Horseshoes

We suggest today’s party game idea at the risk of everyone in Manhattan accusing us of being hill billies from Ohio. But, we put our necks out for this game because it’s fun and doesn’t involve a heck of a lot of rules or invested time — important things as far as party entertainment goes. That being said, I’m pretty sure not a single Smart will play this game without a lot of cajoling.

Horseshoes is played between two people — or two teams of two people. Translation: you only need to convince two people to play — Funs or Organics are your best bet — and others will easily follow. The followers are usually Classics as we’re not trend-setters but we certainly don’t want to be left behind. This is why we felt compelled to include this as one of our adult summer party game ideas. People will probably just start playing without any nudging from the host or hostess.

You need four horseshoes and two throwing stakes. Ideally, the stakes are in a sandbox area but I’ve only ever seen it played on lawns. The rules are pretty easy. Two players alternate turns tossing horseshoes at the stakes trying to hook them around the stakes. Wikipedia says the stakes should be 40 feet apart. I’m not sure if they mean the stakes or how far you should be standing from the stakes. It doesn’t really make sense that one would care how far the stakes are from each other so I think the players need to be 40 feet from the stakes — shorter for kids. Horseshoes are usually twice the size of actual horseshoes. But, heck, if you’re on a farm, use the real thing. I bet it makes the game ten times harder.

And if you must know, there’s a National Horseshoe Pitchers Association. Now I am absolutely positive there must be a freeze tag association as well.