Games To Play At A Bar
- Best Bar Games
- Games To Play At A Bar With Friends
- Games To Play At A Barbecue Party
- Drinking Games To Play At A Bar
- Fun Activities For Bars
- Games For Bars
- Games To Play At A Bar
Play Saloon Brawl 2 - Join the Wild West brawl and be the last one standing! How to play Fast Food Bar Run a fast-food restaurant in this service-oriented cooking game! Customers expect their orders to arrive on the belt in a flash, so fix burgers, hot dogs, and your other deliciously greasy fast-food recipes as quickly as possible.or at least before your clients' patience bar runs out. Play the best free Bar Games on Agame.com. The most common game played against the bar is the Shake of the Day, which is either played for a pot of dollar bills that has accrued over the day, or the drink being ordered. During a recent visit to Sister Bay Bowl in Sister Bay, Wisconsin, a bartender called Sam gave me a quick tutorial.
Drinks on the patio. Is there anything better? Actually, yes. Games on the patio. These 20 bar patio games can turn your outdoor seating area into a spot for socializing – and a little friendly competition.
Tap TV is a fun, free-to-play social gaming network for bars and restaurants. Get the app, find a location, and start playing today.
3 Reasons Why Bar Patio Games Rule
1) Living Billboard
Research shows that outdoor seating at bars and restaurants can drive up sales by 30%. One of the reasons for the increased revenue is that your patio becomes a “living billboard,” showing people passing by all the fun they’re missing. Adding bar patio games to the mix creates a lively social scene that will catch the eye of anyone nearby.
2) Events Made Easy
When the weather is nice, bar patio games give guests a reason to leave their own backyard. Set up an event around your bar patio games – from cornhole tournaments to beer pong playoffs. P.S. Always run a Facebook event for extra promotional power.
3) The Golden Hour Factor
Also known as the magic hour, the golden hour – right before and during sunset – is the ideal time for flattering photos. (Every millennial knows this.) When those selfies are snapped, your bar patio games get free Instagram and Facebook exposure…making your bar the “it” spot on social media.
It’s Game Time: The Top 20 Bar Patio Games
1) They Might Be Giants
Best Bar Games
Think outside the game box and go big with your bar patio games. Jenga is fun. Giant Jenga is irresistible. Use this simple DIY guide to creating a set of XL Jenga blocks.
Or, paint a giant checkerboard on your patio floor. Plastic red and black plates become the game pieces. You could even paint blue, green, red, and yellow circles on the floor to create a permanent Twister game.
2) A Round of…Sholf?
This list of bar patio games is about to get weird. Say hello to “Sholf,” a mashup of shuffleboard and golf. This quirky game took off at football tailgates about a decade ago. You can order the official kit or create your own using a putting green mat, a putter, golf balls – and this Sholf guide.
3) Shuffleboard: Not Just for Florida Seniors
If Sholf isn’t your thing, consider straight up shuffleboard – especially if you want your bar patio games to attract millennials.
You can thank the Royal Palms Shuffleboard Club in Brooklyn for making this senior-approved game a hipster’s delight. A regulation court is 52-feet long, but if space (and budget) is an issue, opt for a demure 9-foot tabletop version.
4) Bean Bag Toss AKA Cornhole
You can’t talk about bar patio games without the iconic bean bag toss – also known as cornhole. This bar “sport” is becoming so popular, venues are holding tournaments.
Get your DIY on again and use this tutorial for building cornhole boards. Paint your logo onto the boards or get a large decal printed. After all, #cornhole is trending on Instagram so this keeps your brand in the picture (literally).
5) Skittles (No, Not the Candy)
Woudst thou liketh to playeth a game of ye olde Skittles?
Skittles, or lawn bowling, has been played in Europe for centuries. No lawn? No problem. Set up the 10 wooden pins on the floor and let the good times roll with the most traditional of bar patio games.
6) Today’s Arcade is Tableside
Think lawn bowling is too old school? Give guests the latest tech instead. Put touchscreen bar tablets from Buzztime in the hands of every guest. They can tap into realistic arcade games 24/7 or join in nationally scheduled trivia that runs 7 days a week, 15 hours a day. With over 10 million register players nationwide, Buzztime bar patio games can attract new patrons to your place.
7) Live Trivia for the Win
Take your bar patio games to the next level. Host a live trivia event! The same bar tablets that hook up guests with arcade games double as scoring devices on trivia night. No need to hire a trivia host, you get everything needed to host live trivia yourself.
8) Hoops Contests
Score a slam dunk with guests. Set up a mini basketball hoop and let the bar patio games begin. Run a trick shot contest and let audience applause determine the winner. Or, create a contest with a high stakes prize if someone makes a shot from across the patio.
9) How Low Can You Go?
Everyone loves to limbo (well, except really tall people). Purchase a limbo set for under $50. Play Flo Rida and T-Pain’s hit song Low. Now, you’ve got a limbo contest to add to your bar patio games lineup.
10) Card Games for Cool Kids
Time to toss that dusty Trivial Pursuit game. Upgrade to today’s trending card-based bar patio games like Cards Against Humanity, and What Do You Meme? Fair warning: these games are NSFW and definitely for the 21+ crowd. But millennials love ‘em. In fact, Cards Against Humanity is the #6 best-selling game on Amazon.
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The ultimate guide for owners & managers.
11) Horseshoes
Games To Play At A Bar With Friends
Take inspiration from backyard classics when planning your bar patio games. Granted, you’ll need sand pits and a strip of lawn for horseshoes. But the payoff is giving your outdoor bar space a homey, cool, sorta-country vibe.
12) KanJam
Next up on this list of bar patio games is a newer backyard favorite. KanJam involves two players who each guard a “goal” (which looks like a black trash bin). Players try to aim their frisbee into the bin.
13) Table Tennis
You’ve already got the tables. Push them together. Then just add ping pong balls, a net, and paddles. It’s bar patio games made easy. Run a table tennis tournament and watch guests get their game on all night long.
14) Flippin’ Fun
You could say Flip Cup is America’s unofficial college sport. The equipment? Red Solo Cups. Here’s how to run a flip cup game like a pro:
Two teams with an equal amount of players line up on either side of a long table. Every player has a cup in front of them. One player from each team begins the flip off by attempting to…flip their cup over. Once they land their cup, the next player goes. The team who successfully flips all their cups first, wins. It’s simple. It’s fun. It’s going to be one of your most popular bar patio games.
15) Beer Pong
Ah, beer pong. It’s another favorite college game involving those Red Solo Cups (and ping pong balls). Like cornhole, many bars run beer pong tournaments to turn their bar patio games into cool competitions.
This beer pong tutorial shows you how the game is played. But chances are, you already know how…
16) Croquet, Dahling
Let’s step away from the college games and explore the refined game of croquet. Again, this is one of those bar patio games that requires a small lawn area. Players strike colorful croquet balls through wire hoops using a wooden mallet. This sophisticated game can inspire the perfect summer event: croquet and cocktails.
17) Video Bar Patio Games Under the Stars
Games To Play At A Barbecue Party
Fortnite isn’t just a video game, it’s a national obsession. That’s why bars across America are hosting Fortnite tournaments. If you’ve got TVs on your bar patio, consider getting in on the Fortnite insanity with a tourney at your place.
18) Texas Hold ‘Em Tourney
Bar tablets come into play again. This time, they become a virtual deck of cards so guests can throw down in Texas Hold ‘Em on your patio. Raise the stakes and run a tournament to maximize the ROI of your poker bar patio games.
19) Scrabble Supersized
Scrabble tiles are tiny. Create your own larger set using plywood or cardboard and set them out on the patio floor using this easy DIY guide to “Lawn Scrabble.” Yes, we had to sneak in one more giant game onto this bar patio games list.
20) Chalk it Up
Sometimes the best bar patio games are the simplest. If you’re like many bars, you turn a section of your parking lot into a patio during warmer months. Boom, you’ve got a blank canvas for chalk-based games. Think retro hopscotch or simple rounds of tic, tac, toe. Set out buckets of sidewalk chalk so guests can get arty.
When it comes to fun and games, take it outside. Bar patio games create a social, upbeat atmosphere that no guest can resist. Let the (outdoor) games begin!
I first became aware of bar dice a number of years back when I stopped into a bar in Two Rivers, Wisconsin, for a quick lunch and a beer. While I was eating my hamburger, a rangy-looking man walked in and, without so much as a how-dee-doo, asked the bartender, “Can I have the dice?” She handed them to him a leather cup and he began shaking.
Gaming and barrooms are a marriage that stretches back to the beginning of public houses. But how Wisconsin came to collect and build its specific traditions is less clear. Jim Draeger, a Wisconsin bar historian, dates the popularity of bar dice in the state to at least the end of Prohibition, but has not discovered the game’s origins. Today, however, bar dice is as unavoidable a fact of saloon life in Wisconsin as over-the-top Bloody Mary garnishes and Brandy Old-Fashioneds.
“Any bar around here, you walk in and they’ll have them,” says Bob MacDonald, whose family has owned the Bayside Tavern in Fish Creek, Wisconsin, for more than 40 years.
The dice are five in number and they invariably dwell in a soft, round cup dressed in leather or faux leather. The fancy material isn’t about the bar putting on airs; it’s to prevent wear and tear. There’s a showy body language that goes along with playing bar dice: when a player shakes the cup, they bring it down with a loud smack, an action that’s rough on both the cup and the bar surface.
“Banging the cup on the bar with manly force produces a violent sound,” reported Copley News Service in 1973, “like a cowboy boot striking the side of a stalled pickup, and can be one of life’s worst shocks to the nervous system.” The soft cup helps mute the impact. “I think it’s meant to be a cushion,” says Draeger, co-author of Bottoms Up, a study of Wisconsin saloons.
Drinking Games To Play At A Bar
The general goal of any session is to see who buys the next round, and you either play your fellow barflies or the bartender. There are many different games, most consisting of three shakes of the cup per player. There is Ship, Captain, Crew, in which you try to gather a ship (a roll of a “six”), captain (“five”) and crew (“four”), in that order, your score being what’s left on the two remaining dice. Popular in Green Bay, according to Draeger, is Threes, where a roll of a “three” counts as zero and the lowest score wins. Then there’s the hardcore 7-14-21. Only dice that come up as “one” are counted. The player who rolls the seventh “one” names the drink; the player who rolls the 14th downs the drink; and the 21st buys the drink.
The most common game played against the bar is the Shake of the Day, which is either played for a pot of dollar bills that has accrued over the day, or the drink being ordered. During a recent visit to Sister Bay Bowl in Sister Bay, Wisconsin, a bartender called Sam gave me a quick tutorial. “There are general things that people abide by,” she explained. “One is you never put the dice in the cup to give to the next guy. You always pass the dice outside of the cup. It’s etiquette.”
The goal of the game is to get the highest score in three shakes or less. To start the game you must roll a “one,” called an “ace.” An ace is also considered wild. Ideally you want five “sixes”, the highest possible roll, which is known as “56” (five “sixes,” see?). Which brings us to another matter: Bar dice has its own language. Three “fours” is a “34”; four “fives” is a “45”; and so on. A loss is a “horse on you” or “horse on me,” depending on the case. A tie to be decided by a third round is “a horse a piece.”
Sam and I had a horse apiece, so our game went on to a third round, which I won with a “46,” securing my free, ice-cold PBR. But, then again, I didn’t exactly have stiff competition. As Sam explained, bartenders tend to “play nice,” so as not to alienate customers.
It can all be a bit much to keep track of. As a chagrined Green Bay Press-Gazette columnist observed back in 1976, “Unfortunately, bar dice is not a game that can be taught. You must observe closely and learn to adopt the mannerisms of the pros.”
Fun Activities For Bars
Though usually a wellspring of conviviality and companionship, bar dice can breed trouble. When the game makes the news, it’s typically in connection with a fight, with a sore loser throwing a punch or drawing a shotgun. In 1976, an Appleton man struck another citizen because the latter refused to play bar dice with him.
Games For Bars
There have even been periodic attempts to ban the practice, including recent laws passed in Minnesota and Montana. In Wisconsin, that sort of crusading doesn’t go over well. When, one Monday in 2016, the owners of three Milwaukee bars decided to eliminate bar dice in their joints, there was such hue and cry from the patrons that the ban was rescinded by Wednesday.
Games To Play At A Bar
As to why bar dice has such a grip on Cheeseheads, as opposed to Hoosiers or Buckeyes, Draeger points to an obvious cause. “We have more bars than any other state,” he points out, adding, “and it gets cold here.” You have to pass the time somehow.