Pool games by age, from paddling to competitive

Ages six to nine

Stay on the surface. The junior ball floats well enough for catch when it is filled two thirds, and the skip balls need no setup at all. Target games work better than team games at this age: throw the skip ball through a float ring, or see who can land the disc on the far step.

The one underwater game that works early is treasure hunt. Fill the ball completely so it sits on the bottom, then take turns retrieving it from gradually deeper water. It teaches diving without anyone calling it a lesson.

Ages ten to fifteen

This is the keep-away age. Two teams, the full-size ball, and a rule that nobody may surface holding it. Expect the game to get physical and expect it to run for an hour.

Skip-ball distance contests also land well here: longest run of bounces wins, and the loser fetches. On a lake it turns into a throwing competition that has very little to do with the water.

Adults and mixed groups

Sunken water polo with a goalkeeper at each wall is the version adults keep playing. It is genuinely tiring, which is the point — it is closer to a sport than a pool toy.

For mixed groups, run two balls. Surface catch with the football at the shallow end and an underwater game in the deep end means nobody is waiting, and the two games drift into each other by the end of the afternoon anyway.