Lawns are for more than mowing

Classic lawn sports, once considered geezer games, are experiencing a resurgence of popularity from college campuses to home turf.

Lawn games have been around since there were, well … lawns. Egyptians played a rudimentary form of bocce with rocks as early as 5,000 B.C. and later, Romans became enamored and named it “bocce” meaning “bowl.”

Roman soldiers had to do something to pass time between skirmishes and the game of horseshoes was invented around the second century. Mallet and ball games, most likely precursors to modern golf, were all the rage for fun-lovers in the Middle Ages, after they spun wool, cobbled shoes and whipped up a nice bowl of gruel. All you need do, however, is don the shorts and flip-flops, light the Weber and challenge the family to a variety of lawn games from the ancient to the avant-garde.

Everything old is new again

BocceEveryone can play bocce ball #8212; age, athleticism, good looks, height or weight don't mean a thing but perfecting a keen underhand roll or toss sure can help. It's a blend of bowling and shuffleboard with perhaps a smidgen of skee-ball. The object is to get as many of your softball-size weighted bocce balls as close to a smaller target ball as possible. All you need are two teams from one to four players each, eight balls that weigh a couple pounds each and a target ball (called a pallino) that's about as big as a billiard ball. Have a measuring tape to settle close tosses. Bocce is usually played to seven points.Where to practice: Go balls-out at Pinstripes, Inc. (Northbrook and South Barrington) an entertainment and dining venue with bowling lanes, bocce courts, Italian-American bistro and wine cellar, outdoor patio and fireplace and party rooms. Toss it over to pinstripes.com for details.Get your own: Family-fun sets start at $29.99 at bocceballsets.com. HorseshoesPitching horseshoes on suburban lawns was as ubiquitous in the #8220;Mad Men#8221; 1960s as the three-martini lunch. The family friendly and easy-to-learn activity is simple to set up #8212; drive two stakes into the lawn 40 feet apart and start tossing. A layer of sand or at least a clearing of grass is a good idea. Nail a ringer (a shoe encircling the stake) and pencil in three points; shoes landing within six inches of the stake will get one point. You can set the point total for winning, but traditionally one wins at 40 points. Where to practice: The National Horseshoe Pitchers Association (horseshoepitching.com) has clubs around the country where you can toss shoes. There are around two dozen in Illinois, the closest in Downers Grove and Welles Park in Chicago.Get your own: Retailers like Target offer very affordable beginner sets or check out L.L.Bean which has offered classic sets since 1927 that include a monogrammable storage bag.CroquetWhat began as a civilized Victorian pastime has become a worldwide competitive sport #8212; there are even #8220;extreme croquet#8221; players who hit their balls with mallets on challenging terrain. For the backyard, croquet is played in turns as you maneuver your ball through the maze of wickets or metal hoops stuck in the ground. (Be sure the lawn is well trimmed so the croquet balls roll easily).Where to practice: The U.S. Croquet Association (croquetamerica.com) champions croquet in all its forms: nine wicket, modern American six wicket and Golf Croquet. The Chicago Club plays on two full-sized lawns in Jackson Park just south of the Museum of Science and Industry, day and night. Get your own: Sports Authority, amazon.com and other retailers offer a array of sets. Go to nextag.com/croquet-game/compare-html to see a comparison of sets and prices from $30 to a peak number for $657. BadmintonBadminton, an Olympic sport since 1992, is yet another lawn game that can be traced to military types, this time mid-18th century British officers in India. Played to 21 points, badminton involves slamming shuttlecocks with lightweight rackets over a net to the other side. Unlike tennis, a rally ends once the shuttlecock (or birdie) touches the lawn. Where to practice: Badmintonchicago.org maintains a list of clubs including those in Woodridge, Schaumburg, South Barrington, Lake Bluff and others. Get your own: Five Below is the extreme-value retailer that just opened 10 stores in Chicagoland. You can snag $4-$5 outdoor games including a two-racquet/two-birdie badminton set to get started. Take a look at fivebelow.com or head to the brick and mortar stores in Geneva, Crystal Lake and more. When you're seriously smashing birdies, go to badmintonwarehouse.com. 21st century gamesBagsThe origins of Cornhole (aka bags, baggo, bagz, bean bags, corn toss, etc.) is a puzzle #8212; some say 14th century Bavaria, others contend Cincinnati, Ohio, but whatever its origin, the game's popularity can't be denied and has swelled in the last decade. It's a friend and family sport for two or more players in which one attempts to toss small filled bags into holes carved into a slanted piece of wood. Tell the kids it's actually a game of physics and trajectories while they're having fun playing. Fans build their own and decorate them with designs depicting favorite sports teams, comic book characters and adult beverages. There are dozens of places to buy sets online, including cornholeoutlet.com and baggo.com, as well as local retailers.RollorsDesigned by a military veteran, Rollors merges bocce, bowling and horseshoes for a fun game tailgating, in the yard or park. You roll wooden disks (think oversized hockey pucks) toward a color-coded goal 25 feet away. Points are awarded to the player/team that positions their disks closest to the goal. Inventor Matt Butler came up with the game during downtime while serving in combat operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. The game, consisting of well-crafted hardwood pieces and a carrying case, sells for around $26 in numerous retailers like Menards and Meijer, as well as on the company website, rollors.net. Ladder ballLadder ball is an addictive outdoor game that's played by tossing bolas (two golf-sized balls tethered by a string) onto ladders with three rungs. Each rung has a different point value when your bola gets wrapped around one of the rungs. An easy way to find a set is through CSN Stores (csnstores.com) which carries more than 3 million products across 200 online sites. Just type in #8220;lawn games#8221; and you'll be amazed at the fun awaiting your family this summer from a human-sized outdoor chess set to lawn skittles, a game played in pubs and on lawns in Great Britain.