Oktoberfest Games
Pretzel Toss Duos
Grab a partner and join in the fun! Toss the specially designed pretzel and attempt to ring it over the post held by your partner. Best of three.
Brat Toss
Grab a partner and toss the brat-like beanbags like a wedding bouquet. Team members compete by throwing the brat over head to their partner, trying to catch the sausages in their bucket.
Masskrugstemmen Competition
The “Masskrug,” a 1 liter Stein, is held with one arm, completely outstretched and parallel to the floor. Masskrugstemmen is a well-known and competitive Bavarian sport. Sounds easy, right? It’s not, The goal is simple: to hold a filled stein for as long as possible. A contest of grit, determination, strength and the desire to drink the contents of the stein. The winner will be crowned Champion and will receive a beer stein in order to begin training for next year’s contest.
Beer Stein Race
A favorite attraction of the games and deeply rooted in German tradition: The women contestants race distance across the course and back with two fists full of filled (4) beer steins. The winner is determined not only by the best time, but by the amount of beer left in the steins at the finish line. Time is added onto the contestant’s time for each ounce of beer spilled. Sounds easy? The filled steins weigh close to 35 lbs.!
Community Chicken Dance
Join hundreds of dancers for a few choruses of the Chicken Dance. Composed and released in the 1970s, this popular novelty dance was originally entitled Der Ententanz, which means The Duck Dance and also as Dance Little Bird. However, when it was changed to the Vogeltanz or Chicken Dance it really took off—particularly in the United States. It is here that it has the greatest longevity and it seems no occasion is complete without this crowd pleaser.
Paint a Dirndl
Think of this as condiment art contest! Children are invited to paint a dirndl costume on the paper … and admonishing eager participants to not “paint” on her!
Best Beer Belly Contest
Do you think your gut has what it takes to win this glorious recognition? Candidates will be judged on size and personality by the audience. The winner will go home with pride in the title and will receive a beer stein in order to begin training for next year’s contest. May the best belly win!
Bratwurst-Eating Contest
Put your summer training to the test. All those BBQ’s and all those Brats were necessary preparation for the annual Oktoberfest Bratwurst Eating Competition. Come hungry because our snapping good Brats will be going down by the dozens! If you think you’ve got what it takes then join us, and become an instant legend…because Brat-King is a name that tends to stick.
Yodel-Ay-Woo-Hoo
Mountain people used yodeling as a way to call across from one mountain to Mountain people used yodeling as a way to call across from one mountain to another. It was a rudimentary (albeit beautiful) way to communicate. Certain sounds and notes actually meant words, so in a way, yodeling began as a kind of melodic language of the mountains.
In the 1965 film musical The Sound of Music, Julie Andrew’s character Maria sings and yodel’s in The Lonely Goatherd. This is your chance to show us what YOU can do too and go home a champion!
Youngstown’s Oktoberfest games are subject to change depending on scheduling and level of interest*