By Emilee White
A typical game played at parties and bars is cornhole. If you aren’t familiar, the objective of cornhole is to toss bags of corn kernels into the hole of a slanted platform a few feet opposite where you are standing. Seems like a simple, yet fun and competitive game. So competitive in fact that tournaments are played all over the United States with some even being televised on ESPN. Even more so, you can actually bet on the game itself.
Cornhole isn’t the only weird sport you can bet on. Cheese rolling, Curling, and Quidditch (in case you are lame, Quidditch is the famous game played in J.K Rowling’s Harry Potter series) are other common weird sports that draw in many bets and bettors, but it doesn’t stop there. From known to “never heard of it”, here are some other weird sports you can bet on.
Harness Racing
Harness Racing is a very common sport in Sweden and Finland and is very similar to Horse Racing in that it involves a horse and jockey, but the jockey rides in a two-wheeled wagon pulled by the horse.
Because of the popularity of the sport, Sweden and Finland rely heavily on betting to finance the sport.
Cow Chip Tossing
While this may not be a typical sport you’ll find odds on at sportsbooks, Cow Chip Tossing is a betting favorite in Beaver, Oklahoma, home of the World Championship Cow Chip Tossing Contest.
The sport consists of dried pieces or “chips” of cow dung at least six inches wide. Whoever throws their chip the furthest, wins. The current world record is 188 feet and six inches, set by Drew Russell in 2015.
Rock-Paper-Scissors
Also known as Ro-Sham-Bo, rock-paper-scissors is a common game played between people who have to make a choice. I know that sounds vague, but that really is the objective of the game. If you and a friend were deciding where to get dinner, and you wanted to go to a restaurant while your friend wanted to go somewhere else, you would play rock-paper-scissors to decide the winner.
The game is best two out of three — rock beats scissors, scissors beat paper, and paper beats rock — and it’s all about the odds, which means there are people who bet on those odds. Due to the nature of the sport, the World Rock Paper Scissors Association created a World Championship that takes place in Europe, Canada, and the U.S.
Reindeer Racing
Another betting favorite for Finland is Reindeer Racing and it’s also popular in Norway and Russia. Similar to Harness Racing, this sport requires sleds or skiers to be pulled by sprinting reindeer down a 220-yard track. And just like Harness and Horse Racing, Reindeer Racing comes with many bettors.
Mountain Unicycling
Full disclosure, I do not know how to ride a bike. Riding on a mountain on only two wheels sounds horrendous. But riding on a mountain on just one wheel is enough for some.
Mountain Unicycling is obviously all about adventure and the adrenaline that comes with the extreme sport aspect of it. Common in the U.S., Europe, and Australia, mountain unicycling is also commonly bet on.
Photo Credit: Sébastien Barré
