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Essentially, the game is played by two teams who try to throw their three bolas (balls connected by rope or twine) onto a PVC pipe ladder with three steps. The top step is worth three points, middle: two, and bottom: one. Teams alternate rounds of throwing their three bolas in the quest of earning exactly 21 points. Like the game’s name, there is also leeway with rules and scoring, but these are the basics.

There are nearly as many names for the game as there are players, and odds are that if you add “ball,” “toss,”, or “golf” to a colorful noun or adjective people will know what you’re talking about. Among the more inventive names: Norwegian Golf, Dingle Balls, Poor Man’s Golf, Holey Golf, Rattail Toss, Willy Ball, and Testicle Toss.

Bola toss, or a variation, would lend itself the most logical name for the game, as the stringed balls closely resemble the indigenous South American weapon also called the bola. The weapon was traditionally made with leather straps and wooden balls that were thrown close to the ground at an animal in an attempt to entwine its legs.

Another romantic but odd myth surrounding the game goes back the old West. Cowboy Golf or Cowboy Ball is rumored to have stemmed from old ranchers and cowboys throwing snakes at barbed wire fences. Plastic pipe, rope, and golf balls prove more enjoyable.

According to the U.S. Patent Office, the official name for the game is Ladder Golf, courtesy of postman Robert Reid from Emmaus, PA. Reid filed for the patent November 18, 1999 and was awarded US Patent 6,308,956 for “a tethered ball toss game in which,” according to his abstract, “a number of tethered balls arranged at both ends of a series of cords and secured to the ends of the cords by knots are tossed from a prescribed distance toward a number of horizontal bars.”

Known for decades to the Reid family as simply “the ladder game,” the sets of ladders and four-inch balls were brought out for a 1998 picnic and met with great demand from friends and family.

“After the picnic everybody asked me ‘where can I buy that game?’” says Reid, “so I did a patent search, and nothing came up. It has been a fun game in our family for years.”

After the death of Reid’s father, George, in 1990, Robert discovered the game he played growing up packed away in the garage, and retrieved it for further use. An engineer with pneumatics giant Ingersoll Rand, George Reid is thought to have designed the game in the 1940’s.

“I’m 56 years old, and we have had the game as long as I can remember,” Reid says.

Robert Reid’s goal in filing his patent was to see his father’s set sold in stores and has since sold his patent to Ladder Golf LLC, and now works as a distributor for the company. The company sells pre-made sets over the Internet, and is based out of San Diego.

Matt Peterson of Ladder Golf remarked that the company was founded after seeing it played while camping.

“We saw the game thought it was cool, and wanted to design a nice set,” Peterson said. “We just wanted to make something classy that we could play with that we wouldn’t be ashamed to show our friends.

Ladder Golf recently purchased the patent rights to Reid’s design, as the company’s model (which is portable) most closely resembles Reid’s parented design. Ladder Golf is also applying for a patent that will reference the Reid design.

A camping trip, as in Peterson’s experience, backyard barbecue, or grad party makes a fantastic setting for the game, but a more competitive side is also brewing. Andy Frushour is the man in charge of playmonkeyball.com, and has established a ranking system based on tournaments played in the Michigan area.

“What really drives us is the chance to bring people together for tournaments,” Frushour says. “We’ve created a ranking formula, official tournament rules and a store to buy Monkeyball gear. The web site is the key. It shows people we’re professionals about promoting and administering the game, but most importantly, we don’t take ourselves too seriously. We want to win, but we also want to have a good laugh.”

Much of the game’s draw comes from its simplicity. Building a set, if done right, will not cost more than $25 and there are many sites to buy pre-made sets online, as well as in local game and outdoor stores.

Games by James in Rosedale has sold 20 sets of their version of game, called “Top Toss,” since May of 2006.

“The hot, not humid days this summer were when we moved the most units,” says store manager Jaffer Batica, “it doesn’t seem like an impulse buy; because at $60 a set, it’s not necessarily cheap. It seemed like people would stop in before heading to the beach or someplace outdoors and buy this game that they had been thinking about for a while.”

Internet sites like thefuntimes.com or lifewithsport.com offer plans and details for building the sets, and nearly all of the equipment needed can be purchased at a local hardware store.

Batica comments on the buy-or-build dilemma, “we [at Games by James] have been telling people, ‘if you like this sort of craft, go for it;’ if not, the set will save you a lot of hassle.”

Echoing Batica’s advice, Ladder Golf’s Matt Peterson says, “you may save $20 making a set out of PVC and old range balls, but that’s what you get: a set out of PVC and old range balls. I got no beef with people making their own sets, though; they’re pushing our game.”

In regard to his decision to build instead of buy, Andy Frushour comments, “we saw some people playing at a campground a few years ago, and then went home and engineered a set for ourselves. The beauty of Monkeyball is anyone can play anywhere at anytime; young and old, male or female, indoor and outdoor, on the lawn, at a tailgate or standing on the beach. All you need is PVC, some rope, a few golf balls and the know-how to put it all together.”

Whether you build or buy, ladder golf Polish golf cowboy golf horse balls, or whatever you want to call it, is sure to keep you coming back. Even if the game turns out to be this summer’s fad, there is certainly a following that will keep tossing tethered balls for some time to come.