10 Archery Gambling Games

For Valentines ArcheryToronto.ca has released a list of 5 Archery Gambling Games on their website.

The Five Archery Games are:

• Three Arrow Quick Draw
• Three Arrow Marksman
• Le Mans Archery Race
• Last Man Standing
• Teer / Thoh Tim

However we think there is room for 5 more archery gambling-style games people can play for fun.

Like the ArcheryToronto.ca website, we encourage only gambling with tiny amounts like quarters. 25 cents is not a big deal and makes it clear the game is just for fun. (With the exception of the Iron Archery Competition, #10 below, which is more of a "pay to enter sporting competition with cash winnings".)

Please note we are not endorsing high stakes gambling. We recommend people pay for quarters, nickles, dimes, candy or similar treats. eg. "The loser pays for sushi."

#6. Aces are Wild

• Similar to Poker, this game involves pinning the face cards and aces from a deck of cards on an archery target.
• For fun we recommend arranging the cards and pinning them up like a X shape, but not with the aces in the middle - no, in order to make it harder, put the jacks in the middle, then the queens, then the kings, and then the aces at the outer edge. That way the aces are spread out and are the hardest to hit.
• Your goal is to get 4 or 5 of a kind of Kings, Queens or Jacks (Aces are wild and can be used for any of the above 3.
• Because there are only 4 aces, 4 kings, 4 queens, and 4 jacks you have to match them up. 
• If you shoot the same card twice or more, only the first shot counts. All additional shots on the same card do not count. The goal is to make this an aiming exercise so people learn how to adjust their aim.
• The person who gets the most of a kind, wins.
• Kings beat Queens and Jacks, Queens beat Jacks.
• If all your cards don't match you can also get a full house (set of 3, set of 2) or two pairs.

There are many variations on archery poker (as shown in the image on the right). Normal Poker games are rather unsuitable for archery games, so feel free to make up your own version of archery poker.

#7. Two Shot Cluster

• Each archer gets two arrows.
• Each archer, in their own time, shoots the two arrows one at a time and tries to get them in a tight cluster.
• If necessary you may need a ruler or measuring tape to measure the size of the cluster.
• The archer with the tightest cluster wins the round and the pot.
• Archers should endeavour to try and hit their own arrow / Robin Hood it.

#8. The Rovers' I Betcha Game

One part gambling, one part drinking game, Roving is a tradition dating back to England of young men going out drinking and shooting at random things as they "rove" around the countryside. The following game recreates the act of Roving and turns into one part gambling game and one part drinking game.

As they rove / walk each archer takes turns saying things like "I betcha cannot hit that apple!"

If an archer accepted, they had to try and hit the apple. If they succeeded, they won several coins. If they missed, they lost several coins.

However they could also refuse to take the shot - to which they would then be forced to take a large gulp of strong alcohol. If they refuse regularly, they will be really drunk in a hurry - but at least they will still have their money. Or maybe they will get so drunk they agree to a hard shot, and completely miss because they are drunk.

The archer whose turn it was - whether they hit, missed or drank - then chooses a person and makes a new bet. Thus the game continues indefinitely, until all the arrows have been lost/broken, or all the alcohol is gone, or until one archer has all the money - whichever happens first.

#9. Black Jack

• Similar to the Poker game mentioned above, Black Jack uses cards as targets.
• In this scenario you need: 4 Jacks and 4 Aces.
• Distribute the cards on the target board randomly, so they are spread out.
• Jacks are worth 10 points and Aces are worth 11.
• Each archer shoots two arrows.
• The archer with the highest score wins (or ties) and collects / splits the winnings.

#10. The Iron Archery Competition

Inspired by the Iron Man Competition.

Each archer pays $10 to enter the competition. Ideally you want a cap of 300 archers in the competition. That means $3,000 in the pot.

• Bicycle 5 kilometers.
• Shoot 10 Arrows
• Swim 200 meters.
• Shoot 10 Arrows.
• Sprint 200  meters.
• Shoot 10 Arrows.
• Sprint 200  meters again to cross a finishing line.

Each archer's score out of 300 (30 arrows x 10 points) is recorded.

The first archer who crosses the finishing line gets 300 points.
The second archer gets 299.
The third archer gets 298.
Etc.

Each archer's archery score out of 300 is then added to their score for crossing the finishing line.

The archer with the highest combined score wins half the pot, $1,500.

The second best archer gets $1000. The third best gets $500.

The organizers sell food and drinks and pocket the profits from food/drink sales.

If there is a smaller number of archers, simply divide the archery score, reduce the points for crossing the finishing line, and divide the winnings accordingly.

For example if you only have 30 people competing...

Divide the archery score by 10, so it is a score out of 30 instead.
Crossing the finishing line first only awards a maximum of 30 points.
Total winnings is $300. Winner gets $150, 2nd gets $100, 3rd gets $50.

Note - Such a competition is not so much gambling as it is a "pay to enter sport" with cash winnings.

Howard Hill and Ronald Reagan Bowfishing for Sharks

Below: Old short film of Howard Hill and Ronald Reagan Bowfishing for Sharks.

Archery Craft Toronto

Archery Craft Toronto was a bow and arrow manufacturer based in Toronto, Ontario, which made archery equipment during the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s. The company stopped producing new bows in the 1970s.

The company made a whole range of bows, from wooden flat bows to solid fiberglass bows to full wood/glass recurves. By the 1970s they were also making wood/fiberglass takedown recurves, as well as full-fiberglass takedown recurves.

As a company the bows are very rare. Some people (especially Canadians) collect the bows, so they are more likely to be bought by Canadians on auction websites. National pride and all that.

The wooden bows and the recurves are the most valuable, whereas the fiberglass bows are comparable to other fiberglass bows built around the same time period.

If the bow is from the 1950s or 1960s the bow will be stamped with two numbers:

• The first number is a product number.
• The second number tells you the poundage of the bow.

Normally many companies round the poundage of a bow up or down to an even number, eg. 38 or 40. Archery Craft Toronto was unusual in that they were often much more precise, giving a bow's poundage as exactly 39 lbs for example. This then confuses modern collectors who look at the two numbers stamped on bow, because they are so used to seeing the length of the bow and the poundage measured in even numbers.

During the 1970s Archery Craft Toronto switched to a different system, a 4 digit number for the model of the bow. Thus if it has a 4 digit number on an Archery Craft Toronto bow, you can be sure it was built during the 1970s.

Dating the precise the year of an Archery Craft Toronto bow is very tricky. Ideally you would want to find old archery magazines or advertisements for the company, showing the bow in question and the year it was published. This would give you a better idea of how to date the bow, although often you may have to resort to "Circa 1972" or your closest estimate.

Vintage arrows from Archery Craft Toronto can also be found, although since arrows are more likely to break over time they are considerably more rare.

Above: Black Prince, circa 1960s, Archery Craft Toronto

Above: 36 lb Archery Craft Toronto "Model 1907" Recurve Bow, circa 1970s

Above: Takedown Fiberglass Recurve Bow, circa 1970s


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Crossbow murders are very rare, multiple homicides even more so

Crossbow murders are rare. A triple homicide with a crossbow is so rare they are practically unheard of. To learn more about this recent news development, see Triple Homicide with Crossbow in Scarborough.

The autopsy report for the incident was released today.

The female victim was strangled. Her two sons were stabbed with a crossbow bolt and the other was stabbed with an arrowhead, both wounds were to the neck. It is unclear whether the one son was shot in the neck with a crossbow bolt, or whether he was simply stabbed there using a crossbow bolt like a dagger. The other son was stabbed with an arrowhead, suggesting that they were indeed physically stabbed in such a manner.

The very rare nature of crossbow attacks makes them high-profile incidents, and the Scarborough triple homicide where a crossbow was located on the scene is once again pushing forward conversations on regulating the weapons. However the autopsy reports suggest that the crossbow bolt and arrowhead were merely used as "weapons of convenience", similar to if someone happened to leave an axe laying on a table and a would-be murderer simply picked it up because it was handy.

Though police have been deliberately avoiding confirming whether a crossbow was used in Thursday’s attack, which left three people dead, a crossbow was found nearby, and at the time reports released to the public stated that all three victims were struck by crossbow bolts. While the latter might still be true, the cause of death for one of the victims was still strangulation. And the son who was killed by being stabbed with an arrowhead, as opposed to being shot with a crossbow bolt, suggests that he might have suffered only a minor wound from being shot, and that it was the stabbing in the neck that actually killed him.

Brett Ryan, Suspected Murderer

On Friday, Brett Ryan, 35, was charged with three counts of first-degree murder. His next court appearance is Friday, Sept. 2nd.

There was also a witness to the murders, a fourth person who was stabbed but was later released from hospital. Their testimony will later be instrumental in proving whether the victims were shot or stabbed, who the crossbow was owned by, the motive for the attack, and what actually transpired on a quiet afternoon in sunny Scarborough on August 25th, 2016.

The event is one of only a handful of crossbow related murders in Canada's recent history, and though crossbow-involved attacks seldom occur, their unusual nature makes them high-profile cases, in the same way that "sword stabbing murders" are also quite rare and attract more media attention.

One notable previous case was the fatal crossbow shooting of an abusive father by his son in 2010 inside a Toronto Public Library. That incident involved both a crossbow and a hammer. Zhou Fang was found guilty of second-degree murder and received a mandatory life sentence. To learn more about that incident see Crossbow Murder in Toronto Library.

In 2007, a 26-year-old man was charged with murder and attempted murder after his mother was killed and father injured in a crossbow attack in St-Cesaire, Que.

In 1998, a man was shot in the head with a crossbow in his Hamilton home, but thankfully survived.

In 1991, Ottawa lawyer Patricia Allen was killed with a crossbow by her estranged husband.

Internationally, crossbow deaths have also made headlines, including a suicide in 2015 in England, and the case of Stephen Griffiths, a British man who lured, murdered and ate the flesh of several women in 2009 and 2010, later referring to himself as the "crossbow cannibal" in an attempt to win fame for himself.

In the wake of Thursday’s attack, local crossbow hunters and enthusiasts say they’re not happy the conversation is once again focused on the weapon. The autopsy however seems to suggest the hunting tool was merely conveniently there, and might not even belong to the murderer.

Many crossbow owners are hunters, and like the challenge of learning how to aim it accurately. The level of knowledge and the level skill to proficiently shoot and shoot well with it takes more work.

Though attacks on people with crossbows are considerably rare, they cause enough public discourse that owners will stay quiet about their crossbow ownership. Buying a typical crossbow doesn’t require a licence, but the person making the purchase must be over the age of 18.

"Firearm-like homicides" are very rare according to Statistics Canada, making up less than 0.2% of all murders in Canada. It should also be noted that the murder rate in Canada has been dropping rapidly since the 1990s.

On behalf of Toronto's archery community, we express our condolences to the victims and the families of the victims.

Bow Raffle to raise money for PWA

Hello friends and fellow archers!

My name is Michael Meusel, and I'm doing the 600km "Friends for life" Bike rally to raise money for PWA Toronto. PWA is the largest charity of it's kind that directly assists Men, Women and Children living with HIV/AIDS in Canada. You can read more here at: www.bikerally.org 

It's a great cause, and I need to hit a $2500 minimun in order to ride. To raise the funds, I've decided to raffle off one of the bows I make! I'll be starting the bow after the bike ride, but that will allow me to make it close to the specifications you want. It will be a Hickory-backed Osage Recurve, anywhere from 25#-50# at 25"-29". It will be similar to the bow pictured below. 

 I'll cover the shipping to anywhere in Canada or the Continental US. In order to take part, you have to make a donation to the website and email me with the name or handle you made the donation under. That way all the money goes directly to the charity. Donations can be made with paypal or credit card. 

 

Tickets will be 1 for $10, 3 for $25, and 8 for $50.

Step 1:

Go to www.bikerally.org

Click: Pledge on the Right hand side of the screen

Click: Pledge a 2016 6-Day Rider

First Name: Michael

Last Name: Meusel

Click my name, then click DONATE NOW

Fill out the form and make the Donation of either $10, $25 or $50 according to how many tickets you want. Make sure to remember your Display name. Make sure the boxes for “Display my donation amount” and “Display my name” are checked.

Step 2: Send an email to bowraffle2016@gmail.com with this information:

Subject: (Display Name used when making donation) – (Donation Amount)

Full Name

Mailing address

*Display name: (the name you enter to be displayed on the bike rally website when you make a donation – this can be a nickname or a handle)

Donation Amount: (either $10, $25, or $50)

You're done!

I'll cross reference your email to the donation on the bike rally website and send you an email confirming your entry. I'll draw the winning name on July 23rd, so entries will be open until then! If you win, I'll contact you via the email you used to enter and get your bow specifications.

Good Luck!

Michael Meusel