Horseshoes is a classic lawn game consisting of two teams of two people who alternate throwing horseshoes at stakes 40 feet apart. But you don’t need to measure the dimensions or find space in your yard with the indoors horseshoes simulator from HD SportSuite.

Horseshoes gained so much mass appeal that President Harry S. Truman installed a horseshoe pit at the White House in the ’40s. In 1946, horseshoe champion Jimmy Risk visited the White House and showed President Truman and Admiral Chester W. Nimitz his prowess in the pit.

Four decades later, then-President George H. W. Bush rebuilt the pit. Bush took up the sport seriously, holding White House tournaments open to workers, family, and administration. Bush showed the game to other VIPs, including Queen Elizabeth II and Russian President Boris Yeltsin.

Let us explain the finer points of the game if you want to learn how to play horseshoes. Both throwing “ringers” and throwing the horseshoe closest to the stake count as points in a game of horseshoes. A ringer is a horseshoe that fully encircles the stake when thrown. You can connect the two “heel calks” with a straightedge at the horseshoe’s tips to settle disagreements. A ringer is a throw-in in which the straightedge does not contact the stake.

First, one person throws both shoes into one pit, then the other does the same, completing an “inning.” In most games, only the person who throws the last out gets credit for any runs scored that inning. However, all runners and pitchers score in “count all” games.

When scoring, a horseshoe is worth one point if it is a live shoe but not a ringer and lands within six inches of the stake (or two points if it leans on the stake, according to some variants of the scoring system).

When both of a player’s horseshoes are closer to the stake than the other player’s, that person receives two points. Three points go to the ringer. Two horseshoes, one a ringer and the other closer, are worth four points. If a player makes two perfect throws, they get six points. If both players throw a ringer, the throws cancel each other out, and no points are awarded.

When one player rings the bell twice while their opponent rings it once, the person who rings it twice receives three points. For keeping score, this is known as “two dead and three” or “three ringers, three.”

A pitcher’s ringer average still considers “dead ringers,” similar occurrences. The agreed-upon point total for a backyard game varies, but it’s often 21 points and a victory by 2. The most points in 50-shoe games determines the winner in handicapped categories of most sanctioned events. In the event of a tie, the pitchers will each throw an extra two innings (alternatingly) to determine a winner. In the non-handicapped or championship class, the target score is 40 points, regardless of the number of shoes used.

You can learn more about the game and how to fine-tune your skills with HD SportSuite’s virtual horseshoe game to get into playing form for those summer get-togethers.

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