Why Should You Step Outside and Play? The Surprising Benefits of Outdoor Games

The advice to go outside and play is not in short supply. What is in short supply is an honest account of why people do not, because the reasons are practical and almost none of the advice addresses them.

Four barriers account for most of it: time, weather, space, and the social awkwardness of suggesting a game to adults. Each has a specific fix, and none of the fixes is “try harder”.

Barrier 1: Time

The real objection is not that an hour is unavailable. It is that an hour has to be found in one block, and blocks of an hour are rare.

The fix is to lower the unit. A game of cornhole is twelve minutes. A round of Molkky is twenty. Neither needs an afternoon, and both are worth doing on their own.

What does not work: buying a game that needs a setup. A croquet set takes ten minutes to lay out, which means it needs a two-hour window to be worth starting. A cornhole board takes forty seconds, which means it gets used on a Tuesday evening.

The Test

Before buying, ask how long it takes from opening the shed to the first throw. Under a minute is a game that gets played. Over five is a game that gets played at parties.

Barrier 2: Weather

In northern Europe the outdoor season is four to five months. That is not a reason to avoid the category; it is a reason to plan for the other seven.

• Play in the shoulder months. April and October are perfectly playable in a jacket, and almost nobody does it.
• Extend the day, not the season. LED strips on a board edge or light-up bags turn a 6pm finish into a 9pm finish, which is the cheapest capacity increase available.
• Have one indoor game. A tabletop version of the same game means the habit survives the winter, and a habit that survives the winter comes back in April.

Barrier 3: Space

Most gardens are smaller than the games are designed for. A croquet court is 32 by 25.6 metres; a typical garden is a fraction of that.

The fix is to know which games have a short version and which do not.

Two of these are the honest ones. Kubb genuinely needs the field, because the inkast is the game. Croquet at full size genuinely needs a court, and what you get in a garden is a different game with the same equipment.

Barrier 4: Suggesting It

This is the one nobody writes about. Adults do not suggest games to other adults, because suggesting a game is a small social risk: it might be refused, or it might be embarrassing.

Three things reduce that risk, and they are all about the object rather than the invitation.

• Leave it standing. A game already set up in a garden gets played. A game in a bag does not, because the invitation becomes “shall we get the game out” rather than “shall we have a go”.
• Make it self-explaining. A board with a hole in it needs no explanation. A game with a rulebook needs a teacher, and being the teacher is a role most people do not want.
• Make it short. A twelve-minute game can be declined without offence and accepted without commitment. An hour-long game is a bigger ask.

What This Adds Up To

The games that get played are the ones with a short setup, a small footprint, a short round, and no rules to learn. That is a specification, and it is a much better buying guide than a list of benefits.

The benefits of being outside are real, and they are also not why anyone goes outside. People go outside because there is something to do when they get there.

Conclusion

Time, weather, space and the awkwardness of suggesting a game. Fix the first three with a shorter unit, a longer evening and a smaller footprint, and the fourth fixes itself once the game is standing in the garden.

FAQs

1. How long does a game need to be to get played?
Under twenty minutes for a weekday, and it has to set up in under a minute.

2. What if my garden is small?
Cornhole from one board, Molkky at 3 by 4 metres, ring toss at 2.5 metres. All three work in a small garden.

3. Can these games be played in winter?
Not the outdoor versions. Have one tabletop game so the habit survives, and play in April and October when nobody else does.

4. Why do games in bags not get used?
Because getting one out is an invitation. A game already standing is an opportunity.

5. Which game needs the most space?
Croquet at full size, at 32 by 25.6 metres. Kubb needs 5 by 8 metres and does not shorten well.