Ladder Ball: A Name is But a Name
What is in a name, after all? When it comes to ladder ball, the question may vary, but the answer is always the same classic tailgate and backyard party game. Ladder ball - or ladder golf, or blongo ball, or hillbilly horseshoes, or snakes and ladders, or at least 20 more different names - pits team players against each other as they try to snag bolos, or sets of tethered balls, around a short ladder's rungs for points. The game really doesn't vary unless players create their own versions and rules, but the name for the game varies widely. And no one really seems to know why, though people have passed around a couple legends. The sole patented name for the game is Ladder Golf, secured by the San Diego-based company of the same name. Owner Matt Peterson discovered the game being played in campgrounds in the early 1990s. Peterson believes the game probably originated in camp settings, though others contend it's derivative of a Western and Mexican cowboy game during which participants would sling live snakes at fences or branches for points. Those who call the game Willy Ball postulate a Polynesian named Williekahlua threaded two hollowed coconuts together and threw them along the beach until one day, upon repeatedly landing in tree branches, his friends joined the game. |  |
Whatever the case, ladder golf is often used as a universal name for the game now. And, interestingly, it has a variant in traditional golf, as well. In that scenario, the golf course is marked to resemble a 40- or 50-foot-long ladder, and a putting hole is placed at the end. Players attempt to sink the ball with the fewest number of strokes while staying within the ladder formation. It's perhaps not as exciting as winding up the arm for a good hard toss of the bolo, but maybe chucking the golf club in frustration comes close.
