What it is: A rough-and-tumble, physically active game played in the pool with big groups. Best for teens and older.
Best for: About 10 players to however many you can comfortably fit in a pool.
What you need: A swimming pool, a watermelon, and at least, oh, I’d say ten people to play. (Don’t worry, it will all make sense soon.)
How to play: First, divide your players into two even teams and your pool into two equal sides. Each team gets a side. Then toss the watermelon into the pool (it will float).
The game is basically like football, but in the water, and with a watermelon in place of a football. (Doesn’t this sound hilariously fun already?) The object of the game is for your team to move the watermelon through the pool and place it on the outside edge of the opposing team’s side, all while keeping the opposing team from doing the same to you.
Rules include: no biting, kicking, scratching, drowning, otherwise hurting, or getting out of the pool. But basically, other than that, anything goes. You can push the watermelon, keep it above water or push it under, pass the watermelon to teammates, tackle opposing team members, grab onto the watermelon for dear life – anything to score. As you can imagine, it often turns into a pretty rough physical contact game, but also a pretty funny one (because, come on, how hard/entertaining is it to maneuver/watch other people maneuver a wet watermelon in a pool?).
Variations: I think I’ve heard of covering the watermelon in Crisco, to make it even harder to hold onto. You can also play basically the same game with, instead of a watermelon, a clear 2-liter soda bottle, with the label removed, filled with water. Then it’s a little more challenging and less silly, because it’s a lot harder to locate the non-floating bottle, but a lot easier to maneuver it around the pool.