How to play mini golf
Mini golf is putting a ball round a course of short holes, each a green with walls round it and things in the way. Two to four players take turns, and the fewest strokes over the course wins. Here the holes are laid out across Nepal, from Kathmandu's squares to the lake and the hills of Pokhara.
- Players
- 2-4
- What you need
- A putter, a ball each and a course of holes
- How long
- About two minutes a hole
What the game is
Every hole has a tee, where each player's ball starts, and a cup with a flag in it. Players putt in turn until every ball has dropped, and each putt is a stroke. Each hole has a par, the strokes a good player takes, so a score can be read against it.
It rewards a steady hand and a good eye for angles. A wall is a cushion to bank off, a slope bends a putt, and a putt that reaches the cup too fast skims over it, so the pace matters as much as the line.
A putt
- Put a finger anywhere on the green and drag it back, away from where you want the ball to go.
- The aim line shows the way and how hard. The further you drag, the harder the putt.
- Let go to putt. Drag back to where you started and let go to put the putt down instead.
The aim line can show nothing, a line as long as the putt, or the line to the first wall and off it. That is a setting of each phone's own, so friends can choose differently.
Whose turn it is
Every ball is on the green at once, as on a real course, but the balls pass through each other, so nobody's putt is spoiled by somebody else's ball.
The ball farthest from the cup plays next, as in golf. On the first hole the order goes round from the first player, and on every hole after it the player with the best score on the hole before goes first. That is called the honour.
What is on a green
- Walls and posts: the ball bounces off them. Posts carry a chaitya, a stupa or a temple's plinth.
- Slopes: painted chevrons point the way the ground falls. A putt up a steep slope too softly rolls back down.
- Sand: the ball slows quickly in it.
- Water: a ball in it costs a stroke and goes back to where it was putted from.
- Tunnels: a ball rolled into a temple's door or a cave's mouth comes out at the other end.
- Gates: a palace door or a prayer wheel slides across a gap and back. Putt so the ball reaches it open.
- The cup: the ball has to be rolling slowly to drop. A fast one can run over the edge or skim straight across.
Scoring
A hole costs the strokes taken to hole it, with a stroke more for every ball in the water. A ball not in after six strokes is picked up, and the hole costs seven.
When every ball is in, the next hole starts. After the last hole the player with the fewest strokes wins, and the scorecard shows each hole against its par: under par is green, over it red, and a hole in one is circled.
The courses
The Kathmandu valley's nine holes run from Ratna Park through Asan, Basantapur, Indra Chowk, Kumari Ghar and Hanuman Dhoka to the Bagmati, the steps of Swayambhu and Durbar Square.
Pokhara's nine go from Lakeside and Phewa through the rice terraces, Patale Chhango and the Peace Pagoda, down the Seti gorge and up Sarangkot, past the prayer wheels, to a long last hole under Annapurna. Play either nine, or both for eighteen.
Tactics
- Pace first. A putt that stops close is a short putt next time, and one that runs past by a long way can bring back the hole's hard part.
- Use the walls. When the cup is round a corner, the straight line is to a wall, and the angle in is the angle out.
- Up a slope, putt firmly enough to reach the top, and no harder: the far side may slope away too.
- At a gate, watch a whole swing before you putt, and strike so the ball arrives as it opens.
Settings
Two to four players, any of them bots, on one phone or online.
| Setting | Standard | What it changes |
|---|---|---|
| Difficulty | Medium | Each level finds its putt by rolling many on the real green and keeping the one that leaves the ball nearest the cup, going round walls. The easier the level, the more its aim and pace stray. |
| Course | Kathmandu valley, 9 holes | The Kathmandu valley's nine, Pokhara's nine, or all eighteen. |
| Aim line | A line as long as the putt | How much the aim line shows. Only this phone's: a friend online sees what they chose. |
Words
- Par
- The strokes a good player takes on a hole.
- Hole in one
- Holed with the first stroke.
- Birdie
- One under par. Two under is an eagle, three an albatross.
- Bogey
- One over par. Two over is a double bogey.
- The honour
- Putting first on a hole, for the best score on the hole before.
- Lip out
- A ball that reaches the cup too fast and runs round or over its edge.
Every rule on this page is the one the app plays by. Change any of them on the game's own page before you start.