Pub games

Pub games are games which are or were played in pubs, bars, inns, and taverns, particularly traditional games played in English pubs. Most are indoor games, though some are played outdoors (e.g. in the pub garden).

History of pub games

From Roman taverns which offered games such as Draughts (a common pub sign) to the modern pubs of the 21st century with electronic quiz machines, games have long been associated with drinking establishments. Richard Boston in [http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0006348467 "Beer and Skittles"] reveals that the first regulation for national control of pubs was about pub games. Henry VII's statute of 1495 restricted "the indoor games which were distracting Tudor pubmen from archery". Gaming activities associated with pubs ranged from card games such as cribbage and throwing games such as darts, through physical sports such as cricket to blood sports such as cock fighting. Balls Pond Road in Islington 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.Fact|date=September 2007

Despite their higher popularity with young people , pinball machines were common pub games from the 1940s to the 1980s.

Since the 1970s, slot machines and video games (such as Space Invaders) have become widespread in pubs, causing a decline in the traditional games. During the 1990s, especially in Britain, pub quizzes and quiz machines became very popular.

Traditional pub games

Traditional pub games include:
* Darts (various different games)
* Bowls (various different games)
* Dice games, such as shut the box
* Card games, such as Cribbage
* Cue & ball games: Billiards, Bar billiards, Snooker, Bagatelle
* Bat & ball games: Cricket, Knur and spell, Bat and trap
* Skittles - various different games, such as Devil among the tailors
* Board games: Nine Men's Morris, backgammon, draughts, chess
* Coin pushing/throwing games: Shove ha'penny, Pitch penny, Toad in the hole, Sporting Coin.
* Other throwing games: Ringing the bull, Aunt Sally, quoits (indoor or outdoor)
* Other games: dominoes, Yard of ale, Dwyle flunking

Some of these, such as darts, dominoes and quoits, have developed into very popular activities. Others such as backgammon, chess, and dice games are often played in pubs, but are so widespread that they are not usually thought of specifically as pub games.

All of the above games were played in at least some English pubs in the 1970s, but many were in decline and some may since have died out.

Dwyle flunking

Dwyle flunking or dwile flonking is an outdoor game, which typically involves two teams of twelve players, though there is great flexibility in numbers, terminology and rules.

One of the teams gathers in a circle, called a "girter", enclosing a member of the other team, the "flonker". He holds a broom handle (usually called the "driveller"), on top of which is a rag soaked with (usually stale) beer, called the "dwile" or "dwyle". At a signal, the girter dances around the flonker in a circle. He must flick (or flonk) the dwile with the driveller so it hits a girter team member. The score depends on which part of the body he hits. The usual scoring is three points for a hit on the head (a "wanton"), two for a hit on the body (a "marther"), and just one for a leg strike (a "ripple"). If after two shots the flonker fails to score he is swadged, or potted, which means he has to drink a quantity of beer from a chamber pot within a given time. After all the members of one team have flonked, the other team is put in. The winner is the team with the most points after two innings, usually the one with more members still upright.

Yard of ale

A yard (or yard glass) is a one yard long glass holding approximately 3 pints of beer. Drinking a yard glass full of beer is effectively a traditional pub game. The object is to drink the entire glassful without pausing for breath, and/or to drink it as quickly as possible.

The glass most probably originated in 17th-century England. The diarist and Fellow of the Royal Society John Evelyn records the formal yet festive drinking of a yard of ale toast to James II at Bromley in Kent, 1683.

Yard glasses can still be found hanging on the walls of some English pubs, though they are rarely used nowadays.

Bar billiards

Bar billiards in its current form started in the United Kingdom in the 1930s and the tables were made by the Jelkes company of Holloway Road in London and sold to many pubs.

The game is played mostly 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.

Devil among the tailors

Devil among the tailors is a form of table skittles.

The game 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.

hove ha'penny

Shove ha'penny (or shove halfpenny) is played by two players on a small, smooth board, normally made of slate. 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 or his opponent's out of position.

Aunt Sally

Aunt Sally was traditionally played in pubs and fairgrounds. 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. The object was for players to throw sticks at the head in order 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 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.

Toad in the hole

Toad in the hole involves throwing brass discs at a hole in a box. A variation of this game has been played in pubs in East Sussex, UK, the 'hole' being in the centre of a large wooden seat set against the wall, the back of the seat being a surface to rebound your shot off. Toad in the hole is a more refined version of the coin-throwing game Pitch penny.

Pitch penny

Pitch penny (also called Penny seat, Penny slot, Tossing the penny and Penny in the hole) involves throwing coins across the room and into a hole carved in the seat of a wooden bench.

Ringing the bull

Ringing the bull 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.

There is a vibrant and thriving tradition of playing this game at what is reputedly the oldest pub in England, "Ye Olde Trip To Jerusalem" in Nottingham.

The game was adopted by the earlier settlers of the Caribbean islands, where it is also referred to as the Bimini Ring Game.

Pub sports

As a subset of pub games, pub sports include traditional pastimes such as darts, billiards, and skittles. Unlike parlour games, or gambling games of chance like cards and dice, all of which are also often played in bars, pubs, and taverns, Pub Sports require exertion, coordination, and dexterity in particular physical skills.

Many of these games owe their origins to older outdoor sports, adapted and transformed over time for indoor play.

List of pub sports

* Darts
* Billiards:• Snooker:• Pool:• Bjureez:• Bagatelle
* Bowls
* Skittles
* Quoits
* Shuffleboard:• Sjoelbak:• Shove ha'penny:• Shuffleboard
* Eclectic:• Pitch Penny:• Aunt Sally:• Ringing the Bull:• Pub Rally

See also

* Billiards
* Karaoke

References

* Finn, Timothy: "Pub Games of England" (Oleander Press)
* [http://www.tradgames.org.uk/games/Aunt-Sally.htm Aunt Sally - The Online Guide]
* [http://www.nicks.com.au/drinkvessels/page39.html Vintage Direct website]

External links

* [http://www.tradgames.org.uk/features/pub-games.htm Online guide to traditional games]
* [http://www.tradgames.org.uk/games/Pitching-Discs.htm Toad in the hole in the Online guide to traditional games]
* [http://www.jambutty.u-net.com/09i24.html Shove ha'penny Article]
* [http://www.hickoksports.com/history/sprtindx.shtml Hickok Sports History]