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[title]Frisbee
Grab a friend, or even man’s best friend, because frisbee is the no-brainer, no-contact sport of summer. Apparently there are actual rules to follow (if you’re part of the Ultimate crowd, don’t @ us), but for everyone else, flinging a disc through the air is the perfect one-handed game for letting loose without even putting down your beer.
Cornhole
Get past this Midwestern game’s icky name and it’ll feel like a throwback to simpler times. Setup is easy: two angled wooden boards, each with a circular hole, square off from a distance as opposing players toss tiny beanbags (no corn necessary) toward each other’s board. You’ll score one point just for landing on the board, and three points for sacking it straight in the hole. The best part? These days, you can score foldable boards online that’ll take up less space than that ironing board you forgot about.
Photograph: Shutterstock
Mölkky
If you have one of those friends who can’t stop talking about their summer in France, chances are they’ve mentioned Mölkky at least twice (it’s particularly popular among the Parisian set). The hype adds up for the Finnish lawn game, also called Finska, where numbered pins are arranged on the ground as players toss a wooden peg—called a skittle!—in hopes of striking the cluster just right. There’s a small learning curve to an otherwise easy scoring system (simple math required), but for a numbers game with pins, it’s surprisingly a ball.
Flag Football
For an even softer version of American football—and certainly more lighthearted than that unforgettable Friends episode—Flag Football involves absolutely zero tackling (warning: egos may bruise). Instead of pummeling your friends, players simply chase the runner (a.k.a. the person carrying the football) toward the endzone and swipe the “flag” (any strip of fabric will do, even a bandana) tucked into their waistband in order to end the down—without actually taking anyone down in the process.
Dizzy Bat
This game is, well, stupid simple: Players down a full beer (true fanatics chug from a beer-filled whiffle ball bat) to the count of fellow participants. Next, with their forehead at the end of a bat, and the bat planted formula on the ground, the player spins in a circle for the same amount of time it took them to chug. The player, sufficiently dizzy, then swings at a ball (again, true fanatics will use beer cans) thrown by fellow participants; if they miss, they spin another three times before getting a second chance. Fact: there are no true winners of Dizzy Bat.
Roundnet
It’s been around since the '80s, but roundnet truly spiked after showing up on an episode of Shark Tank. Rebranded as Spikeball, it’s like a down-to-earth version of two-on-two volleyball—literally. Teams, positioned around a circular low-lying net, get up to three touches as they hit a tiny ball into the springy contraption. If the other team can’t return the hit, the other team takes the point. And just like that, BAM! It’s an instant classic.
Giant Beer Pong
In case you missed it, beer pong has finally—sorta—graduated. By replacing a ping-pong with a volleyball, and red cups with a rubber trash bins (which can be purchased in red with a little bit of Googling), players toss the ball, and cross their fingers, in hopes of hearing that swift, nostalgic thunk! But fear not: as long as you’re drinking Stella, you might actually look forward to missing your shot for a crisp swig.