For Father's Day yesterday, one of my presents was a washers set, the mass produced type pictured above. Mrs. Nasty and the kids got the set from our local Rural King
For those of you who aren't familiar with the game, it's a variation on horseshoes except players use large washers and square boxes with part of pvc tubing in the middle of the boxes. You set the boxes twenty feet apart and toss the washers to their destination. A washer that goes into the tube scores three points, and a washer that goes into the box outside the tube scores one point.
I was first introduced to the game at a party maybe during my sophomore year in college. I don't recall exactly, but it was somewhere in that time period. Since where I went to undergraduate was/is lousy with all kinds of folks from the St. Louis area, I assumed washers was a St. Louis thing, a game born of the working class in South City, a game played outside in the small backyards of the city where Busch and Bud flow freely and alleged pork "steaks" are grilled.
As a side note, I'm surprised South City does not have its own Wikipedia entry and I have to link a "Neighborhoods of St. Louis" page instead.
Maybe I'm mistaken in assuming that it's a St. Louis thing since the International Association of Washer Players in based in Birmingham, Alabama. Then again, when I lived in Alabama, I never saw anyone play washers, and after reading up on their version of the game, it's not the washers game I'm familiar with. I'm used to seeing homemade boxes for the game, not pits.
For example, when we played washers at my fraternity house, we used someone's homemade boxes, and if you wanted to play a game involving pits, you went to the back edge of the backyard for horseshoes.
Regardless, we played a game yesterday, and the Hannah and I were victorious over Mrs. Nasty and Quinn. It was fun and brought back memories. I'm certainly rusty though. I need to get some practice in before late April for the 40th Roseball in Kirksville.
Even though they're a mass produced deal, the boxes seem pretty sturdy. I guess if they do break down, I can always follow the instructions on YouTube for "How to Build a Washers Game."
