Born at Tiana Beach · Hampton Bays, NY

Beach Chair Soccer Game: Two chairs.
One ball.
First to 21.

Cornhole has bags. KanJam has a disc. We have a volleyball, two folding beach chairs, and a whole afternoon. Beach Chair Soccer Game turns any stretch of sand into a court.

Learn the rules Official kit · coming soon
  • 2chairs
  • 1volleyball
  • 2–4players
  • 21to win

The game

It's the lawn game your beach chair was always meant to be.

Set two beach chairs facing each other on the sand. Split into teams. Kick the ball at the other chair. Hit it in the air, off a bounce, or land it right in the seat. Keep score out loud, argue about the midline, first to 21 wins.

  • Any ball, but a volleyball is best

    It's light, it's soft on bare feet, and it gets real air off packed sand. A soccer ball works if that's what's in the trunk.

  • The chairs you already own

    Two low folding beach chairs. Backs up, facing each other. The seat is the goal, the back is the target.

  • Singles or doubles

    One on one, or two on two with teammates split across both ends. Teammates on the same side take turns kicking.

How to play

Four steps from towel to kickoff.

  1. 1

    Set the court

    Open two beach chairs and face them toward each other, about 10 big steps apart on flat, packed sand. Draw a line in the sand halfway between them. That's the midline, and it matters.

  2. 2

    Pick sides

    Each team owns a chair. Singles: one player at each end. Doubles: one teammate at each end, so every kick has a partner behind the target chair to fetch and return fire.

  3. 3

    Kick at the other chair

    Kick from beside your own chair. Aim for the back of the far chair. Hit it clean in the air, or bounce it once past the midline and let it roll into the legs. Land it in the seat and it counts big.

  4. 4

    Score, swap, repeat

    Call the points, then the other team kicks. First team to 21 wins. Going over still counts, so there is no reason to hold back.

Scoring

Pick a shot. Watch it land. Learn the points.

Three ways to score, one way to blow it. Try each one below.

Diagram of a Beach Chair Soccer court showing the ball's path for the chosen shot MIDLINE +2
+2

Clean off the back of the chair without touching the sand. That's the bread and butter.

21

First to 21 wins

First team to reach 21 takes the game, and going past 21 counts too. Games run about 15 to 25 minutes, which is one beer, one swim, or one reapplication of sunscreen.

Beverage in hand

Best enjoyed with a drink in your non-kicking hand. Set it down for the sink attempt. That is the only time you set it down.

The midline rule

A bounce only counts if the ball first touches sand on the far side of the midline. Bounce short, and the kick is dead no matter what it hits after.

Knock it over

Hit the back of the chair hard enough that the whole thing goes over, and that's three points, same as a sink. Only a real hard shot does it. It does not count on a death kick, which needs a sink.

The death kick

Down by more than 12? You may call the death kick. One attempt to sink the ball in the chair. Sink it, and you win the game on the spot, no matter the score. Miss it, and you lose immediately, shame is brought upon your entire family, and you have to marry your mother-in-law. Nobody has called it twice.

Read the full rules on one page →

House rule we've seen at Tiana
  • Wind rule. If the flag is standing straight out, one bounce is allowed on either side of the midline.

Play it now

Kick a few before you buy the chairs.

Pull back on the ball and let go. You are playing The European, reigning champion, first to 21. The wind changes every kick, so watch the flag.

You0

Enter your name to start.

Wind: calm

The European0

Who's kicking?

The European wants to know who he's about to beat.

Click or touch anywhere on the sand, drag back, release. The aim dots ignore wind. Air shot 2, bounce past the midline 1, sink 3. Pull all the way back and hit the top of the chair to knock it over for 3. Down by more than 12, and the death kick button appears. Try the 3D beta.

The official kit

The Tiana Kit

Everything for a regulation game, packed into one bag that fits under your arm with a cooler in the other hand.

  • Two low-rider beach chairs in coral and ocean stripe. Sit in them between games.
  • Official BCS volleyball, soft-touch cover, tuned for sand air.
  • Midline rope in sun yellow, with two sand stakes.
  • Waterproof rules card for settling arguments on the spot.
  • Mesh carry bag that shakes the sand right out.
Price TBA First run ships to the Hamptons and NYC first.

Live from Tiana

Results from the sand.

Every game we play at Tiana gets logged here, plus the beach cam so you can check whether the chairs are out.

Tiana Beach, live. If you can see two chairs and a volleyball, that's us. Camera by Hamptons.com.

Season standings

PlayerWLPFPA

Wins and losses count singles and doubles. PF and PA are points for and against.

Loading the scoreboard…

Gulls flying over the surf at Tiana Beach in Hampton Bays on a bright morning
Tiana Beach, Hampton Bays

The story

It started with two chairs and nothing else to do.

Tiana Beach, Hampton Bays. Late afternoon, the crowd thinning out, a volleyball rolling around and no net in sight. Maverick kicked it at The European's chair. The European kicked it back. Somebody said "that's two points," and that was that.

By the end of the summer the rules were carved into a driftwood plank: air shot two, bounce one, sink three, first to 21, beverage in hand. The plank is gone. The game stuck.

We're building a proper kit because we're tired of people borrowing our chairs. Until then, grab your own and go play.

The founders

Two humble guys who love the beach, a good chair, and soccer.

Oh, and they're super successful. They asked us to mention that. They also asked us not to use their real names, so what follows are their court names, and nothing else can be confirmed.

Co-founder · Air shot specialist

Maverick

Sovereign of the Shorebreak · Spearfisherman · Occasionally a Person

Maverick does not walk onto Tiana Beach. He rises from it, dripping, holding a fish nobody saw him catch. He has surfed since before the ocean was cool, spears his own dinner while the rest of us are still looking for parking, and refers to the Atlantic as "my associate."

He kicks air shots only. A bounce shot "touches the sand, and the sand has not earned it." He claims to have negotiated the wind rule directly with the wind. He is super successful. He will not say at what. He once ended a midline argument by walking into the sea and not coming back for forty minutes.

Signature shot
Air. Obviously.
Dinner
Whatever he pointed at
Relationship with the sea
Complicated, but respectful
Last season
Runner-up. Do not bring it up.

Co-founder · Keeper of the rules

The European

Reigning Champion · Drawer of Midlines · Actually From Europe

The European is, technically, from Europe. Poland, specifically, which he will confirm only if you guess it first. He holds his beverage differently and says that is "how they do it there." He won last season's championship and would like everyone to know it was a normal amount of winning and to please stop bringing it up. He brought it up. He will bring it up again, at the deli, to a stranger, while holding the trophy he "happened to have in the car."

He drew the first midline and has since redrawn it "a normal number of times." If a ball bounces short, he will explain, calmly and at length, that he is not mad, that this is fine, and that the chair was moved, probably by a bird. He is super successful. He has a car where the doors go up. The rules card is laminated because of one specific afternoon, and we do not talk about it.

Titles
One, which is "basically a dynasty"
Midlines drawn
A normal number
Signature shot
The bounce, then insisting it was an air shot
Is he mad?
No. Why? Who said that?
Home country
Poland. He says the sand there is better.

These bios are satire. The championship is real. The car is not. Probably.

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Questions

Things people yell across the court

Do we really need beach chairs?

Yes. That's the whole thing. Low folding chairs with a fabric back work best, because the ball makes a satisfying thwack and the seat is deep enough to hold a sink.

How far apart should the chairs be?

About 10 big steps for a regulation game. Move them closer for kids or a windy day, farther if someone is showing off.

What if the ball hits the legs or the seat edge?

Any part of the chair counts. In the air it's two, off a legal bounce it's one. Only a ball that comes to rest in the seat is a sink.

Can you play on grass?

You can, and a backyard game is a great way to practice. The bounce is livelier on grass, so consider playing to 15 to keep it from running long.

When does the kit come out?

We're finishing the chair design now. Join the list above and you'll hear about the first run before anyone else.