What better way to entertain the kids (and the adults too) on a sunny day in the garden than with a ladder toss?  The ladder toss is a relatively new game, although it does feel rather like a Victorian lawn game such as quoits or croquet.  The premise is fairly simple: a ladder of three rungs is staked into the lawn (or freestanding versions can be made/bought) and two or more teams attempt to throw bolas (two balls attached by string) onto the ladder rungs.  The top rung is usually worth the least points and the bottom rung the most, but there is no set way of scoring, as the game of ladder toss is a grassroots phenomenon and there are many different sets of rules and scoring.  In some versions, having a bola on each rung gives a bonus ten points and with only three bolas per team, this is no mean feat. Other ways of earning bonus points is to include the 'dangle bonus', which is awarded when the bola is wrapped around the rung and cannot be wrapped around any more or the springboard bonus when the balls launch back in the direction they are thrown. Because there are no hard and fast rules for this game, it is an excellent choice for multiple age groups and abilities, with the possibility of making up your own rules and scoring system to suit.  The game itself is easy to make with wood, plumbing pipes, even scaffold poles for a giant version!  The bolas can be made from anything from a ping-pong ball, golf ball, tennis ball, all the way up to a basketball for a really large version (although you would need very large ladders to accommodate the bolas!) There are also sets available to buy, but the game goes by many different names including Ladder Golf, Ladder Toss, Ladder Ball, Ghetto Golf and many more.  One company has brought out a version with LEDs in the bolas and on the rungs, making it not only colour co-ordinated, but playable in the dark!  So while the weather is still nice and you're spending time in the garden, enjoy a nice game of ladder toss and make up your own rules! And of course if you don't want to make a ladder to play you can always visit the Midland Ladders website to buy one!