"Summertime and the living is easy," at least according to the lyrics of Gershwin’s classic from Porgy and Bess. But easy can turn to downright dull by August. Sure, you can head down to the local playground and play some hoops, enjoy your softball league, or grab a tee time and whack a few balls into the rough. For the more outdoorsy of you there is hopping on your mountain bike and pounding the rail trails, hitting the Latorte or the Yellow Breeches for some fantastic trout fishing, and then trekking out to the Susquehanna for a canoe trip.

All of these sports are summer classics, but being classics they have lost some of the excitement that goes with trying something new. The need to find some novel way to pass the time during these hot dog days sent MODE on a quest to find places in Central Pennsylvania that are home to offbeat games and sports.

The game itself is pretty simple. It is a take off of golf using a flying disc and the object is to place your disc in the "hole," usually a pole with a basket attached to it, in the required number of strokes or less. Play begins from a "tee" and each player throws his disc out onto the course. Then the person farthest from the hole starts the next round of shots, and so on until all of the players have "holed out". You must play your disc from wherever it lands, and while you may take running start to make your cast your back foot should never cross the line of your lie.

Just like regular golf, a pretty arcane set of rules has developed regarding lie, penalty strokes, etc. Of course specialty discs and equipment are available for the truly devoted player (including "drivers" for teeing off and "putters" to finish the hole). There is even a Pro Disc Golf Association (PDGA) to act as the final arbiter of all rules and to sponsor tournaments (website pdga.com, which contains the full rulebook as well as a calendar of events). But you don’t need the full bag of tricks to go out and have fun. Three of the local state parks have courses: Gifford Pinchot State Park in Lewisberry, Codorus State Park in Hanover, and D.F. Buehmiller State Park in Lancaster. Score cards are available for each through the PDGA’s website. Head out to any one of them and tee off for a great day outside.

The initial investment for a beginner who wants to start out is of course quite high since it does involve getting your hands on a dirt bike. Since new bikes cost over $5000.00, the best route for someone who is looking to get in on the fun is to buy a used bike. $1500.00 to $2000.00 will get a decent used machine that you can learn on without killing yourself. Coupled with the approximately $400.00 cost for riding gear, such as riding suit, boots, gloves and helmet (this last piece of equipment is an absolute must and it pays to get a good one), this is definitely a sport for those who are willing to drop some bucks on play.

Of course you also must be willing, while conquering the basic riding skills (a feat that with diligence will take about a month) to take a few bruises, bumps, spills, and the occasional good old fashioned header into the mud. According to Bruce Peifer, who has ridden motorcycles competitively for over 20 years, once you have gotten the basics down, you should head out to Tower City to practice trail riding. Located off of exit 33 on I-81, about a 35-minute ride from Harrisburg, this 5000-plus-acre riding park is the perfect place to learn how to deal with whatever the terrain can throw at you. There is a membership fee to for use of the facility ($175.00 for a family for the year), but there is a campground there so that you can make a weekend out of your training. Also in the area is Rauch Creek, which allows any rider to use its facilities for a $25.00 daily fee. Once you have gotten enough practice out in the bush, you are ready for your first race.

Races are usually held in our area at the Flying Dutchman in Pine Grove, but the series doesn’t start until late September. However, if you want to take road trip on August 6 for the next District 6 event, head up I81 to exit 63, and head on out to the Hurricane Hills Sports Center in Clifford, PA. Then you can see for yourself if ‘hare scrambling’ might be worth the cost to both body and wallet.

Orienteering is using a map and a compass to navigate between points (usually marked with either a white or orange flag) laid out on a course. The goal is to hit all of the points on the course and return to the start/finish line in the shortest amount of time. Determining the best route in which to hit markers is key to developing a winning strategy, and being able to read a map on the fly is essential (unless you want to create your own Blair Witch scenario).

Equipment is simple: a map of the course (with a clue sheet provided to help look for the marker and be punched as proof that you found it), a compass, an emergency whistle in case you need help, and last but not least a sturdy pair of legs. Courses can be laid out for hikers, mountain bikers, horseback riders, and there are even canoe-borne events. Courses range in difficulty from white, the easiest at 1 to 1.5 miles long, to red which run as long as 5 miles. Longer events are often planned as well.

The Susquehanna Valley Orienteering Club is the local clearinghouse that sponsors events in the region. President Brad Whitmore (e-mail: whitmore@stsci.edu) told MODE that they just recently ran their last big event for the season at Rocky Ridge County Park near York. French Creek State Park in Berks County, however, is only 40-45 minutes from Lancaster and a little over an hour away from either Harrisburg or York. It has a permanent course set up and all you have to do to get started is stop at the Ranger’s station and pick up a map.

The play is sloppy, mostly due to the fact that once they get going it appears that changing direction with the ball or stopping are out of the question (at least for this crew), but the novelty of it catches the attention.

The kids said they had gotten the idea from the Web, and sure enough the site is rlrscr.com, and the game was invented in (where else?) California. The rules are a slight modification from the indoor soccer ones, and teams are five on a side. The website has information on how to join the official federation of the sport and develop a league for playing at an indoor roller rink.

Well, there you have them, three new ways to play in Central PA. Each is worth a look, and if nothing else should give you and your friends something to talk about while nursing your wounds and your beers.