Archery is a sport in which players called archers use bows to shoot arrows at a target. Historically, these targets were be attackers or animals, but today they are made of paper and feature 10 rings of five colors, each worth a different amount of points. Archery can be an individual or multiplayer game, and archers can hone their skills and gain experience by enjoying a variety of archery games.
Connections
Connections helps archers practice their shooting technique. You'll need paper or cardboard, with a gridded box drawn on the material. Choose however many boxes you want to make, adjusting the box size with larger boxes for more inexperienced archers. Have players line up in single file and allot an amount of time in which players must complete the task. A player will shoot and hit a box, then try to make a continuous line of shots that connect boxes -- the number should be predetermined. The line can be horizontal or vertical and the shots can hit in any order as long as they are in line. If the archer does not make it in the allotted time, he is out. If successful, he returns to the line. Game play is over when one player remains.
Ring Shot
Ring Shot hones aiming skill. Place the archers in pairs and have one player shoot. Whatever color his arrow lands on will be the color that that pair needs to hit six times in an allotted amount of time to stay in the game. Players in the pair will alternate shots to achieve this goal. If they do not make it in time, they are out. Game play is over when one pair remains.
Black Jack
This game can hone aiming and shooting skills. You'll need a deck of standard playing cards that you attach to the target. All cards nine and lower are worth their face value. Jacks, kings and queens are worth 10 points and aces are worth 11. Have archers line up in single file line and have each archer shoot at the cards four times attempting to reach 21 points. If they go over 21, they are eliminated. Each player goes once, remembering his achieved score. Game play is over after one run-through of players. The player closest to 21 points wins. If more than one player hits 21 exactly, you can play another round or call it a draw.
Considerations
Consider your equipment and its effects on the game. For instance, fiberglass bows are cheap but inaccurate, making it hard to play some games. In contrast, wood recurves are the best bows because of accuracy and easy handling via a hand grip. In addition, equipment should be safe. For optimum safety, give players finger protectors to protect against blisters and arm guards to protect against bowstring injury.
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