Now my favorite yard game is kubb. Kubb is a Swedish outdoor game. It has been around for centuries. Some people call it Viking chess. I do not know why though, because it is not anything like chess. The game works by lining up ten blocks of wood, kubbs; five on one end and five on the opposing end. A larger piece of wood, the king, is placed in the middle. There are two teams standing on the opposite sides. The teams take turns throwing sticks or batons at the kubbs on the opposing end. Whichever team knocks down all of the kubbs of the opposing team first and then knocks over the king, wins. If one team hits the king over before they have knocked over all of the kubbs, that team loses. The king is kind of like the eight ball in pool or billiards.

Horseshoes and bocce ball are some of my favorite www.VarietyAccess.com>hobbies or yard games as well. I kind of like those games or hobbies where you just throw things at something else. I played horseshoes a lot last summer. We used to just go at night to a horseshoe pit at the park and play in the dark. It was fun playing at night. There were some lights around, so you could see a little bit. You could usually just see a sparkle of light reflecting off of the pole in the horseshoe pit, and had to aim at the reflection. We got pretty good at it though.

Bocce ball is fun, because it is kind of relaxing. It does not take a lot of brain power. You just throw your ball at the main ball or at your opponents’ balls and that’s it. It is like an adult version of marbles. You can play it for hours. All you do is take the main ball, and throw it somewhere. Then you try to see who can get their ball the closest. Whichever team gets their ball the closest, gets a point. If they have several balls closer than any other of the opposing teams balls, then they get a point for each ball.

Croquet is another game I like. I have played croquet more than all of the others. It is the one that I grew up with. It takes a little more effort and strategy to play, and each player can play for themselves, up to six players, unlike the other games where there is two teams. I guess croquet can be played with two teams, but the version I have always played - poison croquet - is every man for himself. That is my favorite version of croquet though. Find a hobby today at your www.VarietyAccess.com>online hobby store and more.

Peter Jay is the Owner/President and CEO of Variety Access – Your online hobby store and more. For more information about hobbies, hobby products, or Variety Access, go to www.VarietyAccess.com.