Target petanque

So, the other day I was stuck at home, studying for an exam, and the weather was rather inclement.  This did give me the opportunity to use the word "inclement" (which is always fun), but also meant I couldn't go for a walk.

I was planning on studying steadily for several hours (ppft!  like that was ever going to happen) and then go for a walk.  I'm very easily distracted at the best of times.  Give me a rainy day and all I want to do is play.

And, for some reason, there's nothing like telling my brain that it desperately needs to focus on something important to get those eureka moments regarding other issues that are of a) no relevance to the task at hand, and b) no importance in the grand scheme of things.

So, while trying to cram separable and inseparable verbs into my head (I understand the principle, but I don't know the vocabulary), I "discovered" a new in door game that's potentially fun for the whole family.

I'd like to say I invented it but, quite frankly, it's so obvious and simple that I'm pretty sure someone has already done that, so I'm going to say "discovered".  And, on the odd chance no one has already patented the darn thing and is attempting to make money out of it as I speak, I'm giving the idea away for free.

Any enterprising soul who wants to make a version of this to sell can go ahead and do so, but it's a bit DIY, really, and anyone can do it as long as they have some juggling balls or hacky-sacks/footbags around the place.

I call it "target petanque", and it's kind of like a cross between petanque and curling.  And a little bit indoor bowling for people with limited space.

You will need:

• Two pieces of paper (or even just one)
• Some highlighters or coloured pens
• Two or three juggling balls (the bean-bag kind) or hacky-sacks/footbags per player
• A hallway or space that's approximately 1 pace wide and at least six paces long.

This is how you play:

1. Using the coloured pens, draw a target on each sheet of paper - a vertical/horizontal cross (+) with a circle around the center that has a radius about the size of one of your balls (so, in theory, two balls could fit side-by-side inside the circle).
2. Put one target at one end of the hallway, take six long steps (paces) and put the other target at that point (perhaps put another mark at the six-pace point for the younger/shorter members of the family).  Decide which areas are "out of bounds".
3. Assemble players into two teams.
4. Stand behind one target and, with your feet planted firmly on the ground, toss the balls underhand towards the farther target.
5. Like petanque, each team takes a turn to toss initially.  If team A's ball is closer to the target than team B's ball, team B keeps tossing until they have the closest ball.  Then team A tosses until they have the closest ball, and so on.  
6. When all of the balls have been tossed, the winning team is the one with the ball closest to the center of the target.  They score 1 point for each ball that is closer to the center than the closest ball for the opposing team.
7. If a ball lands on or in the circle around the center of the target, it will score 2 points - regardless of whether it is the winning ball (so, a ball that lands in the circle *and* is the closest ball to the center is worth 3 points).  Any balls that end up out of bounds are not counted.
8. Players then line up behind that target, facing the opposite direction, and play again - throwing back towards the target at the other end of the hall (if space makes this awkward, they can always throw from the same point in the same direction).
9. Play back and forth from both ends, the first team to reach 13 points wins.

And that's it.  Pretty simple - and easy enough to do on a rainy day, as long as you have enough juggling balls/footbags to give each player two balls.

If I were an enterprising soul myself (which I'm not) I would make a pack with four sets of three juggling balls (three red, three yellow, three blue and three green, for example) and two prefabricated targets.  That would enable up to six people to play at one time, and also come in handy for juggling parties.

Oh...  I should totally start throwing juggling parties...