If your family is like mine, when the weather starts to warm up, you want to be outside. As winter fades into spring and summer, one of our favorite things to do is to throw something on the grill or in the smoker and set up our favorite backyard games.
While all of these games are really fun to play and promote great family time, a few of them seem to bring out some—ahem—friendly competition.
Here is my list of some of our favorite driveway and backyard games ranked from least likely to cause a competitive clash to most likely.
Cornhole – Cornhole is a classic backyard game. It is fun to trash talk a little while playing, but generally, cornhole is a pretty laid-back game. Bean bags don’t lie.
Wiffleball – Wiffleball is another fun family game. While competitive between teams, wiffleball is usually pretty cut and dry without room for different interpretations of the rules.
Kan-Jam – The object of Kan-Jam is to skillfully sink a frisbee into a plastic can. Teams of two help their teammates by knocking the frisbee closer to the can.
Four Square – This classic elementary school game can also be a fun family event in the driveway. However, it can be tricky with disagreements about whether or not the ball is in a square or not ready to pop up at any minute.
Football – For some reason, backyard football seems to be more competitive than wiffleball. Maybe it is more aggressive, which leaves more opportunities for trash talking to go awry.
Basketball – All of my children play basketball, so this is a very competitive game for us. Most often the winner is going to gloat and the loser is going to sulk for a while.
Spikeball – Beware of spikeball! It is a very fun and fast-moving game, but that means plenty of opportunities for the game to go south. If your family is very competitive, proceed with caution! However, spikeball at the beach always goes over well.
No matter how competitive your family may be, getting outside, playing a fun game, and enjoying some family time is always a great idea.
