Lawn Games / Equipment in South Dakota State Parks

Equipment you can checkout for free during your visit may include croquet, ring toss, bocce ball, lawn toss, badminton or even fishing gear and tackle. Contact the individual park to see what they have available. More equipment checkout / rentals

Many of these opportunities have been provided in collaboration with the SD Department of Health and the SD Department of Education as they work to enhance health through physical activity.

How to play Badminton ~ Bocce ~ Croquet

Badminton Rules

Object of the game:
To keep the shuttlecock (birdie) in the air back and forth across the net without having it hit the ground on your side of the net within the boundary.

Simple rules:

Find a level spot about 44’ long and 20’ wide.
Place the net so the top is 5’ above the ground.
Players cannot hit the net with their bodies or the racket during play.
Players cannot reach over the net to hit the birdie.
Birdie cannot rest on or be carried by the racket.
Birdie may hit the net on its way across the net.
Toss a coin to see who serves first.
The serve must travel diagonally across the court to be good.
While serving, the racket must contact the birdie below the waist.
Points can only be scored when serving.
Team continues to serve and score until a fault occurs, at which time the opposite team serves.
A fault is any of the following: birdie served overhand; birdie falls into wrong side of the net or wrong half of the right side of the net; server doesn’t serve from correct side of their half of the court; server misses hitting the birdie when trying to serve; player reaches over the net; birdie falls outside the boundary or through or under the net; or the birdie is hit twice on the same side of the net.
The game is played to either 15 or 21 points.
Teams switch sides of the court after each game.

Bocce Rules

Object of the game:
See who can roll a bocce ball closest to the little ball that is called the "pallino" or the "jack."

Simple rules:

Find a level area about 90’ long and 13’ wide.
Get two teams of two people each.
Determine the centerline (45’ on each side).
Determine the foul line at the end of the 90’ court.
Match begins by tossing a coin. Winner of the toss gets to either toss the jack or choose the color of the balls for his/her team.
There are two balls per person. Team members have the same color.
Either the person who chose the jack or didn’t pick the ball color throws the jack at least past the centerline.
Players feet must not cross the foul line when they throw.
If the jack doesn’t make it past the centerline, the opposing team tries to throw it past the centerline.
The player who originally tossed the jack throws the first bocce ball.
That player steps aside and that person’s team doesn’t toss again until the opposing team has either gotten one of its bocce balls closer to the jack or has thrown all their balls.
The team whose bocce ball is closest to the jack is called "inside" while the opposing team is called "outside."
Whenever a team gets "inside" its steps aside and lets the other team roll.
This continues until all the balls have been thrown.
Only the "inside" team scores.
One point is given for each "inside" team bocce ball that is closer to the jack than the opponent’s bocce balls.
Measurement is taken from the side of the bocce ball closest to the jack to the outside of the jack on the side closest to the bocce ball.
The team that wins throws out the jack for the next game.
The first team to get 12 points wins, but must win by 2 points.

Croquet

Objective of the game:
Be the first to hit your ball with a mallet through a series of hoops.

Rules of the game:

Find a relatively level area approximately 100 feet long and 50 feet wide.
Place the stakes in the ground at opposite ends of the playing field.
Place the nine wire wickets in a pattern shaped like two diamonds with the center wicket at the center point between the two diamonds.
Put two wickets in a row in front of the stakes at the opposite ends of the court.
Play with 2, 3, 4, 5, or 6 players divided into two teams.
Have each team start at opposite sides of the playing field by the stakes.
Each player gets a mallet and a ball of the same color.
Determine the order of play by the colors of the balls/mallets.
Each player hits his/her ball with his/her mallet one time.
Each time a player hits his/her ball through a wicket, that player gets to hit their ball one more time.
If a player hits another player’s ball, the player who hit the ball gets to either hit his/her ball another time OR puts his/her ball by the players ball that was hit. Then the person who hit the ball gets to put his/her foot on their own ball and hit their own ball with the mallet, thereby knocking the other player's ball off course.

Option – Ball becomes "poison" when it finishes the course and hits the stake. At that point, any ball hit by the poison ball is out of the game.

Option – Score points by getting one point for each wicket passed through and for touching the stakes.

Option – Set a time limit and see who has accumulated the most points.

Option – Instead of laying out the course in a figure 8 formation, lay it out like a miniature golf course and play it like miniature golf with the wickets serving as the "holes."