Yard Games for a Company Picnic or Team Event

Q: What is the best game for a company picnic?

Kubb if someone will teach it — it publishes 2 to 12 players and a bad individual throw disappears into the team result. Cornhole if nobody will, because it needs no explanation and rounds are short.

Q: Should a company picnic run a tournament?

Only with a game that has short rounds and published scoring, and only if entry is optional. Cornhole is the usual choice — ACL rules settle arguments and cancellation scoring keeps rounds short.

Q: What travels well to a park?

Kubb and Molkky ship in carrying cases and need nothing on site, and Kan Jam nests into one object. Cornhole is the outlier at a published 38 to 46 pounds — a two-person carry from a car park.

The short answer

Quick picks

Ranked on published specs, not on play we have not done. Tap any row to jump to the full write-up further down this page.

Ranked picks with what each is best for, our published-spec score and a live price link.
#	Product	Best for	Score	Price
1	No photo Yard Games Kubb Premium Size Set Hardwood kubb with a case, printed instructions and — the part that matters — boundary markers, so the 5 x 8 m pitch is set correctly the first time.	Best overall	8.4/10	Check price on Amazon #ad How we make money
2	No photo GoSports 4 ft x 2 ft Solid Wood Premium Cornhole Set Regulation 4 x 2 ft boards on solid pine frames with a 1/2 in cabinet-grade plywood top, eight 16 oz all-weather bags and a case — the complete tournament-legal setup in one box.	Best overall	8.6/10	Check price on Amazon #ad How we make money
3	No photo GoSports Giant 3.5 in Wooden Playing Dice Set Six 3.5 in hand-sanded pine dice with heat-stamped numbers that will not rub off, plus a dry-erase scoreboard and a canvas bag.	Best overall	7.9/10	Check price on Amazon #ad How we make money
4	No photo Kan Jam Original Disc Game Set Two goals and a disc, played at a published 50 ft, with a scoring system that only works because one player deflects for the other — the most genuinely cooperative game on this site.	Best overall	8.2/10	Check price on Amazon #ad How we make money
5	No photo Tactic Mölkky Original Set The original — Tactic Games has held the Mölkky rights and trademark since 2016 and the games are still made in Pori, Finland.	Best overall	8.1/10	Check price on Amazon #ad How we make money

Work events fail for a reason that has nothing to do with the games. People will not volunteer for something they might be visibly bad at in front of people who decide their promotions. Any game that exposes individual competence in front of an audience is going to be played by the four most confident people in the company while everyone else stands near the food.

So the selection criteria are different from every other page in this section.

The brief

What a work event needs

1. Team games, so a bad throw is nobody's fault

Kubb is the standout. It publishes 2 to 12 players, it is played in two teams, and the team throws six batons collectively — a miss vanishes into the aggregate. Cornhole in doubles has the same property, with the added advantage that the ACL publishes a rulebook, so nobody has to adjudicate anything.

2. A low floor and a low ceiling

A game where an experienced player dominates is a bad work game, however good a game it is. Spikeball has the highest skill ceiling on this site and it is the wrong choice here for exactly that reason: the two people who play it every weekend will beat everyone, visibly, all afternoon.

Molkky is the opposite and is underrated for this. The score must reach exactly 50, and going over sends you back to 25 — so a run of good throws can lose you the game, and nobody stays ahead for long.

3. Something that includes people who are not playing

Giant yard dice with a dry-erase scoreboard is the best device we know of for this. Someone rolls once, gets a score written up, and rejoins their conversation still nominally in the game. That is a genuinely different social object from a bracket.

Suitability for a work event, by published player count and what the game exposes.
Game	Published players	Team or individual	Work-event verdict
Kubb	2 to 12	Team	Best on the list — needs a teacher
Cornhole (doubles)	2 or 4	Team	Safe, familiar, no explanation
Giant yard dice	2 or more	Loose group	Includes the reluctant
Molkky	2 or more	Either	Low ceiling, stays close
Kan Jam	Exactly 4	Team	Good second game, four at a time
Ladder toss	2 or 4	Either	Fine, small footprint
Bocce	2 to 4	Either	Good for the quieter corner
Giant stacking tower	2 or more	Individual, watched	Puts one person on display
Spikeball	4 (2 v 2)	Team	Skill gap is too visible
Horseshoes	2 or 4	Either	Needs a pit — not a park game

Logistics

Getting it there

Most company picnics happen in a park, which means a car park, a walk, and no power, tables or hard standing.

Kubb and Molkky are the easiest things on this site to transport. Both ship in nylon carrying cases, both are wooden pieces with nothing to inflate or assemble, and neither needs anything prepared on site. Kubb needs about 26 by 16 feet of grass and Molkky about 20 by 13.

Cornhole is the heavy one. The GoSports solid wood set publishes 38 pounds and the Victory Tailgate tournament set publishes 46. That is a two-person carry across a field, which is worth knowing before you volunteer to bring it.

Kan Jam packs smallest of the four-player games because the goals nest, though the maker does not publish a set weight, so we leave that blank rather than estimate it.

The same carry-weight logic applies to tailgating, where everything has to fit in a trunk alongside the food.

Shortlist

What to buy

Kubb — the only game here that takes a published 12 players, plays as teams, and packs into a bag.
Cornhole — the game nobody has to be taught, with a published rulebook for the bracket.
Giant yard dice — the inclusion device. Dry-erase scoreboard included.
Molkky — the leveller, because overshooting 50 resets you to 25.
Kan Jam — for the four colleagues who genuinely want to compete, so they are not doing it in the middle of everyone else's game.

For the headcount maths, see yard games for large groups.

The picks in full

Every pick, with its published specs

Best overall

Yard Games Kubb Premium Size Set

Yard Games

No product photo

Our spec score

8.4/10

Spec completeness: 9/10
Footprint clarity: 10/10
Durability: 8/10
Pack-down: 6/10

Scored on published specifications only. We have not played this set.

Hardwood kubb with a case, printed instructions and — the part that matters — boundary markers, so the 5 x 8 m pitch is set correctly the first time.

Skip this if

Skip this if your only space is 20 ft long. The pitch is 8 m end to end and shortening it breaks the throwing distances the game is built on.

What works

Boundary markers included — most sets leave you pacing out a pitch you will get wrong
Hardwood rather than pine, which matters because the whole game is wood hitting wood
Scales to twelve players, so it absorbs a crowd nothing else here handles

What does not

430 sq ft is a serious commitment for a lawn game
No published set weight, and ten hardwood blocks plus a king is not light

Published specifications

Footprint: 5 m x 8 m (about 16 ft x 26 ft, 430 sq ft)
Kubbs: 10 blocks, 15 cm tall x 7 cm square
King: 30 cm tall x 9 cm square
Batons: 6, 30 cm long x 4.4 cm diameter
Material: Solid shock-absorbent hardwood
Included: Nylon carrying case, instructions, boundary markers
Players: 2 to 12
Age floor: —
Surface: Grass, sand, dirt

Manufacturer listing: Yard Games product listing

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Best overall

GoSports 4 ft x 2 ft Solid Wood Premium Cornhole Set

GoSports

No product photo

Our spec score

8.6/10

Spec completeness: 9/10
Footprint clarity: 8/10
Durability: 8/10
Pack-down: 7/10

Scored on published specifications only. We have not played this set.

Regulation 4 x 2 ft boards on solid pine frames with a 1/2 in cabinet-grade plywood top, eight 16 oz all-weather bags and a case — the complete tournament-legal setup in one box.

Skip this if

Skip this if your yard is under 30 ft long. A regulation court is 27 ft board-front to board-front plus throwing room behind each board, and there is no shortening it without changing the game.

What works

Regulation 4 x 2 ft, so the game you practice on is the game you would play in a league
Plastic-pellet bags do not rot if they get rained on — the biggest failure point in cheap sets
38 lb for the whole set is genuinely two-trips-to-the-car territory, not four
Retractable legs on steel bolts rather than a folding hinge that racks over a season

What does not

Pine frame plus plywood top means the set does not want to live outdoors uncovered
Varnished surface, not the painted-and-clear-coated finish tournament players prefer

Published specifications

Court footprint: 33 ft x 10 ft (about 330 sq ft)
Board size: 4 ft x 2 ft (ACA regulation)
Playing surface: 1/2 in varnished cabinet-grade plywood
Frame: Solid pine, mitered corners
Leg hardware: 3/8 in galvanized steel bolts with wing nuts
Set weight: 38 lb
Bags: 8 x 16 oz, recycled plastic pellet fill
Players: 2 or 4
Age floor: —
Surface: Grass, hard, sand

Manufacturer listing: GoSports product listing

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Best overall

GoSports Giant 3.5 in Wooden Playing Dice Set

GoSports

No product photo

Our spec score

7.9/10

Spec completeness: 7/10
Footprint clarity: 7/10
Durability: 8/10
Pack-down: 9/10

Scored on published specifications only. We have not played this set.

Six 3.5 in hand-sanded pine dice with heat-stamped numbers that will not rub off, plus a dry-erase scoreboard and a canvas bag.

Skip this if

Skip this if your lawn slopes. Giant dice roll further than you expect and a slope turns every throw into a search.

What works

Heat-stamped numbers instead of printed ones is the difference between two seasons and ten
The scoreboard turns a bag of dice into an actual game with rules
Also offered at 2.5 in if the yard is small

What does not

No published set weight
Pine soaks up dew if the dice are left out overnight

Published specifications

Footprint: About 8 ft x 8 ft of clear rolling space
Die size: 3.5 in
Dice: 6
Material: Hand-sanded pine, heat-stamped numbers
Included: Dry-erase scoreboard and canvas carrying bag
Players: 2 or more
Set weight: —

Manufacturer listing: GoSports product listing

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Best overall

Kan Jam Original Disc Game Set

Kan Jam

No product photo

Our spec score

8.2/10

Spec completeness: 6/10
Footprint clarity: 9/10
Durability: 7/10
Pack-down: 9/10

Scored on published specifications only. We have not played this set.

Two goals and a disc, played at a published 50 ft, with a scoring system that only works because one player deflects for the other — the most genuinely cooperative game on this site.

Skip this if

Skip this if you have an odd number of players who all want to throw. Kan Jam is built around pairs and does not adapt to three.

What works

50 ft of length but almost no width — it fits a long narrow yard where cornhole does not
The deflection rule means a weaker thrower still decides points
Goals nest, so the whole game is one trip

What does not

Needs exactly four to play the real game
Published rules do not give goal dimensions or set weight

Published specifications

Footprint: About 60 ft x 20 ft (about 1,200 sq ft)
Goal distance: 50 ft apart
Players: 4 (2 v 2)
Scoring: 1 deflection, 2 direct hit, 3 into the goal, instant win through the slot
Winning score: Exactly 21
Age floor: —
Set weight: —
Surface: Grass, sand, hard

Manufacturer listing: Kan Jam published rules

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Best overall

Tactic Mölkky Original Set

Tactic Games

No product photo

Our spec score

8.1/10

Spec completeness: 8/10
Footprint clarity: 9/10
Durability: 6/10
Pack-down: 8/10

Scored on published specifications only. We have not played this set.

The original — Tactic Games has held the Mölkky rights and trademark since 2016 and the games are still made in Pori, Finland.

Skip this if

Skip this if you want a game that survives being left on the lawn. Molkky is untreated birch and it will gray and swell.

What works

The exact-50 scoring rule makes it the only game here where being ahead is genuinely dangerous
About 260 sq ft — it fits a small yard where kubb does not
Rights-holder set, so the pin numbering and sizes match the official rules

What does not

Untreated wood needs to come indoors
No published set weight or case

Published specifications

Footprint: About 20 ft x 13 ft (about 260 sq ft)
Throwing distance: 3.5 m in official competition (3 to 4 m generally)
Winning score: Exactly 50; going over resets you to 25
Pins: 12 numbered skittles plus the throwing pin
Origin: Manufactured in Pori, Finland
Material: Birch
Players: 2 or more, individually or in teams
Set weight: —

Manufacturer listing: International Molkky Organisation rules

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FAQ

Questions people actually ask

What is the best game for a company picnic?

Kubb, if someone will teach it, and cornhole if nobody will. Kubb publishes 2 to 12 players, which is the widest range of anything we cover, and it is a team game where an individual bad throw disappears into the team result. Cornhole is the fallback because it needs no explanation and a round is over quickly.

How do you include people who do not want to play?

Give them a game where standing near it counts as participating. Giant yard dice with a dry-erase scoreboard works exactly like this — a person can roll once, be included in the score and go back to their conversation. A game with teams and a schedule does the opposite.

Should a company picnic run a tournament?

Only with a game that has short rounds and a published scoring system, and only if entry is genuinely optional. Cornhole is the usual choice because the ACL publishes the rules, so nobody argues, and a cancellation-scored round finishes fast enough to run a bracket in an afternoon.

What travels well to a park?

Kubb and Molkky, comfortably: both ship in carrying cases and neither needs anything on site. Kan Jam nests into a single object. Cornhole is the outlier — the sets we cover publish 38 and 46 pounds, which is a two-person carry from a car park.

Why you can check our work

We have not played these. Every figure above is copied from a manufacturer's published listing or a governing body's published rules, and named so you can verify it. Where a maker publishes nothing, the field is blank rather than filled in. How we pick explains the whole method, including what would change a recommendation.

Every figure on this page is copied from one of these sources. If you find one that is wrong or out of date, tell us and we will fix it.

Yard games for a company picnic

Quick picks

What a work event needs