The sun sets eventually on every day, but that doesn’t mean that the fun has to stop! When we’re entertaining guests in our yard the party is only getting started when the sun goes down – especially in spring and fall. We had been tired of the same old same old games and I went looking for something to play with friends (or kids’ friends) after dark.
Adding glow to your games can extend play through dusk and into the evening but there are a few things to consider before adventuring out into the dark:
- When it gets dark, you can’t see other players. This might seem obvious, but if the game you’re playing involves throwing items that are potentially hazardous it’s better the take safety into consideration. To reduce the risk, make sure everyone has something that will show them in the dark. This could be a headlamp or light (although that can spoil the darkness) or it could be as simple as getting an extra pack of glow bracelets or necklaces and making everyone wear them
- You’re not going to be able to see the ground, or obstructions on it. If your game is going to be really active, make sure that before the light goes out you’re checking that anything laying in the play area is removed. If there is anything that could be dangerous, mark it with something that will be seen in the dark – such as a glow in the dark cone or some additional glow in the dark bracelets. You could also mark out the boundary of the game with this kind of glow-item.
- If you are blessed with a backyard that really gets dark (which you won’t see in most cities) – play in the really dark. The games are a heck of a lot more fun if you can’t see the people you’re playing with, and they’re just a bunch of floating glow sticks.
With that out of the way, let’s look at some backyard games you can play in the dark.
Looking for backyard games? Check out this selection at Amazon
Sports
While there are a lot of options for sports or sport-like games that you can play in the dark, we’ll focus on three that you can play in a back yard with fairly limited space if you need to. All three of these games can be adapted from their normal, lighted, state to be able to be played both in the dark and in smaller environments but in each case you will see something moving fast or flying through the air so player and target identifications are important.
Ultimate – Glow in the Dark Backyard Edition
Ultimate (Frisbee) is a great two team sport (and sometimes heavily contact sport, if you ask my cousin who’s had multiple surgeries from the games over her career) where the goal of the game is to pass a flying disc (which everyone will call a Frisbee, based on the brand name of the disc) to a teammate in the end zone of the opposing team. In a very basic summary, play starts with the defending team throwing to the attacking team, and the attacking team trying to pass the disc from player to player in the air until they cross into the opponent’s end zone. Players can’t move while holding the Frisbee and have 10 seconds to make another pass. You can check out the rules for Ultimate here.
Adapting Ultimate for your Glow In The Dark Play: Ultimate typically requires a large field and seven players on each team but most backyards have neither the space for the game or the space for the players. If you can’t take it to a park, you can play with fewer players and a smaller than standard field by laying out glow in the dark markers for the end zones and reducing the number of players per team. Dropping the number of players will impact how the game is played, but you can still make it fun in a smaller yard – just loosen up on the rules a little.
To set up Ultimate in your backyard in the dark:
- Set out boundaries with glow in the dark markers (cones or solar lights or glow in the dark necklaces or bracelets)
- Divide up into team
- Give each player a glowing indication of their team (necklaces or glowing LEDs of the same color)
- Decide how fast and loose you’re going to play based on the light
- Get into your endzones and start!
Glow in the Dark Soccer
Ah, soccer. Or football. The world’s most popular sport. Soccer is great because it can be played with almost nothing. A bunch of rags tied together in something like a ball and a few rocks for the goal and you’ve got yourself a soccer game and it’s barely more complicated than that to set up a great round of glow in the dark soccer.
If, for any reason, you need a refresher on the rules, you can check here, but you won’t need that to play in the dark!
How to Play Soccer in the Dark
The first thing you’ll need to play soccer in the dark is a ball like this one here (at Amazon) that will light up in the dark, and something to mark the goals (like these light up cones, also at Amazon.) Set these up in a space that’s appropriate for the number of players you have in your yard, and that has been cleared of obstructions that might cause injury during play. When the sun goes down, give everyone a glow bracelet or glow necklace of the same color for each team, and get playing!
A smaller space means fewer players and a small scrimmage, but glow in the dark soccer can be great fun for kids and adults if you can play with larger teams on a larger field. If you can get on a full size field, consider wrapping the posts in glowing bracelets or necklaces, or an LED string to mark it out..
Glow in the Dark Baseball
America’s pastime, baseball is normally a game or large fields and larger hits. Playing the game on a diamond in an organized (or disorganized) setting is how millions of kids spend their summer each year, but can also be adapted to be played in the dark, even in a backyard. If you want to check them out, MLB’s rules for baseball are here, but you won’t really need them in a friendly game after dark.
How to Play Glow in the Dark Baseball
First realize that glow in the dark baseball won’t be like normal baseball. Pitching overhand from a standard distance with a hardball (even if it was glowing) wouldn’t be practical (or safe.) We play glow in the dark baseball with an underhand throw and without basemen, with the objective to get the ball back in to home plate before the runner crosses.
To play the game you’ll need something that you can toss and hit in the dark. You can do this by going to the dollar store and getting some wiffle balls, a plastic kid’s bat, and some glow in the dark bracelets. Activate a bracelet or two and put them in each wiffle ball to give you glow in the dark baseballs. You can tape a few bracelets around the bat (using clear packing tape) to get a neat glow in the dark bat as well.
Set up a diamond with glow bracelets or necklaces to mark the bases and home plate, and you’re ready to go.
While baseball is typically a team game, we play it after dark as an individual sport with each player getting a turn to bat and trying to score the maximum runs they can in three outs and everyone else in the field. With 4-5 players this works well in a back yard as the wiffle balls won’t fly too far off either the bat or when thrown – although you should get to know your neighbors in order to get them back if someone cranks a home run over the fence.
For each at bat, the hitter has to reach and stay on a base before the ball gets back to home plate (run or thrown.) If the batter is safe, a ghost runner is there and they go back up to bat. Advancing bases push up the ghost runners and the most runners or ghost runners that cross the plate before 3 outs is that player’s total. Outs can be made by catching the ball in the air, getting the ball back to home while the runner is in motion, or 3 strikes – and fouls don’t keep you alive – if you can’t get a hit in three swings, you’re out. If you’ve got all adults, consider a “no singles” rule to make the game move along faster.
Target Games
Target games in the dark are both easy and fun, and are much less athletic than glow in the dark sports games. These games can be played in a relaxed manner in any sized back yard, with as many friends and guests as you have. A little preparation and no lights will go a long way.
Wiffle Ball Toss
Games can be a simple as tossing a ball into a bucket. Take away the light, and things just get better.
To play wiffle ball toss, you need a minimum of one target, but the game gets better with multiple targets and multiple points.
To Play:
- Go to the dollar store and get some wiffle balls, some buckets, and some glow in the dark bracelets and necklaces.
- Activate the bracelets and place them in the wiffle balls to create glow in the dark wiffle balls.
- Activate the necklaces and secure them to the top of the buckets.
- Place the buckets in a formation and assign points. I like a triangle with the point away from the thrower, in a 50-20-10 points patter (50 for the farthest, 20 for the two closer buckets, and 10 each for the closest bucket
- Drop a necklace for the start line, and begin your targeting! First to 500 (or 250, or 200) wins!
Lawn Darts
Before we look at lawn darts – metal tipped lawn darts are extremely dangerous, and have been banned in Canada and the United States for over 20 years. If you have metal tipped lawn darts, it’s time to get rid of them. New lawn darts are made of plastic and have safety tips, and as such can be safely used in the back yard and in the dark.
Lawn darts are played in a similar fashion to horseshoes or cornhole – a target is set up (typically a ring, or in the dark a glow in the dark ring) and two people or two teams toss the darts at the target trying to score 21 points. Each dart that lands inside the ring counts as a point, but if both teams get darts in the target, the points cancel out. Targets are typically about 35′ out, but you can place them anywhere based on the skill of the players.
The glow in the dark version of this game is the same as the lighted version. Get yourself a safe lawn dart set like this one (at Amazon), some glow in the dark bracelets or necklaces to identify the teams, and start throwing.
Bocce Ball
Bocce Ball is a great game somewhat like lawn bowling where two opposing teams of 1-4 players each bowl their balls trying to get closes to the “Jack”, a small ball target. If you’re interested in the rules of Bocce Ball, wikiHow has a great short primer here.
Bocce Ball in the dark is the same as in the light – but you’ll need a glow in the dark Bocce Ball set. You can find them here at Amazon.
Dice Games
If you’ve played any yard dice games (see 6 Great Dice Games To Play In Your Backyard) you know that they can be great entertainment for kids and adults alike (and can be modified to more child and more adult situations.) Dice games don’t need to stop when the sun goes down.
To convert your yard dice to after-dark yard dice simply pick up some glow-in-the-dark paint and make sure the spots on your dice are well painted. They will need some charging time before you get started so place them in a well-lit spot during the afternoon and turn a few time to make sure that all the spots are fully charged.
After the sun goes down set up your boundaries (and mark your target with some glow-in-the-dark necklaces strung together if you’re playing snake eyes) and get rolling! If you use your phone to keep score you’ll have a single light you can easily turn off to get back to the fun in the dark.
Glow In The Dark Twister
And at last we come to Twister. Twister is a great party game that runs the same in the light or in the dark. A sheet with 4 colored rows of 6 circles is used with a spinner indicating which body part is to go on which color. Twister can be a lot of fun in the dark when you don’t know who and what you’re leaning or rubbing up against.
If you’re interested in a great tutorial on making a glow in the dark Twister set, check out this link to holidappy.com. Happy Twisting!