Contest of Champions, in my backyard-with scaled down Hulk and Thor

Because Sakaar is too far away to get to in a timely manner, we had our own Contest of Champions in the backyard. In a perfect world the Grandmaster would be there to emcee and/or pardon some in the crowd. However, until that’s an option we had the kids play in the back yard while I organized the Backyard Games Contest. The best part for parents is that these games are all but free and can be done using things that you’ve already got, or will soon receive like boxes in the mail.

If you’ve seen Thor: Ragnarok you know that it’s the best Hulk movie that we’ve had. It captures the humor, power and strength of the big green, gamma guy and makes him almost upstage the formerly long haired God of Thunder. Hulk Smash is a simple game that any age can play in the yard and everyone is a winner.

Just take some boxes, any boxes, any size and tape them up so that their tops are secure. Then place the boxes in a pyramid or square. Be sure to put the boxes on as flat a surface as possible so that your elementary aged Hulk can smash and build it easily. To play Hulk Smash simply have your players line up behind their box wall and run through it.

The rules are simple, run through the wall. You can add rules depending on the age or strength of your players such as the largest distance of box displacement, number of boxes moved from its footprint, best Hulk face and so forth.

In a switch up on Hulk Smash you could also conduct the Thor Hammer Toss. You can easily make a substitute hammer by using cardboard or bean bags. When you make your own hammer just be certain that it’s light enough so that it won’t hurt others if it accidently hits someone or something that it shouldn’t. We were lucky enough to have a Styrofoam Thor hammer that we purchased years ago when the first Thor movie came out.

The Thor Hammer Toss can be played two different ways. If you have enough space then players can conduct it using distance. In our case we used the boxes from Hulk Smash as targets for our hammer. The players stood back ten feet from the box wall and threw their Thor hammer, trying to knock down as many boxes as possible. Our younger players had to get closer to the wall, until they were able to knock down some of them.

Do you have a pool noodle? If so, then you’ve got two simple Thor Backyard Games that can bring a taste of Asgard home. First up we had the Balance on the Bilfrost Bridge where we laid one pool noodle on the ground while someone used another noodle to try and knock the other one off. Walking across it for us was simple. The joy in this particular game was the look of our 6 year old having free reign to wallop me with a pool noodle.

The Valkyrie Dagger Toss uses the pool noodles again, and can be done two ways. The concept is simple; throw the noodle in the same way that you would a javelin and the one who throws it the farthest wins. However, pool noodles, in their natural state, can’t be thrown very far. If you’re playing the game for laughs, like with young kids, play it that way.

If the kids are slightly older you can put something inside the pool noodle that will make is stiff, thus being able to be thrown for either distance or target practice. In our case we use some quarter round molding, this let our 8 year old throw it to where it would actually go ten yards or longer with practice. However, when you put something in the pool noodle it’s hard and could easily be used as more of a sword, than a javelin. If you use the pool noodle in this way for this game it’s important to know your audience. A group of 8 year old boys wouldn’t be good for this unless they were supervised.

There are other options to your Thor Backyard Games such as the classic tug-of-war; one side could be Valkyries, while the other could be Loki’s minions. In non-Thor speak, that would be girls vs. boys. Any of the above mentioned games can be skewed for different ages and most likely you’ve got the supplies to do any of them in the park or backyard today after school. So how about you and your Ragnarok-what games do you think your Hulks, Thors, Heimdalls or Valkyries will play first?

 

Thor: Ragnarok is out on Blu ray DVD and is rated PG-13.