The hobby list — newhobby.org

Not here?

The list is early and deliberately incomplete — every entry has to earn its place against the ten rules. If you know one that qualifies, especially one we’d never think of, that’s the most useful thing you can give us.

Submit a hobby

Add to the list

Let your passion burn.

Anyone can submit a hobby. If it clears the ten rules it goes in, credited to you.

Submit a hobby

Branches of the tree

What counts as a hobby

You get better at it
Sticking with it should build skill, knowledge or craft. Photography, yes. Watching six hours of telly, not quite.
You do it because you like it
The reward is the doing. Chess is the hobby; the tournament is a thing that happens inside it.
It isn’t mainly about money
Selling the odd thing you made is fine. If the whole point is profit, it’s a side hustle.
You can keep doing it
It survives without constant novelty or endless buying. Trend-hopping doesn’t count, however enthusiastic.
It’s the right size
Big enough to have real branches, small enough that its people share something. “Sports” is too big. “Eastern crow watching” is too small.
A normal person can reach it
Expensive doesn’t mean excluded — we label it honestly, from highly accessible to genuinely specialised.
Nobody gets hurt
No harm to people, animals or other people’s stuff. Sharp tools are fine; being a menace isn’t.
It’s legal
And where the rules change depending on where you’re standing, the guide says so.
No hate, no harassment, no nonsense
Nothing built to target people, and nothing dressed up as settled fact when it isn’t.
Campaigning isn’t a hobby
Politics can turn up inside history, debate or political science. It just doesn’t get its own branch.

Hobby of the week

One hobby, once a week: what it is, why anyone bothers, and the first step. No spam, no “exciting news from our partners”.

Every hobby we’ve written down.