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James and I aren’t good at sitting by a campfire. I know other RVers love that opportunity, but we both find being up & moving about more relaxing and fun. We get antsy sitting too long! That’s why I’m here to tell you about one of our favorite campsite ‘chill-out’ activities— Ladder Ball. I’m sure you’ve seen it, or maybe even played it yourselves.

Check out this quick video:

We picked up the set we’re using in the video from Camping World— who, by the way, has lots of other camping games options on their website, too.

Our favorite thing about our Ladder Ball set is the light-up feature. Playing it at night takes it to a whole new level! It’s especially great when you’re camping with friends and family… an excuse to pull everyone together, outside, and enjoy some quality time.

If you’re new to Ladder Ball, here’s everything you need to know:

Bolas:

Bolas are the best part of the game! They’re made up of two golf-like balls connected with a piece of nylon rope. There’s something so satisfying about tossing a bola and watching it wrap around a rung!

Game Ladder:

The game ladder is your target. It has three rungs, and your goal is to get your bola to wrap around the rungs.

Toss Line:

If you’re a rule stickler, the ‘toss line’ is supposed to be 15 feet away from the ladder. We’ve never played with anyone who bothers measuring out 15 feet exactly, though. A common way to do it is to take 5 paces from the ladder. Or— just eyeball it!

Ladder Ball Rules:

Each player has two or three bolas and throws all of their bolas before another player can go. The goal is get the bolas to catch on one of the rungs. The top rung is worth three points, second is worth two and the bottom rung is one point. There’s no required way to throw a bola, so you can toss it however you want, and it can even bounce on the ground before landing on a rung. The player with the most points at the end of the round gets to throw first the next round. If you’re really good, you can try to knock the bolas of other players off the rungs! If that happens, the bolas that fall don’t get to count. The first player to get to 21 points exactly is the winner.

So that’s the official way of it; but I don’t really like that rule of having to get to 21 points exactly, so we just play that whoever gets to 21 or over wins.

And that’s it! Easy as can be.

We brought our ladder ball set to Winnebago’s annual rally this summer, and it got a lot of use. It was a great way for people to get to know each other! We also had it at a family gathering recently, and we had a full-on tournament going. I especially like that it’s so inclusive. Kids, older adults, and even people who may not have the health or physical capability to play more active outdoor games can play this and have success.

So! The Ladder Ball set has earned a permanent spot in Number One’s gear garage. And since our version lights up, we’re getting a lot of use out of it both day AND night!