35 Weird Hobbies People Enjoy In Their Spare Time

Rock painting.

You can use rocks as canvas to paint whole scenes on them, or you can take a look if its shape reminds you of anything and then paint that thing on top of the rock. All in all, rock painting is a quiet, relaxing hobby. A small bonus: you can always pick up your new canvas for free on the road.

"I collect antique typewriters. Started when I thought I'd try writing something on an old manual to see if it helped my tendency to ramble. I made it one page and went running back to the computer. But the typewriter I picked up (for $5 on eBay) was such a cool little machine that I started getting into them and got hooked. As antiques go they're often really cheap too, even in working condition."

Stone skipping.

We’ve all tried stone skipping but some people took it to a whole different level when they turned it into a competition. Currently, the record is 51 bounces over the water in one throw.

Quidditch.

Yeah, okay, brooms can’t fly in our world, so what? Everything else in Quidditch is pretty real: throw a ball, catch a ball, don’t let your opponents win. While Quidditch is still not officially recognized as a sport, many campuses have their own teams, where players compete according to the rules described in the books while holding a broom in their hand.

Noodling.

Noodling has nothing to do with either cooking or eating noodles. What it does involve is catching fish in shallow waters with your bare hands. It may not sound like it, but noodling can be pretty dangerous and you can get hurt if you don’t take precautions.

"I collect military helmets. There is a huge variety of different helmets to focus on. I mostly collect American helmets from WWI-Vietnam. Here is a picture of a fraction of my collection, showing some of my rarest ones."

Sketching on vehicles.

Tattooing vehicles is very close to tattooing your skin, except if done right, it’s fairly easy to remove the design. So maybe, before you decide to commit to a new tattoo, try it out on your car first?

News bombing.

It’s one thing when there is a live broadcast in the street and you happen to pass by. Some people can’t resist and look straight at the camera from behind the reporter’s back. It’s a completely different thing when people turn news bombing into a hobby. They find live reports and insert themselves in the background of the shot. Well, at least you could say you were on TV after that.

Fork bending.

A lot of superheroes, especially those with super strength, can bend metal with no effort. And while most regular humans can’t really bend an entire iron fence in a go, some of them give it a try, albeit in baby steps. This is how fork bending became a hobby.

Extreme ironing.

No, extreme ironing doesn’t mean you have to iron clothes for your entire family. It’s about taking ironing to all sorts of extreme locations. Ironing while suspended from a cliff? Done. During a parachute jump? Check. Underwater while scuba diving? Completed. And if you think there can’t be too many people who partake in this hobby because come on, this is ironing we’re talking about, think again. Extreme ironing has long stopped being a hobby and has become a competitive sport.

"I collect cups.

If it's cylindrical and made from paper, plastic, or Styrofoam...and has a logo on it...I want it. I do not collect shot glasses, regular glasses, beer mugs, or steins. Water bottles and those old plastic casino buckets count. This is a small sample of my collection. I have over 600. I began collecting in 2006.

I like to think that I chose cups because I like the idea of something so common being displayed with so many differences. Additionally, it's proof that a company will slap its logo onto everything. Take Mcdonald's, for example. The golden arches pop up on the cup, fry boxes, burger wrappers, and even napkins."

Clowning.

Clowns get a lot of bad rep for being creepy, but some people actually enjoy it. They dress up as clowns, walk the streets, and perform occasional hijinks on unsuspecting passersby, all in good nature for a hearty laugh.

Train surfing.

Another extremely dangerous hobby, train surfing, means riding on the outside of the train at full speed while holding onto the handrails. While in some countries with overloaded train commutes, this is an unfortunate necessity, in other places, people practice train surfing as a hobby that gives you a huge adrenaline rush.

Beetle fighting.

Disclaimer: we are against animal cruelty. While beetle fighting might not be as violent and harmful as dog or rooster fighting, it still involves pitting two bugs against each other for the audience. It has even turned into a gambling opportunity.

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