PRETTY WORTHY

When we woke up this morning, we needed a project. Bad. We just couldn’t figure out what to project on. Nothing needed fixin’ or renovating or refurbishing. Nothing. So we became bored – which is not a very attractive look on my husband and I because we always have to be doing something – anything! As we drank our coffee on the deck, we looked around at our rather boring backyard and decided it needed something – anything – some entertainment for those backyard BBQs and shindigs we’re so fond of having. And that’s when it hit us: Washers. ((Otherwise known as “Southern Horseshoes” to all you Southern Belles out there.)) Not familiar with either term?! Washers is a game that can be found at any tailgate or local outdoor burger joint here in Fort Worth. Basically you and your opponent are trying to throw some little metal washers into three little holes – which sounds much easier than it actually is ((especially after a few margaritas. . .)). The full directions to the game can be found here ((or down below)), but if you’re already intrigued (and you love anything monogrammed), here’s a list of the supplies you’ll need to get started on your own Washers game boards. . . .

You’ll also need (8) some cardboard or extra paper to stencil the monogram on (trust me – stenciling is the way to go for this project!), (9) extra pins to keep the stencil steady on the boards, and (10) a big strapping man to help you drill some big ass holes in the board – because trust me, I thought I could just saw my little way through and now both our saws are broken and gone ((RIP hand saws)). OR, if you are experienced with a speed saw (shown below with big strapping man), just make sure you use protection for your eyes/face/hands/body/etc. . . .

DIRECTIONS:

• With each piece of wood (ours were salvage – so much cheaper and resourceful) – both roughly measure 36″ x 18″, 1/2″ sanded plywood – (carefully) drill three 4″ holes about 5″ apart. Once the first board is drilled, you can use it to measure out the second board, just to certify they are equal
• Once holes are drilled and carved out, go ahead and fully spray paint both boards. You can also use paint, but spray paint is always my best friend. Choose any color you want, too – I just went with beautiful baby blue because, well, it’s always my first choice. . . .
• Onto a cardboard or hard piece of paper that will be a stencil for the monogram, sketch out your monogram! You can fashion your monogram in any way you want, but I knew I wanted the rounded form to match the circles. I started by drawing a huge circle with a big dish I had in the kitchen (everything is a resource these days) and then sketching out the monogram from there. There’s tons of copies/examples available online, but this website helped most because it showed all the letters.
• Cut out monogram with your handy X-Acto knife – again, very carefully!
• Attach new monogram stencil to the first board and secure so that the paint job your about to do doesn’t get all sloppy-like.
• Paint that monogram! We used white because I knew it’d POP, but feel free to use any color – or multiple colors!
• Once dry, remove stencil and start working on the other board. . . .
• Once both are dry take the other two pieces of plywood and attach with nails to the back part of the board so that it forms an incline. This will allow your opponent (and yourself) to easily see the targets. We also painted the back of the boards white to match the monogram, but again, it’s up to you. . .
• Grab your washers (we spray painted ours yellow and green) and start playing Washers!

Alright, Ryne is totally cheating in this picture – he’s way too close to the board – but you’d never know without some game rules! Here’s some official rule making. . . .

WASHERS RULES (via Bombast Washers):

• You’ll need two teams of two friends.
• The hole closest to you is worth 1 point, the middle hole is 3 points and the hole furthest from you is worth 5 points.
• The distance between your washer boards should be 10′ from front of board to the front of the opposite board.
• To determine who will “pitch” first to start the game each player will toss one washer toward the opposite board and whomever gets closest to the highest point hole will be the first to throw. After the game has started the person or team who scored last throws first.
• Player A will pitch their 3 washers (one at a time) toward the opposite board followed by player B. Scoring is determined after both players have pitched all of their washers. Only 1 player may score per round but can score points for all washers that are closer than their opponents. (a round is when each player has thrown all 3 washers). Points will cancel meaning that if Team of Player A gets a 3 pointer and Team/Player B gets a 5 pointer then team B gets 2 points.
• The winner is the first team to reach 21 points.
• OR, you can do what we always do after a few rounds of beer and make up our own rules. It’s your choice – but make sure you are HAVIN FUN ((and looking awesome!))!