Ring Toss is a traditional skill game played indoors or on a lawn. Players take turns tossing rings (rope, plastic, wood, or rubber) at a board or stand holding several upright pegs. A ring scores only if it lands completely around a peg; pegs are usually assigned different point values, and the player or team with the highest total (or the first to a target score) wins. It is a fixture of carnivals, fairs, and backyard parties.

How to Play Ring Toss

Overview

Ring Toss is a simple target-throwing skill game. Players stand behind a throwing line and toss rings at a board or stand of upright pegs, trying to land each ring fully around a peg to score points. It is endlessly adjustable: distance, ring count, peg point values, and the win condition are all commonly agreed before play, which is why house rules vary widely.

Equipment

• A target board or peg stand holding several upright pegs. A very common arrangement is 5 pegs: one in the center and four around it.

• Rings made of rope, plastic, wood, or rubber. Sets typically include 8-10 rings, often in two colors so each player or team uses their own; a common standard is 5 rings per player per turn.

• A throwing line marked on the ground, commonly about 10 feet from the front of the board (adjust closer for children or beginners).

Setup

1. Place the peg board on the ground (or stand it upright, depending on the set).

2. Mark a throwing line an agreed distance from the board (about 10 ft is a common default; shorten it for younger or newer players).

3. Agree on the scoring scheme and win condition before you start (see Scoring). This is part of the game's normal flexibility.

4. Give each player or team their set of rings (commonly 5).

Turn Structure

Players (or teams) take turns. On your turn:

1. Stand with both feet behind the throwing line.

2. Toss your rings one at a time toward the pegs (commonly all 5 of your rings in a turn).

3. After everyone has thrown, tally the points for rings that landed fully around a peg.

4. Collect all rings and pass to the next player/team for the following round.

What Counts (Ringers)

• A ring scores only if it lands completely around a peg (a "ringer").

• A ring that is leaning against, resting on, or merely touching a peg without encircling it scores zero.

• A ring that misses entirely scores zero.

Winning

There is no single official body, so groups pick a format up front:

• Fixed rounds: play an agreed number of rounds (e.g. 8); highest total score wins.

• Target score (race): first player or team to reach an agreed total (commonly 21, sometimes 50 or 100) wins.

Common Edge Cases

• Point values per peg are agreed before play; a frequent scheme on a 5-peg board is center 5, back 3, two sides 2 each, front 1, but a simpler 'center 3 / outer 1' scheme and distance-based 1/2/3 schemes are also common.

• Ties are usually settled by a sudden-death extra round.

• Bottles instead of pegs ("ring-a-bottle") is the carnival prize variant; whoever rings a bottle wins it.

Only ringers score. Add up the agreed point values of all pegs each side rings. The win mode (points target vs fixed rounds) and the target/round count are match parameters. Total Points is the authoritative recorded score.

The end_mode, points_to_win, and rounds knobs are match params on this variant's ruleset, not per-side metrics. Ringers is a diagnostic COUNT metric only: because per-peg point values are agreed per game and vary, ringers never sums to total_points — record total_points as authoritative.