Horseshoe Alternatives: Same Game, No Pits and No Steel

Q: What can I play instead of horseshoes without digging pits?

Washer toss — two boxes on the grass, three in the cup and one in the box to 21 at about 20 ft. Quoits is next closest, pitching rope rings between two targets.

Q: Is there a lighter version of horseshoes?

Yes. A regulation shoe is capped at 2 lb 10 oz; rope quoits, coated washers and soft-tip lawn darts are all far lighter.

Q: Are lawn darts a legal substitute for horseshoes?

Soft-tip ones are. The CPSC's 1988 ban covered pointed lawn darts and excluded products without pointed tips.

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	GoSports Premium Birch Wood Washer Toss Game Two solid birch targets that arrive fully assembled and latch together into one object to carry, with eight plastic-coated steel washers and a construction-grade PVC cup in each target.	Best overall	7.2/10	$49.99 · View on Amazon Price as of October 19, 2026. #ad How we make money
2	Triumph Wood Quoit Target Outdoor Lawn Game Set Six 6.5-inch sisal rope rings and two stackable solid wood targets with 9-inch pins, scored 3 for a ringer and 1 for a ring on the platform, with a tournament distance published at 21 feet between pins.	Best quoits set	7.4/10	$27.99 · View on Amazon Price as of October 19, 2026. #ad How we make money
3	NERF Soft Tip Lawn Darts Four soft-tipped darts and two targets from a brand with a safety reputation to protect — the modern form of a game whose pointed original the CPSC banned outright in 1988.	Best overall	6.8/10	$24.99 · View on Amazon $29.9917% off Price as of October 19, 2026. #ad How we make money
4	Yard Games Ladder Toss (Double Wooden Ladder Ball) A finished wood frame with real golf-ball bolas and a nylon case — the version that does not rattle apart the way tube-and-plastic ladder sets do.	Best overall	7.8/10	$65.99 · View on Amazon Price as of October 19, 2026. #ad How we make money

Horseshoes asks for three things most yards cannot give: 40 feet between stakes, two dug pits 43 to 72 inches long, and players who can pitch a shoe weighing up to 2 lb 10 oz. Everything below keeps the underarm pitching rhythm and drops at least one of those.

The baseline

What you are replacing

NHPA published rules, as the benchmark.
Element	Horseshoes
Stake distance	40 ft, front to front
Shorter foul lines	27 ft and 37 ft by class
Pit box	43 to 72 in long x 31 to 36 in wide
Shoe weight	No more than 2 lb 10 oz
Surface	Clay or sand pit
Players	2 or 4

What to buy instead

The four alternatives

Washer toss — the closest match

Two solid birch boxes, eight plastic-coated steel washers, and scoring that is effectively the same: three in the cup, one in the box, play to 21. No pit, no assembly, and about half the distance. See washer toss sets and the direct comparison in washer toss vs horseshoes.

Quoits — the same game with rope

Historically the same family. Six sisal rings pitched between two targets with 9 inch pins, scored on ringers. Light enough for anyone and safe enough for a deck. See quoits vs horseshoes.

Soft-tip lawn darts — the arc without the weight

Thrown in a high arc at a ground target, which is the horseshoes feel, at a fraction of the mass. The legality question is worth reading before buying — see lawn dart rules and safety.

Ladder toss — the shortest footprint

A published 15 foot throw in roughly 20 by 8 feet, with the same exactly-21 ending. It is the least horseshoe-like of the four and the most likely to fit a small yard. See ladder toss.

The picks in full

Every pick, with its published specs

Best overall

GoSports Premium Birch Wood Washer Toss Game

GoSports

Our spec score

7.2/10

Spec completeness: 4/10
Footprint clarity: 3/10
Durability: 7/10
Pack-down: 9/10

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

Two solid birch targets that arrive fully assembled and latch together into one object to carry, with eight plastic-coated steel washers and a construction-grade PVC cup in each target.

Skip this if

Skip this if you wanted the dimensions on paper. GoSports states the set meets regulation size guidelines but does not publish a box size, a cup diameter or a throwing distance, so you are trusting the claim rather than checking it.

What works

Latching targets turn a two-piece game into one object to carry, which nothing else in this family does
Solid birch rather than a composite, and GoSports publishes the material plainly
Eight washers means four-player doubles works out of the box rather than needing a second set
Arrives assembled, so there is no build step before the first throw

What does not

GoSports claims regulation size but publishes no box dimension, cup diameter or throwing distance to check it against
No published set weight, so you cannot plan the carry before it arrives
Birch is untreated wood — this is a bring-it-indoors set, not one that lives on a lawn

Published specifications

Targets: 2
Washers: 8 (4 red, 4 blue)
Washer material: Plastic coated steel
Target material: 100% solid birch wood
Target base: Felt lined
Cup: Construction-grade PVC pipe mounted in the center
Assembly: Arrives fully assembled
Carry: Targets latch together for transport and storage
Regulation claim: Stated to meet regulation size guidelines for practice and competitive use
Box dimensions: —
Cup diameter: —
Throwing distance: —
Washer diameter: —
Set weight: —
Players: —

Manufacturer listing: GoSports product listing

$49.99 · View on Amazon

Price as of October 19, 2026. #ad How we make money

Best quoits set

Triumph Wood Quoit Target Outdoor Lawn Game Set

Triumph

Our spec score

7.4/10

Spec completeness: 7/10
Footprint clarity: 7/10
Durability: 6/10
Pack-down: 8/10

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

Six 6.5-inch sisal rope rings and two stackable solid wood targets with 9-inch pins, scored 3 for a ringer and 1 for a ring on the platform, with a tournament distance published at 21 feet between pins.

Skip this if

Skip this if you wanted metal quoits. These are rope rings on wooden targets — the lawn version of the game — and they suit a patio or a picnic, not a pitch dug into the ground.

What works

A published tournament distance and a published scoring rule
Rope rings — safe indoors, on a deck, around children
Targets stack with the rings stored on the pins
Solid wood targets, published

What does not

No published target dimensions
No carry bag published
Rope rings are the lawn game, not the traditional metal one

Published specifications

Rings: 6 (3 red, 3 blue), 6.5 in, sisal rope
Targets: 2 stackable solid wood targets, 9 in pins
Scoring: Ringer 3 points; ring on the target platform 1 point
Distance: 21 ft between pins stated for tournament play; any distance for fun
Players: 1 v 1 or teams of two
Storage: Targets stack with the rings wrapped around the pins
Target dimensions: —
Carry bag: —

Manufacturer listing: Triumph published specification (Escalade Sports)

$27.99 · View on Amazon

Price as of October 19, 2026. #ad How we make money

Best overall

NERF Soft Tip Lawn Darts

NERF

Our spec score

6.8/10

Spec completeness: 4/10
Footprint clarity: 2/10
Durability: 6/10
Pack-down: 9/10

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

Four soft-tipped darts and two targets from a brand with a safety reputation to protect — the modern form of a game whose pointed original the CPSC banned outright in 1988.

Skip this if

Skip this if you wanted the weighted metal game you remember from the 1970s. That game is illegal to sell in the United States, and this one deliberately does not fly or stick like it.

What works

Soft tip is the whole point: it is the design that makes a lawn dart legal to sell at all
Two targets means two scoring circles, which is how the original game was played
A national toy brand's name on the box is worth something in a category defined by a safety ban

What does not

No published dart weight, and weight is what decides whether a dart flies straight
No published throwing distance, so the footprint is whatever you agree it is
No published age floor on a game bought almost entirely for children

Published specifications

Darts: 4 soft-tipped darts
Targets: 2 targets
Tip: Soft tip — not designed to stick in the ground
Legal status: Outside the 1988 pointed-lawn-dart ban
Dart weight: —
Target diameter: —
Throwing distance: —
Age floor: —
Set weight: —

Manufacturer listing: Amazon product listing (NERF)

$24.99 · View on Amazon

$29.9917% off

Price as of October 19, 2026. #ad How we make money

Best overall

Yard Games Ladder Toss (Double Wooden Ladder Ball)

Yard Games

Our spec score

7.8/10

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

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

A finished wood frame with real golf-ball bolas and a nylon case — the version that does not rattle apart the way tube-and-plastic ladder sets do.

Skip this if

Skip this if you need the set to stand up in wind. A wooden ladder frame has a big sail area and no ground stakes.

What works

Golf-ball bolas have real mass, so they wrap a rung instead of bouncing off
Wood frame stays rigid where PVC flexes and drops the top rung
About 160 sq ft of lawn — one of the smallest footprints on the site

What does not

No published weight or packed dimensions
Wooden ladders blow over in a breeze

Published specifications

Footprint: About 20 ft x 8 ft (about 160 sq ft)
Toss distance: 15 ft
Scoring: 3 top rung, 2 middle, 1 bottom; first to exactly 21
Bolas: 6, real golf balls
Frame: Finished wood
Case: Durable nylon carrying case
Players: 2 or 4
Set weight: —

Manufacturer listing: Yard Games product listing

$65.99 · View on Amazon

Price as of October 19, 2026. #ad How we make money

FAQ

Questions people actually ask

What can I play instead of horseshoes without digging pits?

Washer toss is the closest: two boxes that sit on the grass, three points in the cup and one in the box, played to 21 at about 20 feet. Quoits is the next closest, pitching rope rings between two wooden targets.

Is there a lighter version of horseshoes?

Several. The NHPA caps a shoe at 2 lb 10 oz, which is the heaviest projectile in this catalog. Rope quoits, plastic-coated steel washers and soft-tip lawn darts are all a fraction of that, which is what makes them work for children and older players.

Are lawn darts a legal substitute for horseshoes?

The soft-tip ones are. The CPSC banned pointed lawn darts in 1988 and explicitly excluded products without pointed tips that are not designed to stick in the ground — which is what every set sold today is.

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.

Horseshoe alternatives

Quick picks

What you are replacing