Bush Skittles.

Highway Wanderers’ newest game of Bush Skittles is something that anyone can make and play anywhere.  The game was adapted from a Swedish game that Andrew played while at Carnarvon Gorge a few years ago, the original game has turned skittles and throwing stick but Andrew has used bush timber to produce several sets at various locations during our travels.

To make your set you need 12 pieces of timber about 30cm long – cut these from a branch of bush timber if this is handy.  The 12 skittles have a flat base and their top end is cut at 45 to allow them to have their numbers (1 to 12) written on the tops.  The 13th stick is the throwing stick and would be a little longer.

To play, set up the skittles in a bunch in no particular order, take 3 or 4 paces and mark the ground with the throwing line (we have a rope that doubles as throwing mark and can be threaded through holes in the sticks to keep together for storage).    Players take turns to throw the throwing stick hitting over skittles.  Each player must stand up the skittles that he/she has hit over, placing him or her to face the front again wherever they land. 

To score you either take the score that is on the top of the skittle if you only hit one over, or if you hit over more than one your score is the number of skittles hit over.     The first player to reach the agreed total (50 points or 100 points or whatever is agreed before play commences) is the winner – the exact score must be thrown, if you over score it is not counted.

If you miss hitting skittles over you may have another throw next time your turn comes around but three consecutive misses will result in you dropping out of the game.   You may miss many times on non-consecutive throws without penalty.  

Andrew & Ev Verschaeren,  “Wheel Estate”,  Q43431.