Exciting Games Everyone Can Enjoy While Camping

Camping is a great time to get everyone involved in some group games! Outdoor or indoor, games are a fun way to get everyone to bond over some competitive activities. We love these exciting games everyone can enjoy while camping.

Outdoor Games

Outdoor games are great for nice days and can even tire out the kids or keep them occupied while you’re getting ready for a meal. Bocce Ball, Corn Hole, Ladder Golf, and Horseshoes are all popular.

Bocce Ball

Bocce Ball is also known as Italian lawn bowling, and is one of the oldest yard games. This game can be played by people of all ages, and just about any flat ground will work for a bocce court, dirt, grass, gravel, or even a patio. You can play with two people or create even teams. All you need to bring with you are 8 bocce balls and a smaller pallina or target ball. A tape measure can be handy in close calls. After the coin toss, the pallina is tossed to start the game target. The same player then tosses a bocce ball as close as possible to the pallina. The next team tries to hit that ball farther away. This continues until the 8 balls are thrown. The team closest to the pallina gets a point, and if it touches the pallina you get 2 points. Rounds are played until a set point total. A total of 12 points works well for campground games.

Corn Hole

Corn Hole is a game with two large elevated 2ft.  by 4 ft. boards with 6 inch holes cut in them, and 4 corn filled bags. Many families have custom corn hole boards with sports teams or family names on them, and there are patterns and ideas for making your own! You can play with two people or even teams. Players stand opposite each other, and if on teams, players stand opposite their team mate. Players toss their corn filled bags and attempt to get them in the hole. Each bag landed on the board gets 1 point, and 3 points scored for bags in the hole, either thrown in or knocked through. 

Ladder Golf

Ladder Golf is another popular outdoor camping game. Two ladder-like structures are placed about 15 feet apart, and players toss three “bolas” (two golf balls connected with a piece of nylon rope) onto the rungs of the ladder. The top rung is 3 points, the middle is 2 points, and the bottom rung is 1 point. The first person or team to 21 points wins. 

Horseshoes

Horseshoes are played with metal or plastic horseshoes and pegs that are placed in the ground, regulation is 40 feet apart. Players compete by tossing the shoes and trying to get them around the peg. Horseshoes around the peg are “ringers” and get 3 points, if no ringers are thrown the closest horseshoe gets 1 point. If each player scores a ringer, the points cancel out. Play continues for a certain amount of innings or points, usually 15 or 21 for backyard horseshoes.

Indoor Games

If the weather isn’t great, indoor games can be a fun way of passing the time in the trailer, or under the RV awning. Bananagrams, Catchphrase, Uno, Exploding Kittens, Yahtzee, Phase 10, and Rummikub are popular with campers.

Bananagrams

Bananagrams is a simpler Scrabble. Players take 21 tiles out of a pouch and form words using those tiles, creating their own word grid. When a player uses their last letter, they call out “peel” and everyone takes another tile. You can exchange tiles but have to take 3 more to replace it. The first person to use all their letters and call out BANANAS wins!

Catchphrase

Catchphrase is a game where the player describes the word or phrase shown as fast as possible and tries to get their team to guess correctly before the time runs out!

Uno

Uno is an old favorite at the campground and at home. Using a specialized deck of cards, players try to match colors or numbers, using Skip and other extra cards to be the first person without any cards in their hand. The others then tally their cards. The person gets the points for all the others cards. The first person to 500 points wins.

Exploding Kittens

Exploding Kittens is a newer card game with a variety of unique and funny strategic cards, and the goal is to not pick the exploding kitten card unless you have other cards that keep you in the game!

Yahtzee

Yahtzee is another classic game that combines five dice, and you roll and score in 13 categories. This game is a little more advanced with various ways to play and score, but has been a family favorite for decades and teaches kids math and strategy.

Phase 10

Phase 10 is another game that uses special cards. Players must collect cards out of a draw and discard system to match various suits and move to the next “phase” on the list of 10. Strategy and numbers are learned and this game can be fun for all ages, and like any card game, it is easy to pack and inexpensive!

Rummikub

Rummikub is a tile game where players draw 14 tiles each, and then make runs or groups that add up to at least 30 points. Each player then tries to make their tiles play off of the existing played tiles to form a set. When one player runs out of tiles, the losers add up their tiles written as a negative number, and the winner of that round gets the same number as a positive score. 

Whether outdoor or indoor, games are a great way to spend time together at the campground with family and friends creating special camping memories!