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"  A game court can be a landscaping asset. This Pennsylvania home&amp;#039;s horseshoe pit has lighting, plantings and a place to set down drinks. (Photograph by Andrew Hetherington) Vince and Beth Campagna don&amp;#039;t get out much anymore. Ever since the Holland, Pa., couple converted an unused strip of their backyard into a manicured horseshoe pit, the good times are found right at home. &amp;quot;I should charge a cover to all of the people who want to come play in my backyard,&amp;quot; Beth says. The Campagnas&amp;#039; court goes way beyond a metal stake driven into the dirt. It&amp;#039;s an all-out landscaping feature. Sand pits sit in the center of two raised gravel beds, backed by low walls of pressure-treated lumber. The backstops control errant horseshoes and offer a handy shelf to hold a drink while someone is pitching. Low retaining walls built of mortarless concrete block protect spectators and provide seating between games. Lamp posts flank the pits and low-voltage lighting is tucked into the shrubbery. The horseshoe zone took shape a few summers ago when the Cam\u00ADpagnas dove into a backyard makeover, with the help of a contractor. The team installed a patio and walkways, then planted some shrubs and trees. But the couple still wondered what to do with a narrow area atop a rise. &amp;quot;The space was too small for a swimming pool \u2014 and it was right near the porch,&amp;quot; Vince says. &amp;quot;We thought about putting in a pond.&amp;quot; Then they hit on the idea of the horseshoe pit \u2014 a place to play a game they both enjoy. &amp;quot;Instead of just an aesthetic thing,&amp;quot; Vince says, &amp;quot;now we have something that looks good and is fun, too.&amp;quot; Vince estimates the price tag for the pit at $3000. &amp;quot;Take away the block retaining walls,&amp;quot; he says, &amp;quot;and you&amp;#039;re looking at about $400 in sand, gravel and treated lumber.&amp;quot; Such backyard fixtures \u2014 more often associated with resorts than with private homes \u2014 are proliferating across the country, as lawns are enhanced by badminton and lawn-bowling courts, patios, decks, outdoor kitchens, bars and fireplaces. The construction of these outdoor &amp;quot;rooms&amp;quot; has grown into a $5.8 billion business, according to a recent tally by the Professional Landcare Network, a trade association. As reported by the group, some elaborate projects can boost a property&amp;#039;s value as much as 20 percent. Using an Existing Lawn Horseshoes are just one lawn game that can punch up a backyard \u2014 it can be as easy, or easier, to set up an area for volleyball, bocce or another outdoor sport. A nice thing about these projects is that there are no building codes to consult, no elaborate engineering specs to consider \u2014 basically, you can make what suits you as long as it doesn&amp;#039;t bother the neighbors too much. After you choose a game, the next big decision is how closely you want to follow the official rules, which may call for some elaborate surface materials to be trucked in. The Campagnas, for instance, stopped short of importing blue clay to replace the sand \u2014 the material, which costs about $10 for a 75-pound bag, is prized for the way horseshoes stick to it. Most homeowners, however, use an existing lawn. For games such as bocce and croquet, the mower should be lowered to about 112 in. \u2014 the shorter grass will reduce the drag on rolling play balls. Unfortunately, that&amp;#039;s about half the ideal cutting height for common grasses. So, give the grass extra water, and after the playing season, rent an aerator and work over the surface. Then, fertilize and overseed with a specially blended sports variety (sportsgrass.com). Horseshoes   In most cases, a horseshoe pit is a utilitarian area with mirror-image stakes, backstops, pits and pitching platforms (above). Working with a landscape contractor, the Campagnas designed a landscaped play area that fits well in a manicured suburban setting. (Photograph by Vince Campagna)   Backyard Geometry Tip Most game courts (and many flowerbeds and patios) are large rectangles. You can eyeball them, but we prefer precision. The key is getting a 90-degree angle, which you create by staking out a 3:4:5 right triangle. (Thanks, Pythagoras.) 1. Drive a stake at one corner of the area. 2. Use a 100-ft. tape measure and mason&amp;#039;s string to mark out one leg of the triangle. Multiples of 3 ft., 4 ft. and 5 ft., such as 9, 12 and 15 ft., are fine. 3. Mark the second leg. 4. Measure the hypotenuse to complete the triangle, adjusting it until you have a neat 90-degree angle that forms a reference point. Now measure out the two remaining sides to finish the job. Getting Serious The lawn, of course, is not all a budding backyard athlete needs to consider \u2014 and depending on your seriousness (or how much time you have for shoveling sand this summer), you might not want to play on grass at all. Here are details on setting up three common games. Bocce   Like horseshoe pits, bocce courts are narrow \u2014 as little as 10 ft. across \u2014 and can fit into a side yard. A high-end surface for this Italian version of lawn bowling begins with 3 in. of packed pea gravel topped by a 3-in. layer of crushed limestone. Then comes tennis court clay, or an oyster-shell blend ($700 per cubic yard, boccemon.com). Or, just play on grass. Bocce sets, with a small target ball (pallino) and eight larger balls, start around $49.  Volleyball   A regulation sand volleyball court starts with a perforated drainage pipe buried in a 1-ft.-thick layer of gravel that forms the court&amp;#039;s base. Cover this with landscape fabric and top with a 2-ft. layer of play sand. No? Well, it&amp;#039;s still worth investing in a boundary kit, which consists of 1-in.-wide nylon webbing held taut by bungee cords leading to four lawn stakes. And a sturdy, sagproof net is a must. (Photograph by Getty Images)   Croquet    Tournament croquet is played on a creeping bent-grass lawn cropped like a putting green. But that&amp;#039;s nearly impossible turf for anyone other than a professional greenskeeper to maintain. An alternative is to embrace the imperfections of your existing lawn as an added test of skill \u2014 like a weedy version of a sand trap or a water hazard. One more tip: Most backyard players prefer to shrink the official dimensions of the field.  . "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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