If you have a dartboard, but you’re not really up to scratch for a proper game then you should try playing a beginners’ game called Around The Clock first.

The objective of Around The Clock is really simple. All each player has to do is try and hit each number in order from 1 to 20. Basically, a player starts off with three darts trying to hit number 1. If he hits 1 he moves onto 2 and so on until the three darts are gone and it’s the next player’s turn.

The winner is the first to 20. You can make things more interesting by bringing doubles and triples into play for the lower numbers allowing people to jump ahead. You can also stipulate that the winner has to hit the bull after 20 to make the game a touch harder.

It’s great to have a games room at home where you can pass the time if the weather’s bad. It’s also a really good way of helping to entertain people when they come over. You can share a few drinks, chat for a while and enjoy a few indoor sports.

The main indoor sports you can get going in your games room are things like darts, pool and table football. All these things require a bit of space, so don’t try and squeeze a games room into an area that’s too tight – remember you have to have extra room simply to hang out comfortably.

It can be great fun taking part in the office Olympics, especially if you are better at the events than your co-workers. We end our five part article with a sport that is based on a non-Olympic event but is engrained in the heartland of the British summertime – water butt cricket.

What are the rules of water butt cricket?

The office divides itself into two teams. Using an empty water butt from the water cooler as a cricket bat and a tightly screwed up document as a ball, the aim of the game is to be the team who scores the most runs.

Before the game starts the teams must decide on a fixed number of overs (6 balls per over) or a number of balls that each team member receives. A run is scored when the buttsman manages to hit the ball (bowled by an opposing team member) against one of the office walls (it’s in the office so no running allowed). The team member is out when they fail to hit the ball. It is important to note that each ball bowled should be able to be hit by the opposing team. Any ball that is too far away from the buttsman will have to be bowled again.

The team with the most runs at the end of the game wins.

The latest event at the office Olympics is called ‘speed coffee’. And the benefit of this office Olympic event is competitors have a cup of coffee to drink after the event.

The basic essence of the event is that competitors take turns to make a cup of coffee, but there are some provisos:

• The event is timed from the moment the competitor leaves his/her desk to the time they return and sit down.
• The kettle must be empty on starting the event. It needs to be filled by the competitor then boil and switch itself off before the hot water is poured into the mug.
• No coffee must be spilled from the time the competitor leaves the staff kitchen until they reach their desk.
• The mug used must contain a ‘full’ cup of coffee (we have had occasions when competitors have tried to flout the rules and only fill it a little to avoid spillage).

Speed, accuracy and determination, plus the ability not to feel burning pain are the pre-requisites to be a speed coffee champion.

We have already covered chair racing and pen throwing in our five part office Olympics article. Here we will discuss the dangerous art of office chair spinning.

Chair spinning

In this event the participants take turns in sitting in a suitable office chair at one end of the office. Two other entrants then spin the participant around for a pre-decided number of turns – the higher the number the higher the risk. When the chair stops, the participant races against the clock to reach the far end of the office. Much falling over and hence hilarity may ensue, as may projectile vomit. This game is not for the feint of heart.

All the entrants take a turn and the fastest entrant is the winner.

In our first article on office Olympics we featured the chair race. An exciting event that all too often ends in tragedy for the competitors, when the emphasis of the race turns from who wants to win into who wants to create the most devastation.

In part 2 of this article we are going to discuss the noble art of pen throwing.

Pen throwing

In the pen throwing event the participants first choose a suitable pen – preferably not one that leaks easily.

The aim of the event is to stand at one end of the office and try to throw their pen across the room to the far wall. The entrant who gets his or her pen closest to the wall without hitting the wall is the winner.

We know that office Olympics is not a registered sport but with the weather warming up we thought we would give you a list of sports that you can play in the office when you are feeling bored or when your boss has the day off. Part 1 of this five part article is the office chair race.

The Office Chair Race

For this event you need two or more willing employees with rollable office chairs. When the boss is out of the room you need to line up the competitors at one end of the office (the larger the office the better). A non-competing office member acts as a referee, usually the office swot. The competitors have to race to the other end of the office using only their feet as a method of propulsion whilst at the same time making sure that their buttocks are firmly planted to the chair seat.

There are no strict rules during the race but devious tactics are generally frowned upon, however the odd bump into your main rival is not seen as a rule infringement.

We all love our sports whether this is indoors or outdoors and for many different reasons for me i have to say i love the outdoor sports such as rugby and Football but indoor sports are becoming just as popular in the UK due to the weather the country has. Indoor sports allows you to take part in activities without having to be in t-shirt and shorts outside on them cold bitterly days.

I think the most popular indoor sport would depend on what country you live in as if you lived in America this would be Basket ball where as in the UK this could still be football although squash and badminton would be high up there.

As so many of you would have been aware and seen on television we are well into the winter Olympics which is being held in Vancouver this time round the games have seen their ups and downs with at the start a male athlete died in practice on the luge track

However we have also seen many highs with Amy Williams making British Olympic history in the bob skeleton taking gold in the event. And As for the indoor sports the Mens British team take to the ice today in the mens Curling Final which is set to hopefully finish with a great ending got British team.

We are all familiar with common pub games such as Dominos, Pool and Darts there are a wealth of different pub games that are not so well known but are played at a competitive level.  You can even win  trophies if you are good enough.

Bagatelle. This game is like billiards and is played on a long table with a semi-circular end with nine holes. The object of the game is to get a number of ball past pins into holes.

Skittles – also known as nine pins. In this game players take turns to throw a wooden ball along a lane in an attempt to knock over wooden pins. The well known ten pin bowling is thought to be based upon the skittles game. The space required to play nine pin skittles lead to the creation of the game table skittles, in which the ball is attached to a chain and swung at the pins to knock them over.

Shovge Ha’penny – this game is played on a board and involves the players pushing coins with the heel of the hand to send the coin sliding  along the board. The board has parallel lines that are spaced by about the coin’s width. The area separated by two lines is known as a bed.  The objective is to shove the coins so that they come to rest in a bed without touching the lines on either side. To win requires that the player gets 3 coins between the same lines.  Like golf, it has its own terminology for achieving these goals. For example if you are able to score three coins in a bed in a single turn it is known as a ‘sergent’. Five coins in a single turn is known as a ‘sergent major’ or gold watch.