Aberdeen Network goes quoits crazy

Aberdeen Network don’t strike you as model athletes upon first inspection, but once they’d set up the quoits court and started tossing, you could see they meant business. Ian Towns explains the game that has got them hooked.

You will probably know quoits as a game where a quoit (large ring) is tossed at a stake in the ground and points are awarded for quoits that encircle the stake. Well, that’s not how we play it in Aberdeen.

What you need

• 1 rope quoit

• 25m of rope

• Badminton net (or similar)

Playing the game

Quoits is played in a similar way to badminton, but rather than using a racquet and shuttlecock, the players throw a ring of rope (the quoit) over a net. A point is won if you can land the quoit in your opponent’s court. You lose the point if you miss your opponent’s court, or if you don’t get the quoit over the net. Quoits is played either as a singles or doubles game.

The court

The court has dimensions of about four steps wide by five steps long, either side of the net. Mark it out with rope on the floor. If you like, you can increase or decrease the size of the court depending on how many are playing and the skill level of the players. In this game, hitting the line counts as in.

The throw

There are some specific rules governing the throw of the quoit:

• The quoit should be thrown so that it spins horizontally (like a Frisbee)

• Overhand throws are not allowed

• The quoit must be thrown within two seconds of catching it

• No dummy throws

• No changing hands, it must be returned by the same hand with which it was caught.

Serves are taken from anywhere behind the back line of the court and can be played into any area of the opponent’s court.

When serving, both feet should be on the floor, behind the service line. A ‘let’ is called if the quoit
touches the net from the serve. You keep serving until you lose a point, then it’s your opponent’s turn.

Scoring

You can score a point on every point, not only on your serve. The number of points that you play to can be chosen at the start of the game (we recommend 15), but you must win by two clear points.

Why we love it

‘Quoits is a fast, energetic, exciting, AWESOME game.’ – Mike Minion.

‘I’d never played quoits before coming to Aberdeen. I absolutely loved it and now play back at home with my local Troop.’ - Struan Charters.