Fox and Geese

Equipment:

·        Two FITA target faces mounted either on a boss and stand, or on the hay bale.

·        Each archer has 3 arrows.

·        Pen and paper for scoring.

Game Details

·        Archers are divided into two teams, one is the fox and the other, the geese. If there are an odd number of archers, one will have to shoot twice.

·        An archer from each team goes up to the shooting line. The archer from the geese team shoots their 3 arrows at their target first.

·        The archer from the fox team then shoots at their target and tries and hit the same colours scored by the goose.

·        For every colour that’s matched by the fox, the goose arrow is removed from their target. Any remaining arrows in the goose target scores (1 for white to 5 for gold).

·        After the arrows are collected, the range captain resumes the game and the next archer from each team then shoots. Once all the team members have shot, the total goose score is added.

·        The roles of the two teams are then reversed. The team with the highest final score is the winner.

·        If an arrow cuts the line, it is the higher scoring colour that counts.

Lets go a Roving!

This is a game that needs LOTS of room, preferably in a field that is at least 400 yards by 300 yards with no obstacles such as trees and hedgerows. Safety is paramount, so check that the area is clear before shooting.
Indirect shooting is the style used in this game. Archers shoot into the air, usually at an angle of 45°, such that the arrow falls onto the target. This style of shooting was practiced during the middle ages for warfare as archers were required to generate an arrow storm to fall upon the enemy.
In this style of shooting, the distance the arrow travels is controlled by a combination of shooting angle and draw length. If the target is very close then the arrow is "pinged" off the bowstring.

Equipment

• A "roving" arrow, preferably with large bright flechings. A flu-flu type is ideal.
• A length of string
• Pen and paper for scoring.

Game Details

• An archer is chosen to shoot the roving arrow indirectly up the field. All the other archers must stand behind whilst the roving archer shoots.
• Once the roving arrow has landed, it becomes the target for all the other archers to aim at. The archers form a line and shoot indirectly at the roving arrow.
• The archer who's arrow is nearest wins the round and gets to shoot the roving arrow next. If two or more arrows appear to be the same distance from the roving arrow, then a piece of string can be used to measure the distances.
• The winner of the round then shoots the roving arrow from the spot where it previously landed. In this way the archers move (rove) around the field.
• Archers can decide how many rounds to shoot.
• The archer who shoots the roving arrow the most number of times is the winner.
• Note that the very first roving shot (from the chosen archer) does not score.

Variations

• Archers can choose to shoot more than one arrow at the roving arrow (suggest 6). The archers then decide which of their arrows is the nearest to the roving arrow and retrieve the rest.

Safety

• It is the responsibility of the range captain to be satisfied that the roving shot will land safely in the field, that there is nobody in the line of fire.
• It is very important that all arrows remain within the confines of the roving field. This is particularly so for archers using heavy bows.
• The use of a flu-flu type roving arrow is that it cannot be shot too far, reducing the risk of it going out of the field or giving archers with light bows an unfair disadvantage.
• Prevailing winds must also be taken into consideration as they can make an arrow fly much further than anticipated.
• For archers new to this style of shooting, it may be a good idea for the range captain to get them to shoot some arrows indirectly at various draw lengths to get a "feel" for how far their arrows will go (both onto the wind and with the wind behind them).

Courtesy of Black Cat Archery

Nearest the Bull

A target based elimination game. Note that for the game to work, archers must share targets so don't use your best arrows!


Equipment

• Standard FITA target face, mounted either on a butt and stand. No more than 6 archers per target face otherwise arrow carnage may result.
• Each archer has 6 arrows

 Game Details

• In the first round of the game, archers shoot six arrows in their own time at their designated target.
• Once everyone has shot, archer's arrows are eliminated from the game if :

a) They miss the target
b) The arrows that are furthest from the bull, the number eliminated being the
     number of  archers shooting at each target.                                

• For example, if six archers are shooting at a target, at the end of the round the furthest six arrows from the target bull are removed and all eliminated arrows are given to the range captain.
• Archers can only shoot their remaining arrows in the next round of the game.
• Archers who have had all their six arrows eliminated, are out of the game and the number of arrows eliminated in the next round is reduced to the number of archers remaining.
• Once the total number of archers left on a target is 3 or less, then they are distributed onto the other targets. Once there are 6 archers or less remaining, they all shoot at a single target.
• The winning archer is the last one with any arrows left.
• If all the remaining archers have only one arrow left, then the winner is the one whose arrow is nearest the bull.

Variations

•  The game begins with a speed shoot. Archers are given 45 seconds to get as many arrows as they can into the target face.
• The archers then begin the game as described above beginning with the number of arrows that they managed to shoot into the scoring area of the target.

Bake the Cake

A team game similar to Colours requiring both accuracy and speed.
Equipment:

• 80 cm FITA target faces mounted on a boss and stand. One for each team.
• Each archer has 6 arrows.

Game Details

• As the name suggests, each team must successfully bake a cake, the first to do so being the winner. It is very similar to Colours.
• Archers are divided into teams, each archer having 6 arrows. If the split is uneven, then one team member shoots twice and has 12 arrows.
• Each team must, between them, get an arrow in the target colour in the following order:

      Blue – putting the cake in the oven.

      Red – the cake is being cooked.

      Gold – the cake is golden brown and ready to be taken out of                               the oven.

      White –the cake is coated with icing and is finished.

• One archer from each team shoots three arrows at the blue ring of their target. If they hit it, then they then continue to the next colour and so on.
• As soon as they have shot their 3 arrows, the next member of the team shoots.
• If any team member hits the black, then they have burnt the cake and the team must start again with the blue.
• During the game, as soon as all the archers have shot twice each (6 arrows), then "Fast" is called and the game is paused so the archers can retrieve their arrows from the targets. 
• The game then continues with the next archer to shoot.
• The winning team is the first to get to the white.
• If a team member is unsure where their arrow has landed (e.g. very near the line between two rings), then they can alert the range captain who will shout "Fast". All shooting stops immediately whilst the range captain checks the position of the arrow. If the arrow cuts the line, it is the higher scoring colour that counts.
• The range captain then resumes the game.

 

Colours

A team game that requires both speed and accuracy.

Equipment

• One 80cm FITA style target face per team, mounted on a butt and stand.
• Each archer has 6 arrows.

Game Details

• Archers are divided into teams, each archer having 6 arrows. I advise no more than 6 archers in a team otherwise there is a strong possibility of arrow damage.
• One archer from each team shoots up to three arrows at the white ring of their target. If they hit it, they then withdraw from the shooting line (even if they have not shot all three arrows) and the next member of the team steps up to the shooting line and aims for the black.
• When the black is hit, the next archer steps to the line and aims for the blue.
• The game continues until the team has hit all the colours in order from white to gold and then from gold to white.
• If an archer misses the colour having shot three arrows, the next archer will continue to aim for that colour.
• During the game, as soon as all the archers have shot twice each (6 arrows), then "Fast" is called and the game is paused so the archers can retrieve their arrows from the targets. The game then continues with the next archer to shoot.
• The winning team is the first to go from white to gold and then gold back to white.
• If a team member is unsure where their arrow has landed (e.g. very near the line between two rings), then they can alert the range captain who will shout "Fast". All shooting stops immediately whilst the range captain checks the position of the arrow. If the arrow cuts the line, it is the higher scoring colour that counts. The range captain then resumes the game.

Variations 
Speed Colours

• When an archer in the team hits a colour, they continue to the next colour (assuming they have any arrows left). The team attempts to get from white to gold and back again as quickly as possible.
• The first team to have all their archers shoot twice calls "Fast" and the game is immediately paused and all the other teams must stop shooting. Arrows are collected and the game resumes.
• The winning team is the first to go from white to gold and then gold back to white.

Individual Colours

• Although colours is a team game, there is no reason why it can't be played individually.
• Each archer shoots six arrows, beginning with the white, then black etc.
• An archer can only go for the next colour once the previous one has been hit.
• As soon as an archer has shot all 6 arrows, they shout "Fast" and everyone else must stop shooting even if they have not shot all their arrows.
• Arrows are collected and the game resumes.
• The first archer to go from white to gold and then gold back to white is the winner.

Game courtesy of www.blackcatarchery.com

For Fun and Games, Bare is Best

Hitting anything with a longbow is pretty tricky, not surprising since it is basically a length of bent wood and a piece of string. So when you do hit the target, you really get a sense of achievement. At the other extreme we have the modern recurve and compound bows with their sights, stabilizers and release aids. In the hands of a decent archer, their accuracy is phenomenal. When it comes to playing archery games, their accuracy becomes a bit of a problem in that most games would be over very quickly. For games to be fun and competitive, a degree of randomness is required which these shooting aids take away. Now I'm not against modern archery, its just that it is geared towards one thing - accurately hitting a FITA target.

Removing all these aids  - shooting barebow - means you have to shoot intuitively in order to hit the target. By intuitively, I mean that you look at the target, draw and shoot - the eye and brain guides the shooting arm without you thinking about it. It is similar to throwing a stone at a tin can. You don't aim as such but simply focus on the can and throw the stone. With (lots of) practice, what you see is what you hit. Some of the games have targets at different distances which means you need to rely on binocular vision to judge the distances. Shooting indirect is also a common technique  - shooting the arrow high into the air to that it lands near the target.
So, if you try out any of these games, I recommend you play them barebow style.

Welcome to my archery fun and games blog.

Hi everyone!

My name is Andy and shoot medieval style archery at my local club, Companions of the Longbow, which is based near Swindon, Wiltshire UK. We like to have as much variety as possible in our shooting and over the years have devised loads of archery games and challenges. Its almost impossible to find them in the web since Googling key words such as "archery games" only brings up computer games. Over the weeks I hope to compile them in this blog for you to try out and hopefully, enjoy. They can be played by all styles of archery but may need tweaking to suit different types of bow. For those archers who shoot seriously, these games will give some light relief from pounding arrows into a butt and can be helpful in honing your skills.

Anyone who knows an enjoyable game are very welcome to contribute to this blog - the only proviso is that it has to be safe! (I once saw one for blind mans buff......).