There was a time when cruise-ship sport meant shuffleboard, deck quoits and perhaps walking briskly around the promenade while claiming it constituted exercise. Those options haven’t disappeared, but the modern sports deck has become considerably stranger.

Depending on the ship, you can now play pickleball in the middle of the ocean, throw beanbags at wooden boards, attempt archery, play bocce on actual grass or discover that deck quoits is considerably more competitive than its Edwardian appearance suggests. Most require very little previous experience, which makes a sea day an excellent time to acquire a new hobby and then become disproportionately invested in it for approximately 45 minutes.

Pickleball: the sport that has reached the middle of the sea

If you've somehow avoided pickleball until now, a cruise ship may finally get you.

The game sits somewhere between tennis, badminton and table tennis, played with solid paddles and a perforated plastic ball on a smaller court. The defining rules include an underarm serve, a two-bounce rule at the start of each rally and a seven-foot non-volley area beside the net called the Kitchen.

Cruise lines have embraced it enthusiastically. Holland America has courts across its entire fleet and is the cruise partner of the Professional Pickleball Association, offering equipment, beginner sessions and organised tournaments. Celebrity currently has pickleball courts on nine ships, while Royal Caribbean and Cunard also offer the sport on selected vessels.

It is extremely easy to understand, surprisingly difficult to stop playing and gives adults permission to use the word “dink” with complete seriousness.

Cornhole: throwing bags into a hole, competitively

Cornhole is huge in the US and still sounds faintly like something you'd be advised to discuss with a pharmacist in Britain.

The game itself is beautifully simple. Players throw small fabric bags towards a sloping board with a hole in it. Under official rules, a bag through the hole scores three points, one left on the board scores one, and the first team to reach or exceed 21 after a round wins.

Holland America includes cornhole among the games available on its top-deck Sport Courts alongside basketball and pickleball. It’s an ideal cruise activity because virtually nobody needs tuition, athletic clothing or functioning knees, although the wind can add an element of tactical complexity not encountered at the average American barbecue.

Five minutes in, you will understand everything necessary to play. Fifteen minutes in, you may be discussing throwing technique.

Bocce: bowls, but somewhere warmer

Celebrity's Solstice Series ships have one of cruising's more improbable features: half an acre of genuine grass on the top deck. The Lawn Club is maintained as an actual lawn rather than green carpeting, and among the things you can do on it is play bocce.

The basic idea is familiar if you've played bowls or pétanque. A smaller target ball is thrown first, then players attempt to position their larger balls as close to it as possible. It requires precision rather than athleticism, which feels appropriate when the same patch of lawn also adjoins places where somebody will happily bring you a drink.

Celebrity provides the equipment and also uses the Lawn Club for croquet and other games. There is something particularly satisfying about playing bocce on real grass while several decks above the sea, if only because somebody at some point had to decide that a cruise ship required turf management.

Deck quoits: the old cruise game that deserves another go

Deck quoits sounds like the sort of activity that should require a blazer and an aunt called Mildred, but it's still alive and surprisingly enjoyable.

The game involves throwing rings towards a target on deck, with points awarded according to where they land. It requires essentially no preparation and just enough skill that the first successful throw immediately creates an unjustified sense of mastery.

Cunard continues to offer quoits alongside shuffleboard, croquet, bowls and paddle tennis, while P&O Cruises lists deck quoits among its complimentary outdoor activities on selected ships.

It is perhaps the purest cruise game on this list. You could play pickleball in Bristol or cornhole in a pub garden. Quoits somehow makes most sense with an ocean behind it and a vague suspicion that somebody nearby may shortly announce afternoon tea.

Archery: because apparently your ship also has bows

Of all the activities you might expect to find on the upper deck of a moving cruise ship, archery is fairly low down the list.

Nevertheless, both P&O Cruises and Cunard advertise archery among their onboard sporting activities, with P&O noting that the exact programme varies by ship. Cunard's Queen Anne, for example, lists archery alongside pickleball, putting, paddle tennis and traditional deck games across its outdoor sports areas.

This is obviously organised rather more carefully than wandering up after breakfast, selecting a bow and seeing what happens. Sessions and tournaments are controlled onboard activities, and availability depends on the ship and sailing.

Still, it provides an excellent answer when somebody asks what you did during your sea day.

“Read by the pool” is pleasant.

“I took up archery somewhere off Madeira” has more range.

Giant chess: for people who find normal chess insufficiently public

Several cruise lines have reached the conclusion that chess improves dramatically when the pieces are roughly the size of toddlers.

P&O and Cunard both offer giant chess on deck, while Princess deck plans show full-size outdoor chess sets on ships including Island Princess. The rules are exactly the same as ordinary chess, except every strategic error is now visible from several decks away.

It is less physically demanding than pickleball and less likely than cornhole to require learning unfamiliar terminology, but moving the larger pieces does add a pleasing amount of ceremony. A poor move with a standard bishop takes half a second. A poor move with a metre-high bishop requires walking over, lifting it with both hands and publicly committing to the mistake.

Which cruise ships have the best deck games?

There isn't one universal sports programme, so check the facilities on your particular ship rather than assuming every vessel belonging to a cruise line carries the same equipment. P&O explicitly notes that deck activities vary by ship, while Celebrity's real-grass Lawn Club is specific to its Solstice Series.

Holland America is probably the safest bet if pickleball is the priority, since every ship in its fleet has one or two courts. Cunard and P&O are particularly good for traditional deck games, while Celebrity's bocce and croquet have the considerable advantage of happening on a lawn that has somehow been persuaded to survive on top of an ocean liner.

The useful thing is that none of these requires building your holiday around it. Check the daily programme on a sea day, wander upstairs and have a go. The worst likely outcome is discovering you're bad at quoits.

There are more serious things to learn about yourself on holiday.