The Gentle Art & Sport of Horseshoes

(Page 3 of 6)

July/August 1988
By Terry Krautwurst 
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You get three points for a ringer, one point for close (six inches or less from the stake), zero for anything else. Ties cancel each other out. In other words, if you both throw a ringer, neither of the ringers counts. If you throw two ringers and your opponent throws one, you get three points for the unmatched ringer. If you both throw one shoe that lands within six inches of the stake, only the closest shoe scores a point. If they're both touching the stake or exactly the same distance from it, neither of you gets a point. If your two shoes are both within six inches of, and closer to, the stake than your opponent's, you get two points. In no case do both players score in the same inning.

A couple of other important principles: 1) At the beginning of a game, flip a coin or horseshoe to see who pitches first. For the remainder of the game, whoever scored the most points the previous inning throws first the next inning; if neither of you scored, the player who pitched last goes first. 2) If you're taking the game seriously, any shoe thrown by a player who steps over the foul line, and any shoe that bounces out of the pit area or against a backboard, doesn't count, regardless of where it eventually comes to rest.

Also, if you want to save yourselves some walking, find two other players, put them at the opposite end of the court, and have them throw the shoes back on alternate innings. Choose one of the players as your partner, and add to your score whatever points your teammate throws; likewise for your opponent.

In official tournaments, a game consists of 40 points. Be forewarned, though: Accumulating that many points can be a real test of endurance, especially when players are evenly matched. In the course of 50 innings, you'll throw a total of some 250 pounds of horseshoes a distance of about fourth-fifths of a mile. (Next time you hear someone say that horseshoes is a sedentary sport, have that person play for an afternoon, then give the guy a friendly pat on the arm the next morning.)

In ordinary Sunday-afternoon-with-the-family horseshoes, any mutually agreeable point total will do (21 points is often used). Regardless of the total, ties are broken by pitching an extra inning, or as many as necessary to produce a winner. Contrary to a stillprevalent "house" rule left over from the earliest days of organized pitching, it is not necessary to win a game by two points—just one point does the job.

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