How To Make A Ring And Hook Game

The Ring and Hook Game is a fun and competitive easy-to-install game anyone can play because no skills are required. We made our own for under $5 and you can too with this simple tutorial.

We first learned of the Ring and Hook Game a few years ago after our daughter and son-in-law saw it while on vacation. They came home and installed the game under their carport. Then our other daughter installed one in her garage.

There is a bit of a competitive spirit in our family so of course, we needed one. We had to get some practice in for when everyone plays together. It makes for great rainy day fun too!

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How To Make and Install The Ring And Hook Game In Your Garage

The Ring and Hook Game is also known as Hook and Ring game, Bimini game, Ring the Bull game, and Tiki Toss hook and ring game. No matter what you call it, you will enjoy passing time trying to toss that O Ring onto that hook.

Table of Contents

• How To Make and Install The Ring And Hook Game In Your Garage
  • Supplies for making a Hook and Ring Toss Game
  • Step 1 Paint the wood
  • Step 2 Choose your location and find a stud in the wall
  • Step 3 Placing the hook on the wall
    • How to determine the location of the hook
  • Step 4 Tie the string
  • Step 5 How long should the string be?
• More Family Games & Activities

Supplies for making a Hook and Ring Toss Game

The supplies are fairly simple and can be found at your local hardware store. You realize this is a simple game based on the supplies needed.

• Small scrap piece of wood
• Paint colors of your design choice
• One, 1 Inch O Ring
• (1) 1 3/8″ Screw Eye Hook for ceiling
• One, 3 3/8″ Open Hook Screw
• 2″ Deck Screws (2)
• Nylon String
• Easy-Tack Repositionable Adhesive Spray

Step 1 Paint the wood

We decided to attach our Open Hook onto a piece of scrap wood rather than straight into the wall so I had a little fun with painting the wood.

I thought it would be fun to paint a bulls-eye onto it and use my favorite summer decor colors which are red, white, and blue. 

My hubby always seems to have a couple of pieces of scrap wood which I love and he had the perfect piece for this project so no cutting involved. 

First I gave the wood a coat of white paint and allowed that to dry overnight. Then I taped the edges with masking tape to create a thick outer edge line.

Once the sides were dry I taped the top corners to match them with the side edges and painted those red as well.

Meanwhile, my husband created a bulls-eye stencil using card stock and a couple of small round objects from the house. He used Easy-Tack Repositionable Adhesive Spray to attach the stencil into place and painted the bulls-eye in Navy Blue. 

Step 2 Choose your location and find a stud in the wall

Time to choose your spot on the garage wall for your bulls-eye target. You will have to select the best location in your garage which for us is right next to the back door. 

Once we determined where we wanted our Ring and Hook Game Bulls-eye, it was necessary to find a spot with a stud in the wall. My hubby whipped out one of his toys, I mean tools which is the Zircon Stud Finder. I seriously love the way it lights up on the edges of the stud and the red arrow which shows up on the wall. 

We chose to put our bulls-eye target 5 ft. from the floor. The distance from the wall is based on the location of the stud.

Step 3 Placing the hook on the wall

First, drill a pilot hole into your location on the wall. Drilling a pilot hole first will help keep your wood from splitting. Then use two 2″ deck screws to attach the bulls-eye board to the wall. 

How to determine the location of the hook

The location of your bulls-eye will then determine where the eye hook goes into the ceiling. When selecting your location of play keep in mind that you will have to stand about 5 or 6 ft. away from the bulls-eye wall to play. That may make it necessary to back the car out of the garage for playing.

Measure the distance from the sidewall over to the actual open ring hook on the bulls-eye target. For us, that was 71 inches. Now we need to do two measurements on the ceiling to get the exact location for the eye hook from which the string will hang.

It is important to note that the further away you place your ceiling eye hook and thus the string with the ‘O’ Ring, the harder the game will be. We chose a distance of 6 ft. An easier distance of play is 4 to 5 feet. 

Now, we need to double-check and make sure we have our ceiling eye hook exactly the same distance from the sidewall as the bulls-eye target. We do this by measuring the distance from the opposing wall to our marked location for the ceiling eye hook. Our selected distance was 71 inches as previously mentioned.

This project provided my hubby with an opportunity to enjoy one of his favorite tools which are his Little Giant Ladder. That ladder has been such a blessing as it is so versatile to use around the home for many spaces. I need it every year when I’m decorating our Christmas tree.

Step 4 Tie the string

Tie the string onto the eye hook before screwing the eye hook into the ceiling. Leave ample string hanging. 

Screw the eye hook into the ceiling in the location you determined.

Step 5 How long should the string be?

Determining the exact length of string you need is a trial and error process based on the distance between your ceiling eye hook and the target open hook. 

First, place the ring onto the hook. Then begin to tighten the string leaving a little slack. Now tie it off leaving a bit for adjustments. You will have to play the game by swinging the ring a few times to determine if your string is too long. Make the adjustment needed for your string length, tie it off and call the crew to begin playing!

Wouldn’t you know it! He had a ringer on his first try! It took me a few times but I had a ringer too! I plan to hang a wipe-off board nearby so we can keep score!

Free Printable PDF diagram below

Our new Ring and Hook Game cost us less than $5 because we already had everything we needed except the O ring, open hook, and eye hook. Chances are you probably have most supplies also. Ring and Hook Game Kits are available on Amazon in a variety of different fun designs.

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Thank you for sharing!