Top 10 Strange Games for the Fourth of July Celebrations

July 4th is one of the most revered of the summer holidays and for good reason - barbeques, fireworks, friends and cold beverages – need we say more? Outdoor games are another activity that often go hand-in-hand with this patriotic celebration, and if you’re anything like us, the same old ones are starting to feel a little tired. We decided to spice things up this year by rounding up some of the most unusual yet extremely fun backyard games for you to try. If nothing else, they’re guaranteed to produce lots of laughs and some excellent July 4th memories.

Wet Baseball – This game is perfect for warm summer days! It’s played just like regular baseball, soft ball or soccer baseball, but each base is marked by a kiddy pool filled with water. The best part – sliding into home base on a slip and slide.

Extreme Egg Toss – Broken eggs on a warm summer day aren’t exactly ideal, but that’s what gives this game its high stakes. Partner-up and divide everyone into two lines so that partners are about 2-feet from one another to start. Give everyone on one side of the line a raw egg and have them toss it across to their partner, taking one step back after every toss! Sounds easy enough but the further you get the tougher it is and a broken egg gets you kicked out of the game.

Seed spitting – Best played with sunflower or watermelon seeds, the aim of the game is exactly what it sounds like – see who can spit the seeds the farthest. Check out What About Watermelon's Seed Spittin' Contest for details - if you think you'd like a few more rules.

Toilet Seat Horseshoes – Ever played horseshoe? Great, then you already know how to play this game. The difference here is that instead of horseshoes, you're tossing toilet seats!

Bucket Ball – All you’ll need for this game is a bag full of tennis balls, a bucket and a few willing players split into teams. Teams take turns trying to get as many balls as possible into a bucket being held on top of a teammates head. The Bucket Boy/Girl must stay at least 20 feet away from the rest of the players but they are allowed to move around in an attempt to catch more balls. The team who ends up with the most balls in the bucket wins!

Flower Pot Race – Remember playing games as a child where the floor was molten hot lava? The premise behind Plant Pot Race is pretty similar. Players are given 2 pots and must get from point A to point B by only stepping on the pots! If you want to make this game a bit easier, try attaching ropes to the bottoms of the pots so that players can use them as shoes!

Dodgeball 2.0 – Denying that you’ve been hit is nearly impossible in this wet take on the traditional dodgeball game. Instead of using balls, players take out members of the other teams by hitting them with wads of wet toiler paper!

Opener – This is another game we can wait to try. It’s kind of like soccer, but instead of a net, all players wear a hula hoop attached to a helmet on their heads and teammates have to put the ball through the hoop once in their end zone.

Leg Wrestling – This game is a lot of fun and the winner is often a surprise because it’s about speed as much as it’s about strength. It’s played with two people who lay on the grass beside each other but in opposite directions. On the count of three the players hook adjacent legs and attempt to be the first to flip their opponent over!

Dorka – Last but not least is the game of Dorka. We’d never heard of it until recently but now we can’t wait to give it a try. It involves two teams, shoes and a person called the ‘Dorka’ who has to wear a bucket on their head. Intrigued? Check out the rest of the rules over at Strange Games.

Whether you stick to more traditional games this year or decide to give a few of these more unique games a try, we wish all of you a safe and happy Fourth of July weekend, filled with friends, family and lots of fun.

Photo Credit:

• Egg Toss
• Toilet Seat Toss
• Plant Pot Races
• Leg Wrestling