Here's a Sunday game that combines a few good things:  Tossing horseshoes, desert scenery, good people, good fun and Hi Desert Round-Up.  What am I talking about?  Why, it's Horseshoe Pitching, at one of CA4WDC's premier events, High Desert Roundup, 2005.

 

Photos:  You pay your buck, which goes to a good cause, and the the game, and the race, begins.

To simplify the matter, the object of this race is to find a co-driver that knows how to toss horseshoes.  English translation of a co-driver is:  Right seat passenger that can toss horseshoes, and can be bribed into making nothing but ringers, while sitting in the passenger's seat as you drive. Yeah, right!  Wimps need not apply, as this game takes real horseshoe pitching skill!  This game features the most rules of any of the Sunday vehicle games at Hi Desert, so I'll just paraphrase what the Hi Desert Round-Up brochure says about the event.  The whole thing goes something like this...

 

Left:  At the start of the course, ready to begin, Hi Desert base camp is in the background.  Right:  Stopped a the line and pitching the first horseshoe.  Notice the 'shoe is in the air and headed towards the stake, a wannabee ringer.  Note the horseshoe is in the air, which can be plainly seen above the blue shade tent.

The driver drives to the stop line, where the passenger (horseshoe tosser) is given 4 horseshoes.  When they're ready to go, the stopwatch is clicked and the race begins.  The driver drives the vehicle forward and stops opposite the proper pitching line.  It goes like this:  men at the men's line, women at the women's line, and children at the kid's line; makes sense, eh?  The passenger will exit to their right through the pit entrance to the pitching line and pitch all 4 of the horseshoes from their respective foul line.  Pitches are disqualified if the passenger steps past the pitching foul line.  Also subject for disqualification are hits to the backboard or if the shoe does not stay within the 3-foot limit.  The passenger then dives, Dukes of Hazard style, back into the vehicle and locks the seat belt into place, and the driver is good to go.  If the driver moves the vehicle before the passenger is belted in, a 10-second time penalty is added to their score, a nasty addition, indeed.  You then haul your little hinee around the bumpy course to the promised land, a.k.a., the finish line.  Time ends when the front of the rig crossed the finish line.  Whew!

 

Photos:  Throwing horseshoes.  After pitching the horseshoes, you have to climb into your vehicle as fast as possible and drive the course.  The fastest combined time wins!

Now that we've told you how it works, well, how does it score?  Let's see...  Any shoe that hits within 3 feet of the stake gets 1 point.  If you land within 2 feet of the stake, you get 2 points, as consistent with 2nd grade math.  If you're lucky, or skilful enough to throw that shoe in the neighborhood of a foot of the stake, you rack up 3 points. Better yet, if that bad boy leans toward, or touches the stake, you're rewarded with 4 points.  Hey, it gets better, as that ringer you just tossed gets a whopping 5 points!  What constitutes a ringer, you ask?  Definition:  Ringer is counted if a straight edge can touch both ends of the horseshoe with the stake inside.   Just in case you asked, that quote is from Webster's Hi Desert Dictionary.

 

Left:  This guy throws towards a ringer at the Horseshoe Toss Game.  Right:  After you've thrown your horseshoes, the idea is to get into your vehicle, seatbelt yourself in, and then get going.  Dukes of Hazard antics are not uncommon at this event!

The emphasis of this game is for horseshoe points.  Ties will be broken by the fastest time, penalties deducted, but bagging those ringers will get you everything in this game.  Speed kills, horseshoes rule in this game.  So, instead of counting on that sweepstakes-wannabe Jeep you own, I'd suggest that you get out into your backyard, put on last year's tank top shirt that you purchased at Hi Desert Round-Up and toss a few shoes before you toss a few brewskies.  

Maybe I should take my own advice and build that horseshoe pit in the backyard that my wife has been nagging me to do for years...