Ladder Ball: A Great Group Game Option

Interesting
fact before we talk about the rules of the game: some speculate that the game
may have originated as early as the 1900’s and believe the bola is a stand-in
for a live snake, which cowboys in the western United States used to throw at
fences or branches for points.

It takes the saying “In
my day…” to a whole new level.

Anyways, let’s get
into how to play Ladder Ball, aka Ladder Golf, Bolo Toss, Boloball or Hillbilly
Golf.

Participants:

• Two or more players or
  teams

Equipment:

• “Ladder” with 3 rungs: a top, middle
  and a bottom.
• Each player has 3 golf ball bolas. A bola is two golf balls
  attached by a nylon
  rope. 

Object of the
Game:

• To wrap your bolas around the rungs of the ladder.
  . 

Playing
the Game:

• Laddar Ball
  can be a two to four player game, individuals or
  teams.
• Ladders should be positioned 15 feet apart, for
  the “official toss line”, but most players measure five paces from the game
  ladder to set the toss line.
• The game is played in rounds
  and each round consists of all players tossing 3 bolas
  each.
• A coin toss is used to decide which player or team
  will toss first.
• The first player or team must toss all 3
  bolas before the next player or team is able to toss his or her
  bolas.
• Bolas can be tossed in anyway the player chooses,
  as long as they are tossed individually. They can also be bounced off the
  ground.
• The winner of the round earns the first toss in
  the next round.
• In addition, if players from opposing
  teams have bolas hanging from the same rung at the end of the round, those
  points “cancel each other out” and neither team scores those
  points.

Point
Values:

• Points are
  determined by which rung your bola wraps around.
• The top
  rung is worth 3 points the middle rung is worth 2 points and the bottom rung
  is worth 1 point.
• Players can score an optional bonus of
  1 point by hanging all 3 bolas from the same step or by hanging a bola on all
  3 rungs in one round.
• The highest amount of points
  available per player is 10. This is accomplished by hanging all 3 bolas on
  the top
  rung. 

Scoring:

• Games
  are played to an exact point total of 21.
• In order to
  win, a player must be the only one to score exactly 21 points after the
  completion of a round.
• If a player goes over the exact
  point total, that players points for that round do not
  count.
• When one player or team reaches 21 or more points
  before an opponent reaches 20 points, the team or player scoring 21 or more
  is the winner.
• All games must be won by a least 2
  points.
• If after all players have tossed all their bolas,
  and one team has scored 21 points, but it’s not at least 2 points ahead of
  the other players, then the game continues until one team can outscore the
  other by at least 2 points.
• In the case of a tie at 21,
  the players that tie will play as many overtime rounds as needed until one
  player ends a complete round 2 points ahead of the other
  player.
• After all teams have tossed all their bolas,
  scoring is determined by the bolas that are still hanging from the
  rungs.
• Players can knock-off bolas during the course of
  the game, in fact knocking-off other players bolas is encouraged and a good
  way to play defensively.

Learn how
to build your own ladder ball game