How to Play Garden Quoits: Rules, Setup and Family Tips
Quoits is one of those games where the simplest explanation — throw the ring at the peg — is completely accurate and entirely inadequate. The first throw takes about three seconds to explain. Getting good takes rather longer. Finding a game that keeps a six-year-old, a twelve-year-old, and a grandparent equally engaged for an afternoon: that is quoits.
Here is everything you need to know to set up a proper game — the rules, the distances, the scoring, and how to adapt it for different ages. Plus the version that quietly teaches children to add up without them noticing.
What Garden Quoits Is — and How It Differs From Traditional Quoits
Traditional quoits uses heavy forged iron rings thrown at an iron stake in a clay bed, at a fixed distance of around 11 yards. It is a serious game in northern England and Scotland, with formal rules and competitive leagues. Garden quoits — the form most families play — is something different: rope rings thrown at a wooden board with numbered pegs, at close range, on any flat surface.
The Jaques Garden Quoits Set with Bag (£22.88) uses a 42cm × 42cm solid wooden board with multiple wooden pegs at different positions, each numbered with a different points value. The rope quoits are 13cm in diameter — large enough to handle easily, light enough for young children to throw accurately. The whole set packs into a storage bag. Setup takes about thirty seconds.
The scoring mechanic — different pegs worth different points — is what gives the game its depth. Landing on the centre peg scores the most; outer pegs score less. Players choose how ambitiously to aim based on their throwing confidence and their current score. This creates genuine tactical decisions, even in a casual garden game.
Setting Up — Three Steps
Place the board on flat ground. That is step one. Step two: agree the throwing line. For adults and older children (ten-plus), two to four metres is a reasonable starting distance. For younger children, start closer — one to two metres — and increase the distance as they improve. Step three: decide how many rounds you are playing and what score or number of throws constitutes a win.
The Jaques garden quoits sets include full printed instructions with specific distances and scoring formats. These are the rules to use for a formal game. For casual play, the rules can flex — what matters is that all players agree the format before throwing begins.
One practical note on surface: quoits boards work best on flat grass or patio. Uneven ground causes the board to rock; if the surface is not flat, push the corner pegs lightly into turf to stabilise it, or find a flatter spot. The throwing side can be any flat surface — patio, path, flat lawn. No specialist surface preparation is required.
The Rules — Standard and Simplified
Standard play (two players or two pairs). Each player or pair throws all their quoits in turn. A quoit that lands on a peg scores that peg's value. A quoit that knocks another quoit off a peg removes that score. Total the scores after all quoits are thrown — the highest score for that round wins the round. Play an agreed number of rounds; the most rounds won, or the highest total points, determines the match winner.
Group rotation (three to six players). Players take turns throwing in rotation. Each throws their allocated quoits and totals their score. At the end of an agreed number of rounds, the highest cumulative total wins. This format works well for mixed-age groups because it removes the direct head-to-head pressure while keeping everyone involved throughout.
Target score format. Agree a target score (50 or 100 points). Players accumulate points across rounds. First to reach the target wins. This is the best format for extended garden play — games run as long as needed, players can drop in or out, and younger children with shorter attention spans can celebrate milestone scores without waiting for a formal match conclusion.
Maths angle: For children aged five to ten, let them keep their own running score rather than an adult tracking it. Adding 15 to 42, then 10 to 57 — this is mental arithmetic with stakes. Children who can't subtract an opponent's score without counting on their fingers at the start of a summer are often doing it in their heads by the end. The game doesn't feel like practice. It is, though.
How to Include All Ages
Quoits is one of the few garden games that genuinely works across four generations without modification. A three-year-old can stand one metre from the board and throw; a seventy-year-old can stand two metres and throw. The range of difficulty scales naturally with distance. No rule change is required — just adjust where people stand.
For younger children, the Nine Pin format — where there are more pegs and any peg counts — reduces the precision required while keeping the scoring system meaningful. The Nine Pin Quoits (£20.00) is particularly good for this: nine pegs at different positions mean almost every throw lands near something scoreable, which keeps young children engaged rather than frustrated.
The advantage of quoits over other garden games is pace. There is no running, no chasing, no physical size advantage. A child who stands patiently and throws accurately will beat an adult who throws too hard. This power dynamic is worth pointing out to children — they pick up on it immediately and invest accordingly.
The Screen-Free Angle: Why Quoits Belongs in Every Garden
The Smartphone Free Childhood movement has focused attention on what genuinely engaging screen alternatives actually look like. Not passive activities, not structured lessons, not organised sport with coaches — but genuinely absorbing, social, physical play that children choose to continue rather than abandon after five minutes.
Quoits fits this description unusually well. The tactile satisfaction of a rope quoit landing cleanly on a wooden peg is immediate and physical. The social dynamic — competing, watching, advising, celebrating — is constant. The scoring mechanic creates genuine investment: a child who is two quoits behind with one round left is calculating rather than switching off.
A Jaques garden quoits set packs into a bag and sets up in thirty seconds. It fits in a cupboard, a car boot, or a garden shed. Families who keep one accessible report reaching for it not just in the garden but at picnics, at campsites, and at family gatherings where the alternative is a table of people staring at separate devices.
Garden Quoits Set with Bag — Jaques of London
£22.88Solid wood board (42cm) · Natural rope quoits (13cm) · Numbered scoring pegs · Storage bag · Full instructions. Over 100 years of Jaques quoits-making. UKCA & CE tested. FSC-certified timber. Ages 3+.
Shop Garden Quoits →Frequently Asked Questions About Playing Garden Quoits
How do you play garden quoits?
Place the wooden board on flat ground. Players stand at an agreed distance — typically two to four metres for adults, one to two metres for children — and take turns throwing rope quoits at the board. A quoit that lands on a peg scores that peg's value. After all quoits are thrown, scores are totalled. The highest score wins the round. Play an agreed number of rounds, or first to a target score (50 or 100 points). Full instructions are included with every Jaques quoits set. The game takes about thirty seconds to set up and works on any flat surface.
What are the rules of quoits?
In garden quoits: players throw in turn from a fixed throwing line. A quoit landing on a peg scores that peg's value. A quoit that displaces another player's quoit removes that score. After all quoits are thrown in a round, scores are totalled. Head-to-head: highest score per round wins. Group rotation: cumulative score across rounds wins. Target format: first to an agreed total (typically 50 or 100) wins. For younger children, simplify by counting any peg landing as a point and ignoring the displacement rule.
How far do you throw in garden quoits?
For adults and older children (ten-plus), two to four metres is the standard throwing distance. For children aged five to ten, start at one to two metres and increase gradually. For under-fives, place them almost adjacent to the board — the satisfaction of landing on a peg matters more than distance at this age. In competitive traditional quoits (iron rings, clay bed), the standard distance is 11 yards (approximately 10 metres) for men's competition, shorter for women's and juniors'. Garden quoits uses much shorter distances because rope rings are lighter and the board is smaller.
What age is quoits suitable for?
Garden quoits is suitable from age three with supervision, with the throwing distance adjusted to near the board. From age five, children can handle the full game with standard scoring. The game has no upper age limit — it requires no running, no significant physical strength, and no fast reactions. A child of eight and a grandparent of seventy-five can play a genuinely competitive game without modification, simply by adjusting their individual throwing distance. This multi-generational playability is one of the reasons quoits has survived as a garden game for centuries.
How many players can play quoits?
Two players (head-to-head), two pairs (doubles), or three to six players in rotation. For group rotation, each player throws their allocated quoits in turn, scores are totalled after each player's throw, and cumulative scores determine the winner after an agreed number of rounds. For very large groups (garden parties, family gatherings), teams of two or three work well — teammates' scores are combined per round. The game scales naturally because there is no physical space constraint on how many people can stand at the throwing line.
Can you play quoits indoors?
Yes, with the right surface. Rope quoits on a solid wood board work on hard floors (wood, tile, stone) where the board sits flat without slipping. Garden quoits sets are designed for outdoor use but function well indoors as a rainy-day game. Place the board against a wall or in a hallway with a clear throwing lane. The Nine Pin Quoits format — where the board is larger and nine pegs give more landing targets — tends to work particularly well indoors because any landing near the board is likely to score. Keep the throwing distance shorter indoors (one to two metres) to maintain control.
What is the difference between garden quoits and traditional quoits?
Traditional quoits uses heavy forged iron rings (up to 5.5 lbs) thrown at an iron stake in a clay or sand bed, at a set distance of around 11 yards. It requires specialist preparation and is primarily played competitively in northern England and Scotland. Garden quoits uses lightweight natural rope rings (13cm diameter in Jaques sets) thrown at a portable wooden board with numbered pegs, at short range on any flat surface. Garden quoits is the accessible, family-friendly form — no preparation, no specialist equipment, any age, any surface.
Does quoits help children with maths?
Yes, naturally. Garden quoits scoring involves adding numbers (the peg values scored each throw) and tracking running totals across multiple rounds. Children who keep their own score — rather than having an adult do it — practice mental addition in a context where the result matters to them. A child who scores 15, then 10, then 25 must add these without pen and paper to know whether they are ahead. Over a summer of regular play, the mental arithmetic becomes noticeably more fluent. This is incidental to the game's appeal — it is not an educational exercise, it is a scoring game. The maths practice is a byproduct.
What is a ringer in quoits?
A ringer is when a thrown quoit lands directly over a peg, encircling it cleanly. In traditional iron quoits, a ringer on the hob typically scores three points and can cancel an opponent's ringer (the closer quoit scores the difference). In garden quoits, a ringer on the highest-value centre peg scores that peg's maximum value. Achieving a ringer consistently at the full throwing distance is the standard of an experienced player. In casual family play, a clean ringer is usually celebrated regardless of the formal scoring implications.
Which Jaques quoits set should I buy for family play?
The Garden Quoits Set with Bag (£22.88) is the most practical choice for most families: it includes the board, rope quoits, storage bag, and instructions, and packs into a compact bag for easy storage and transport. If you want a larger board and heavier-duty quoits, the Luxury Royal Quoits (£44.99) has an 18cm quoit diameter and 50.5cm board. For a family with younger children who need more landing targets, the Nine Pin Quoits (£20.00) gives nine pegs versus the standard layout.
Also in our garden games range: Full Rounders Set (£24.89), and for rainy days, our board games and wooden toys collections.
Thirty Seconds to Set Up. Hours to Put Down.