Quoits is a traditional target throwing game in which rings are thrown at a target spike, and the objective is to get them as close as possible to the targets. The origin of the game is not very clear and there are theories that suggest the game originated from similar games played in ancient Greece. Today, quoits is mostly played in the United Kingdom and the United States.
There are several distinct variations of game play. In the traditional version, games are played on a square field measuring 3ft across filled with moist clay. Metal discs made of steel are used to throw at a metal spike positioned vertically in the middle of the field.
In the United Kingdom, three distinct versions of quoits exist. The "northern game" version is played with 5½ inch diameter quoits are thrown at pins that are 11yards away. In the "long game" the pins are 18 yards away from the throwing line, and the objective is to throw heavier quoits as close as possible to the pin that is flush with the ground. The "East Anglian quoits" is similar to the "long game", but is played with lighter and the objective is to get the quoits into the raised hobs.
Similar Sports
- Horseshoes — players toss horseshoes alternately at stakes in the ground.
- Washer Pitching — a target throwing game similar to horseshoes, in which players take turns to toss washers into a box or hole.
- Cornhole — a bag toss game, in which you throw a small soft bag towards an angled board with a hole at the far end.
- Tejo — a Colombian sport in which metal discs are thrown 20m to a target that explodes when hit.
- Jukskei — a folk sport from South Africa where competitors throw wooden pins to try and knock down a target wooden peg.
- Pétanque — a type of boules in which the objective is to throw hollow metal balls towards a small wooden target ball.
- Varpa — an old outdoor game dating back to the Viking Age. It is similar to boules but played with a flat and heavy thrower known as "varpa" instead of balls, once made of shaped stones but nowadays aluminum is more popular.
- Digor — a sport from Bhutan in which a pair of spherical flat stones are hurled at two targets fixed in the ground 20m apart.
- Calva — a traditional Spanish sport in which you throw a piece of metal to knock down bull's horn-shaped piece of wood.
- Tennikoit — played with a rubber ring, in which the objective is to catch and throw the ring back onto the opponent's half of the court. Also called ring tennis or tenniquoits.
Related Pages
- List of Boules-type sports
- Complete list of sports
- The Encyclopedia of Sports