is played by one team against another. There is a minimum of 1 player per team, and a maximum of 2 players per team.

Equipment: 2 official cornhole boards and 8 bean bags (4 per color, per team).

Objective: Be the first team to score exactly 21 points by landing your bean bags onto the opposing team’s cornhole board (1 point), or directly into the hole (3 points).

How to Play Cornhole

Bottle Bash (Polish Horseshoes)

Number of Players: 2-4 players (all who have to be holding a drink at all times). Bottle bash is played one team against another, typically with two players per team.

Equipment: 1 frisbee, 2 tall stakes with a platform on top, 2 plastic bottles or empty beer cans (if playing with adults).

Objective: Be the first team to score 21 points, beating the opposing team by at least 2 points. Points are scored when the frisbee hits the opponent’s stake or bottle, when the bottle is knocked off the stake and hits the ground, or when the receiving team fails to catch the frisbee.

How to Play Bottle Bash

What game caught your attention and where will you be playing it?

Jen

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12 Comments
  1. Reply

    Scott

    December 2, 2021

    Awesome ideas! Thank you for sharing this with us. Another good addition to the list would be , giant jenga. I prefer having one that is portable enough so I can take it whenever and anywhere I want just like this one here :
    https://www.medalsports.com/product/md-sports-giant-toppling-timbers/

    • Reply

      Jen

      January 9, 2022

      Yes, Giant Jenga is a great outdoor game! I will have to go in and add that! Thanks for the suggestion!

  2. Reply

    Dalya

    July 10, 2020

    This is exactly what I’ve been looking for! With all the camping trips lined up, I definitely need to up my game with lawn games and how to entertain the kids haha. Thanks for putting this list together!

    • Reply

      Jen

      July 12, 2020

      Thanks!! I’m glad that you found these ideas helpful – they are so fun!

  3. Reply

    Claudia

    July 2, 2020

    I LOVE Kubb! Such a fun game for families.

    • Reply

      Jen

      July 7, 2020

      Yay! That’s our favorite too! Thanks for reading!!

  4. Reply

    Harmony, Momma To Go

    June 29, 2020

    Something like this is just what we need!!!!!!! We are so bored of all our stuff to date. Can Jam looks pretty cool. We dont have anything like this. This could be great for a beach vacation or even at home while we have no camp or organized activities!

    • Reply

      Jen

      June 29, 2020

      Yay! Glad you found it helpful! Yes, we LOVE Can Jam! You’ll have to check it out!!

  5. Reply

    Amanda

    June 28, 2020

    This is such a great list of portable yard games including a few like spikeball that I havenโ€™t heard of before. Saving for later!

    • Reply

      Jen

      June 29, 2020

      Spikeball is really popular here in Minnesota! It has even become an activity that the gym teachers incorporate into PE class because of the hand-eye-coordination and exercise that it provides ๐Ÿ™‚

  6. Reply

    Lillie

    June 28, 2020

    Badminton is such a great one, and you’re reminding me I haven’t played in way too long!

    • Reply

      Jen

      June 29, 2020

      Right? We actually bought a new badminton set for our cabin and it has become the kids’ favorite activity while we are there. So simple, but challenging and fun at the same time ๐Ÿ™‚

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Hi, I'm Jen - founder of the award-winning travel blog, Travel With A Plan! I help families plan fun & fulfilling family vacations by sharing our exact itineraries and "best things to do" lists to popular US vacation spots. Take the stress out of planning a family vacation by using our detailed destination guides and ultra-convenient packing lists to help you travel better. We'll show you how hassle-free family travel is possible - when you travel with a plan!

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