Pub game

Last updated
A game of indoor quoits, being played at a pub in the Forest of Dean Indoor Quoits.jpg
A game of indoor quoits, being played at a pub in the Forest of Dean

A pub game is one which is traditionally played inside or outside a pub. Most pub games date back centuries and are rooted in village culture. [1] Many derive from older outdoor sports.

Contents

Pub games can be loosely grouped into throwing games, dice games, card games, board games, slot games, cue and ball games, bat and ball games, coin pushing/throwing games, and drinking games.

History

In his book, Beer and Skittles, Richard Boston claims that the first regulation concerning national control of pubs was about pub games; Henry VII's statute of 1495 restricted the playing of "indoor games which were distracting Tudor pubmen from archery".

Many of pub games owe their origins to older outdoor sports, adapted and transformed over time for indoor play, either for convenience or to allow publicans to maintain their teams during the off-season.

Gaming activities associated with pubs included card games such as cribbage, throwing games such as darts, physical sports such as cricket, and blood sports such as cock fighting. Balls Pond Road in Highbury, London, was named after an establishment run by Mr Ball that had a pond out the back filled with ducks, where drinkers could, for a certain fee, go out and take their chance at shooting the creatures. [2]

Types

Pub games can be loosely grouped into throwing games, dice games, card games, board games, cue and ball games, bat and ball games, bowling games, coin pushing/throwing games, and drinking games.

Throwing games

Darts

c. 1925 "Hope and Anchor Dart Club", Hope and Anchor, Hammersmith, London, UK HOPE-AND-ANCHOR-DART-CLUB.JPG
c. 1925 "Hope and Anchor Dart Club", Hope and Anchor, Hammersmith, London, UK

Darts is a game that involves the throwing of small missiles at a circular target, called a dartboard. [3] It is one of the few traditional pub games that remains popular to the present day. When played at a professional level the game adheres to a specific board design and set of rules, but as a pub game, it can encompass several variants, such as 'Cricket'.

Aunt Sally

A game of Aunt Sally from the 1911 edition of Whiteley's General Catalogue Aunt Sally 1911 WGC.jpg
A game of Aunt Sally from the 1911 edition of Whiteley's General Catalogue

An Aunt Sally was originally a figurine head of an old woman with a clay pipe in her mouth, or subsequently a ball on a stick. Traditionally played in pubs and fairgrounds, the object of the game was for players to throw sticks at the head to break the pipe. The game bears some resemblance to a coconut shy, or skittles.

Today, the game of Aunt Sally is still played as a pub game in Oxfordshire. The ball is on a short plinth about 4 inches (10 cm) high, and is known as a 'dolly'. The dolly is placed on a dog-legged metal spike and players throw sticks or short battens at the dolly, trying to knock it off without hitting the spike.

Devil among the tailors

This form of table skittles involves 9 small skittles arranged in a 3 x 3 square, usually within a shallow open-topped wooden box sitting on a table-top. The wooden ball (about the size of a golf ball) hangs from a string or chain attached to the top of a vertical wooden post rising from one corner of the box. The aim of the game is to knock down the Skittles by swinging the ball in an arc round the post (rather than aiming directly at the Skittles).

In the picturesque name, the 'devil' refers to the ball, and the 'tailors' are the skittles.

Ringing the bull

Ringing the bull is a game that involves swinging a bull's nose ring, which is attached to a string, in an arc so as to hook it onto a bull's horn or hook attached to the wall. It was adopted by the earlier settlers of the Caribbean islands, where it is also referred to as the Bimini Ring Game.

The game is still played in Ye Olde Trip To Jerusalem , in Nottingham, which claims to be Britain's oldest pub.

Quoits

Quoits is a game that involves the throwing of metal, rope or rubber rings over a set distance, usually to land over or near a spike. The sport encompasses several distinct variations which are played either indoors on a small elevated table, or outside on a marked strip.

Dice games

Bar dice is a simple game played with five dice and a cup, often played to determine who buys the next round of drinks.

Card games

Numerous card games have been traditionally played in pubs. Those still played in Britain today include:

Cue and ball games

Pool

The pool is played on a billiard table with six pockets into which balls are deposited in a specified order. [4] The game encompasses distinct variants, including eight-ball, nine-ball, and several others.

Bar billiards

The game, in its current form, started in the UK in the 1930s. The tables were made by the Jelkes company of Holloway Road in London, and sold to many pubs.

Today, it is mostly played in southern England and Jersey on a special table without side and corner pockets, but with 9 scoring holes in the playing surface. On the playfield are normally placed three skittles--guarding the highest scoring holes (the two 50-point holes and the 200-point hole). The aim of the game is to score as many points as possible by potting balls down the holes before either the time runs out or a skittle is knocked over. The last ball can only be potted by getting it into the 100 or 200-point hole after bouncing off one cushion.

Bat and ball games

Bowling games

Skittles

Skittles is "one of the quintessential English pub games" [5] and many pubs have a skittle alley, often in a side room. They may be of quite basic construction and the balls, as well as the skittles, may be made of wood. Some were based on cowsheds and only used during the summer months when the shed was not occupied by cattle. [6]

Coin pushing/throwing games

Pitch penny

A game that involves throwing coins across the room and into a hole carved in the seat of a wooden bench.

Shove ha'penny (or "shove halfpenny")

Played by two players on a small, smooth board, made of slate or wood. A number of parallel lines or grooves run horizontally across this board. Ha'pennies or similarly-sized coins or metal discs are placed at one end of the board and are shoved with a quick flick of the hand. The object is to shove the coins so that a certain number of them (normally five) lie between the lines. The two players take alternate turns. In addition to shoving his own coin directly between the lines, a player may use his turn to knock his own coins into position. One set of coins is used by both players.

Toad in the hole

Involves the throwing of brass discs, called Toads, at a hole in a lead-topped table. A variation of this game has been played in pubs in East Sussex, UK, the 'hole' being in the centre of the lead surface.

Drinking games

Yard of ale

Other games

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cribbage</span> Card game

Cribbage, or crib, is a card game, traditionally for two players, that involves playing and grouping cards in combinations which gain points. It can be adapted for three or four players.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Skittles (sport)</span> Old European lawn game

Skittles is a historical lawn game and target sport of European origin, from which the modern sport of nine-pin bowling is descended. In regions of the United Kingdom and Ireland the game remains as a popular indoor pub game.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bagatelle</span> Billiards-type game

Bagatelle is a billiards-derived indoor table game, the object of which is to get a number of balls past wooden pins into holes that are guarded by wooden pegs; penalties are incurred if the pegs are knocked over. It probably developed from the table made with raised sides for trou madame, which was also played with ivory balls and continued to be popular into the later 19th century, after which it developed into bar billiards, with influences from the French/Belgian game billard russe. A bagatelle variant using fixed metal pins, billard japonais, eventually led to the development of pachinko and pinball.

Golf billiards is a pocket billiards game usually played for money. Unlike the majority of such games, it allows more than two people to play without compromises or rule changes. The game borrows from the outdoor game of golf, which is historically related to the cue sports. It is usually played on 10-foot or 12-foot snooker tables as their size and structure are more appropriate. In 2006 the Billiard Congress of America commented it was more popular than snooker in the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aunt Sally</span> Traditional English pub game

Aunt Sally is a traditional English game usually played in pub gardens and fairgrounds, in which players throw sticks or battens at a ball, known as a 'dolly', balanced on top of a stick; traditionally, a model of an old woman's head was sometimes used. Leagues of pub teams still play the game, throughout the spring and summer months, mainly in Oxfordshire and some bordering counties. In France, the game is called jeu de massacre.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Devil among the tailors</span>

Devil among the tailors is a form of table skittles which is usually found as a pub game in England. It is likely that the game emerged between 1675 and 1783 and surged in popularity during the 1920s and 1930s before waning again. Today it is found in scattered pockets across most of the country.

Penny in the hole is a pub game. It involves throwing coins across the room and into a hole carved in the seat of a wooden bench.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Toad in the hole (game)</span> British throwing game

Toad in the hole is a pub game, involving throwing brass coins at a lead topped table with a hole in the middle. The game is a more refined version of the coin-throwing game pitch penny.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Table skittles</span> Tabletop dexterity game

Table skittles is a game in which a ball or spinning top is used to knock over skittles on a small board, usually placed on a table. Table skittles are almost always made of wood.

Indoor games and sports are a variety of structured games or competitive physical exercises, typically carried out either at home, in a well-sheltered building, or in a specially constructed sport venue such as a gym, a natatorium, an arena or a roofed stadium.

The following is a glossary of traditional English-language terms used in the three overarching cue sports disciplines: carom billiards referring to the various carom games played on a billiard table without pockets; pool, which denotes a host of games played on a table with six pockets; and snooker, played on a large pocket table, and which has a sport culture unto itself distinct from pool. There are also games such as English billiards that include aspects of multiple disciplines.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lawn game</span> Type of entertainment activity

A lawn game is an outdoor game that can be played on a lawn. Many types and variations of lawn games exist, which includes games that use balls and the throwing of objects as their primary means of gameplay. Some lawn games are historical in nature, having been devised and played in different forms for centuries. Some lawn games are traditionally played on a pitch. Some companies produce and market lawn games for home use in a front or backyard.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Five-pin billiards</span> Form of carom billiards

Five-pin billiards or simply five-pins or 5-pins, is today usually a carom billiards form of cue sport, though sometimes still played on a pocket table. In addition to the customary three balls of most carom games, it makes use of a set of five upright pins (skittles) arranged in a "+" pattern at the center of the table. The game is popular especially in Italy and Argentina, but also in some other parts of Latin America and Europe, with international, televised professional tournaments. It is sometimes referred to as Italian five-pins or Italian billiards, or as simply italiana. A variant of the game, goriziana or nine-pins, adds additional skittles to the formation. A related pocket game, with larger pins, is played in Scandinavia and is referred to in English as Danish pin billiards, with a Swedish variant that has some rules more similar to the Italian game.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cribbage (pool)</span> Two-player pool game

Cribbage, sometimes called cribbage pool, fifteen points and pair pool, is a two-player pool game that, like its namesake card game, has a scoring system which awards points for pairing groups of balls that total 15. Played on a standard pool table, participants who pocket a ball of a particular number are required to immediately pocket the companion ball that tallies to 15 when added to the prior ball's number. Each pair so pocketed counts as a cribbage; there are seven such pairs, and the 15 ball counts as an eighth by itself after all of the others have been pocketed. The first player to score five cribbages wins the game.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Trucco</span>

Trucco is an Italian and later English lawn game, a form of ground billiards played with heavy balls, large-headed cues sometimes called tacks, a ring, and sometimes an upright pin. The game was popular from at least the 17th century to the early 20th century, and was a forerunner of croquet, surviving for a few generations after the introduction of the latter.

Tokyo Friend Park 2 is a Japanese game show that premiered in April 1994 on the Tokyo Broadcasting Station (TBS). TFP2 airs on Monday nights roughly from 6:55 - 7:54 JST in Japan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ground billiards</span> Family of European lawn games

Ground billiards is a modern term for a family of medieval European lawn games, the original names of which are mostly unknown, played with a long-handled mallet, wooden balls, a hoop, and an upright skittle or pin. The game, which cue-sports historians have called "the original game of billiards", developed into a variety of modern outdoor and indoor games and sports such as croquet, pool, snooker, and carom billiards. Its relationship to games played on larger fields, such as hockey, golf, and bat-and-ball games, is more speculative. As a broader classification, the term is sometimes applied to games dating back to classical antiquity that are attested via difficult-to-interpret ancient artworks and rare surviving gaming artifacts.

Pin billiards may refer to any of a fairly large number of billiard games that uses a pin, or a set of "pins" or "skittles". The earliest form of billiards, ground billiards, was played with a single pin called the "king". Table billiards kept the king until the mid-18th century. There are billiard games played with as many as thirteen pins.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Throwing sports</span> Sports where an object is thrown

Throwing sports, or throwing games, are physical, human competitions where the outcome is measured by a player's ability to throw an object.

References

  1. "Traditional Pub Games". www.countryfile.com.
  2. The National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland, 1868, quoted in GENUKI-Islington
  3. "Darts". The Free Dictionary. Retrieved 21 August 2010.
  4. "The Official Website for the Governing Body of Pool". WPA-Pool.com. World Pool-Billiard Association (WPA). 2011. banner, copyright notice, etc. Retrieved November 4, 2011.
  5. Hampson (2019), p. 200.
  6. Finn (1975), p. 91.