Wrapadoodle is a game my sister learned from some co-workers while working at the Victoria Bottle Depot. It's true origins remain a mystery. As the number of sets constructed and in use continues to grow I insisted the rules be written down as they constantly seemed to change and be reinterpreted the few times I had played. I also gave the game a name and injected some idiosyncratic terminology necessary for the success in these modern times.
The game requires one target though two is better and necessary to play with teams. The target can also be referred to as a thingamajig. Also required are two sets of three identical ropes with golf balls at the ends. These are referred to as doodles.
The target can be constructed out of any material though PVC tubing works well, though it can crack or break over time. The set can be assembled and disassembled and is thus portable. The bars are twenty inches, forty inches, and sixty inches off the ground and the horizontal bars are forty five inches long. This size seems to work well though smaller or larger has also been tried.
The doodles are constructed out of a short piece of rope and two golf balls with holes drilled through them. Using different coloured balls differentiates between the doodles used by competing players. The balls are about 15 inches apart. Other lengths can be tried but 15 inches seems to work well. It needs to be possible for the doodles to pass through the horizontal bars of the target/thingamajig and hang from any bar without touching another bar, the reasons for this will be obvious once you first try to score points.
The game is played by throwing your doodles at the thingamajig. If the doodle wraps around the target you score points. Players alternate throwing their doodles at the thingamajig, each player gets three tosses per end. Points are only tallied at the end of an end. This is for a variety of reasons, one it is entirely possible you or your opponent will knock off a hanging doodle. Two you can cancel your opponents shot by wrapping your own doodle around the same horizontal bar. Each doodle cancels out one opposing doodle. So if your opponent has two doodles wrapped around a bar and you have a single doodle wrapped on the same bar, your opponent gets to score one doodle. Finally you must score exactly fifteen points to win. This is the most detested rule, if you have fourteen points and score three more, you do not win, your points wrap around. You now have two points.
Points are scored as followed, a doodle wrapped or hanging from the top bar is worth one point, the second horizontal bar two points, the third and lowest bar three points. If you succeed in wrapping a doodle around a vertical bar you get five points. This is a fiver. It must not be supported by a horizontal bar.
The targets are placed approximately twenty feet apart and a player should endeavour to be behind the thingamajig when tossing a doodle. Gentlemanly conduct is expected to be followed at all times and these rules serve as guidelines and are not enforced by any governing body.
Any throwing technique may be used though an underhand toss similar to horseshoes is almost universal. Any doodle that is hanging at the end of an end potentially counts, though securely wrapped doodles are more likely to remain wrapped around and elicit congratulations from your opponent or adoring fans. It is legal to bounce a doodle off the ground and up on to the lower bar. If a tossed doodle should wrap and then unwrap spectacularly it does not count. This is referred to as being gipped.
To deliberately miss, so as not to disturb a peirously hanging doodle by throwing your doodle well short of the thingamajig is to grubber.