Camping and playing games goes hand in hand. Our family’s favorite camping game is ladder golf but we have lots of others we enjoy as well.

One fun board game is called What’s Yours Like. What I like best about the game is that it is fun and different no matter if playing with kids, a group of adults, teenagers, or a group of older people.

A “guess word” is picked and everyone except the person in the “hot seat” gets to look at the word. They all then describe that item to the person in the hot seat but they try to be as clever and subtle as possible to prevent that person in the “hot seat” from guessing too quickly.

For example, the guess word may be “swimsuit.” The clues people may give might be, “mine is tight,” “it’s hot when I wear mine,” and “I hate shopping for mine.”

To watch a video of the game being played, click here.

Click here to see how well you can play the game with a couple sample clues. I’m pretty bad at the game. I played all five sample questions and only answered one correctly.

Playing games around the campfire is usually good for quite a few laughs.

One of our favorites is our version of the “Name Game.” It’s a round robin type game. The first person says their first name and says a short phrase where each adjective,verb, and noun in it has to start with the same first letter as their first name. The second person has to remember the what the first person said, plus add their own phrase. The third person has to remember what the first two people said plus add their own phrase. The game continues on like his until everyone has had a turn. It gets really fun with a large group of people because it’s hard to remember what everybody said so people start to make up really funny stuff.

Here’s an example of how the game is played.

Let’s say my name is Tammy and I’m going first. David is sitting next to me and is going second. Sally is sitting next to David and will go third. Fran is sitting next to David and is going fourth.

Tammy might say, “My name is Tammy and I’m a terrific teacher.

Then David might say, “I’m David and I’m a Dorky Dancer and Tammy is a terrific teacher.”

Then Sally might say, “I’m Sally and I’m a swaggering sailer.” “Tammy is a terriffic teacher and David is a dorky dancer.”

Then Fran might say, “I’m Fran and I like fried fruitcake.” “Tammy is a terrific teacher; David is a dorky dancer; and Sally is a swaggering sailor.”

It’s a type of memory game. If we only have 4 or 5 people playing the game we’ll go around 2 or 3 times without starting over to make it more challenging to remember all the phrases and to think of new descriptive words that start with the same first letter as a person’s name.

There’s no prizes or winner - just lots of laughs.

Playing games with family and friends is a really fun part of camping. It gives kids of all ages a chance to relax, laugh, and have a good time.

Cornhole is a great outdoor game to play while camping.

What is it?

It is a tossing game where a small bag filled with corn or sand or beans is pitched at a raise platform with a hole in the far end of it. Bags that go into the hole score 3 points. Bags that stay on the platform but don’t go into the hole score 1 point.

The platform itself is made of wood or a heavy plastic and the tossing bags are usually 6 inches by 6 inches square. Traditional bags are made of duck cloth and filled with dry feed corn, hence the name “Cornhole.”

The game originated in the Midwest; Cincinnati, Ohio to be exact. It is a popular game with campers.

The rules are pretty simple.

Two Cornhole boards are placed 27 feet apart on a flat surface (or as flat as possible because sometimes that has to be improvised a little while camping).

If playing singles, each of two players gets 4 Cornhole bags of the same color (8 bags total); if playing doubles each team gets 4 Cornhole bags of the same color.

One person from each team stands by each of the Cornhole boards. All 8 bags start on one end. Players take turns throwing bags until all 8 are thrown. Points are then tallied. Then the player or players on the other end take turns throwing the bags and the points are again counted.

When a team scores 21 or more points they win.

For the complete rules or to learn more about the game, click here to go to the American Cornhole Association whose “sole purpose is to promote the game of Cornhole or Corn Toss” (No, I’m not kidding. There really is an association devoted to the game of Cornhole).