Three cherry stones are placed together, and another above them. These are all called a castle. The player takes aim with a cherry stone, and when he overturns the castle he claims the spoil.—Jamieson. See “Cob Nut.”
A Scottish name for “Hop Scotch.”—Jamieson.
See “Hop Scotch.”
A child’s name for the simple game of throwing a ball from one to another.—Lowsley’s Berkshire Glossary.
A boys’ game, somewhat similar to “Duckstone.” Each boy, when he threw his stone, had to say “Pay-swad,” or he had to go down himself.—Holland’s Cheshire Glossary.
See “Duckstone.”
A game played with pins: also called “Pinny Ninny,” “Pedna-a mean,” “Heads and Tails,” a game of pins.—Courtenay’s West Cornwall Glossary.
The game of “Hide and Seek.” When the object is hidden the word “Peesie-weet” is called out.—Fraserburgh, Aberdeenshire (Rev. W. Gregor).
See “Hide and Seek (2).”
The players provide themselves with short, stout sticks, and a peg (a piece of wood sharpened at one or both ends). A ring is made, and the peg is placed on the ground so as to balance. One boy then strikes it with his stick to make it spring or bounce up into the air; while in the air he strikes it with his stick, and sends it as far as he possibly can. His opponent declares the number of leaps in which the striker is to cover the distance the peg has gone. If successful, he counts the number of leaps to his score. If he fails, his opponent leaps, and, if successful, the number of leaps count to his score. He strikes the next time, and the same process is gone through.—Earls Heaton, Yorks. (Herbert Hardy).
See “Tip-cat.”
A west country game. The performers in this game are each furnished with a sharp-pointed stake. One of them then strikes it into the ground, and the others, throwing their sticks across it, endeavour to dislodge it. When a stick falls, the owner has to run to a prescribed distance and back, while the rest, placing the stick upright, endeavour to beat it into the ground up to the very top.—Halliwell’s Dictionary.
A boyish game with nuts.—Dickinson’s Cumberland Glossary.
A game of “Peg-top.” The object of this game is to spin the top within a certain circle marked out, in which the top is to exhaust itself without once overstepping the bounds prescribed (Halliwell’s Dict. Provincialisms). Holloway (Dictionary) says, “When boys play at ‘Peg-top,’ a ring is formed on the ground, within which each boy is to spin his top. If the top, when it has ceased spinning, does not roll without the circle, it must remain in the ring to be pegged at by the other boys, or he redeems it by putting in an inferior one, which is called a ‘Mull.’ When the top does not roll out, it is said to be ‘mulled.’” Mr. Emslie writes: “When the top fell within the ring the boys cried, ‘One a penny!’ When two had fallen within the ring it was, ‘Two a penny!’ When three, ‘Three a penny, good as any!’ The aim of each spinner was to do what was called ‘drawing,’ i.e., bring his top down into the ring, and at the same time draw the string so as to make the top spin within the ring, and yet come towards the player and out of the ring so as to fall without.”
See “Tops.”
One of the players, chosen by lot, spins his top. The other players endeavour to strike this top with the pegs of their own tops as they fling them down to spin. If any one fails to spin his top in due form, he has to lay his top on the ground for the others to strike at when spinning. The object of each spinner is to split the top which is being aimed at, so as to release the peg, and the boy whose top has succeeded in splitting the other top obtains the peg as his trophy of victory. It is a matter of ambition to obtain as many pegs in this manner as possible.—London (G. L. Gomme).
See “Peg-in-the-Ring,” “Tops.”
A game played with round flat stones, about four or six inches across, being similar to the game of quoits; sometimes played with pennies when the hobs are a deal higher. It was not played with pennies in 1810.—Easther’s Almondbury Glossary. In an article in Blackwood’s Magazine, August 1821, p. 35, dealing with children’s games, the writer says, Pennystanes are played much in the same manner as the quoits or discus of the ancient Romans, to which warlike people the idle tradesmen of Edinburgh probably owe this favourite game.
See “Penny Prick.”
A rude dance, which formerly took place in the common taverns of Sheffield, usually held after the bull-baiting.—Wilson’s Notes to Mather’s Songs, p. 74, cited by Addy, Sheffield Glossary.
“A game consisting of casting oblong pieces of iron at a mark.”—Hunter’s Hallamsh. Gloss., p. 71. Grose explains it, “Throwing at halfpence placed on sticks which are called hobs.”
—Scots’ Philomythie, 1616.
Halliwell gives these references in his Dictionary; Addy, Sheffield Glossary, describes it as above; adding, “An old game once played by people of fashion.”
See “Penny Cast.”
See “Penny Cast.”
The name of a dance mentioned in an old nursery rhyme. A correspondent gave Halliwell the following lines of a very old song, the only ones he recollected:—
—Halliwell’s Dictionary.
These words are somewhat of the same character as those of “Auntie Loomie,” and are evidently the accompaniment of an old dance.
See “Lubin.”
The game of “Pitch and Toss.”—Brogden’s Provincial Words, Lincolnshire. It is called Pickenhotch in Peacock’s Manley and Corringham Glossary.
A game in which one half of the players are supposed to keep a castle, while the others go out as a foraging or marauding party. When the latter are all gone out, one of them cries Pee-ku, which is a signal to those within to be on the alert. Then those who are without attempt to get in. If any one of them gets in without being seized by the holders of the castle, he cries to his companions, The hole’s won; and those who are within must yield the fortress. If one of the assailants be taken before getting in he is obliged to change sides and to guard the castle. Sometimes the guards are successful in making prisoners of all the assailants. Also the name given to the game of Hide and Seek.—Jamieson.
A boy’s game [undescribed].—Patterson’s Antrim and Down Glossary.
A game at marbles where a ring is made about four feet in diameter, and boys “shoot” in turn from any point in the circumference, keeping such marbles as they may knock out of the ring, but loosing their own “taw” if it should stop within.—Lowsley’s Berkshire Glossary. See “Ring Taw.”
A sport among children in Fife. An egg, an unfledged bird, or a whole nest is placed on a convenient spot. He who has what is called the first pill, retires a few paces, and being provided with a cowt or rung, is blindfolded, or gives his promise to wink hard (whence he is called Winkie), and moves forward in the direction of the object, as he supposes, striking the ground with the stick all the way. He must not shuffle the stick along the ground, but always strike perpendicularly. If he touches the nest without destroying it, or the egg without breaking it, he loses his vice or turn. The same mode is observed by those who succeed him. When one of the party breaks an egg he is entitled to all the rest as his property, or to some other reward that has been previously agreed on. Every art is employed, without removing the nest or egg, to mislead the blindfolded player, who is also called the Pinkie.—Jamieson. See “Blind Man’s Stan.”
The game of “Pitch-Halfpenny,” or “Pitch and Hustle.”—Halliwell’s Dictionary. Addy (Sheffield Glossary) says this game consists of pitching halfpence at a mark.
See “Penny Cast,” “Penny Prick.”
A child’s peep-show. The charge for a peep is a pin, and, under extraordinary circumstances of novelty, two pins.
I remember well being shown how to make a peep or poppet-show. It was made by arranging combinations of colours from flowers under a piece of glass, and then framing it with paper in such a way that a cover was left over the front, which could be raised when any one paid a pin to peep. The following words were said, or rather sung, in a sing-song manner:—
—(A. B. Gomme).
Pansies or other flowers are pressed beneath a piece of glass, which is laid upon a piece of paper, a hole or opening, which can be shut at pleasure, being cut in the paper. The charge for looking at the show is a pin. The children say, “A pin to look at a pippy-show.” They also say—
—Addy’s Sheffield Glossary.
In Perth (Rev. W. Gregor) the rhyme is—
Described also in Holland’s Cheshire Glossary, and Lowsley’s Berkshire Glossary. Atkinson’s Cleveland Glossary describes it as having coloured pictures pasted inside, and an eye-hole at one of the ends. The Leed’s Glossary gives the rhyme as—
Northall (English Folk-rhymes, p. 357), also gives a rhyme.
On the 1st of January the children beg for some pins, using the words, “Please pay Nab’s New Year’s gift.” They then play “a very childish game,” but I have not succeeded in getting a description of it.—Yorkshire.
See “Prickie and Jockie.”
A game played by boys, “and the name demonstrates that it is a native one, for it would require a page of close writing to make it intelligible to an Englishman.” The rhyme used at this play is—
—Blackwood’s Magazine, August 1821, p. 37.
The rhyme suggests comparison with the game of “Hot Cockles.”
A game played with pennies, or other round discs. The object is to pitch the penny into a hole in the ground from a certain point.—Elworthy, West Somerset Words.
Probably “Pick and Hotch,” mentioned in an article in Blackwood’s Mag., Aug. 1821, p. 35. Common in London streets.
“Chuck-Farthing.” The game of “Pitch and Toss” is very common, being merely the throwing up of halfpence, the result depending on a guess of heads or tails.—Halliwell’s Dictionary.
This game was played by two or more players with “pitchers”—the stakes being buttons. The ordinary bone button, or “scroggy,” being the unit of value. The “pitcher” was made of lead, circular in form, from one and a half inch to two inches in diameter, and about a quarter of an inch thick, with an “H” to stand for “Heads” cut on one side, and a “T” for “Tails” on the other side. An old-fashioned penny was sometimes used, and an old “two-penny” piece I have by me bears the marks of much service in the same cause. A mark having been set up—generally a stone—and the order of play having been fixed, the first player, A, threw his “pitcher” to the mark, from a point six or seven yards distant. If he thought he lay sufficiently near the mark to make it probable that he would be the nearest after the others had thrown, he said he would “lie.” The effect of that was that the players who followed had to lie also, whatever the character of their throw. If A’s throw was a poor one he took up his “pitcher.” B then threw, if he threw well he “lay,” if not he took up his pitcher, in hope of making a better throw, as A had done. C then played in the same manner. D followed and “lay.” E played his pitcher, and had no choice but to lie. F followed in the same way. These being all the players, A threw again, and though his second might have been worse than his first, he has to lie like the others. B and C followed. All the pitchers have been thrown, and are lying round the mark, in the following order of proximity—for that regulates the subsequent play—B’s is nearest, then D’s follows, in order by A, C, F, E. B takes the pitchers, and piles them up one above the other, and tosses them into the air. Three (let us say) fall head up, D’s, A’s, and F’s. These three B keeps in his hand. D, who was next nearest the mark, takes the three remaining pitchers, and in the same manner tosses them into the air. B’s and C’s fall head up, and are retained by D. A, who comes third, takes the remaining pitcher, E’s, and throws it up. If it falls a head he keeps it, and the game is finished except the reckoning; if it falls a tail it passes on to the next player, C, who throws it up. If it falls a head he keeps it, if a tail, it is passed on to F, and from him to E, and on to B, till it turns up a head. Let us suppose that happens when F throws it up. The game is now finished, and the reckoning takes place—
| B | has | three | pitchers, | D’s, A’s, and F’s. | |
| D | „ | two | „ | B’s and C’s. | |
| F | „ | one | „ | E’s. | |
| A, C, and E have none. | |||||
Strictly speaking, D, A, and F should each pay a button to B. B and C should each pay one to D. E should pay one to F. But in practice it was simpler, F holding one pitcher had, in the language of the game, “freed himself.” D had “freed himself,” and was in addition one to the good. B had “freed himself,” and was two to the good. A, C, and E, not having “freed themselves,” were liable for the one D had won and the two B had won, and settled with D and B, without regard to the actual hand that held the respective pitchers. It simplified the reckoning, though theoretically the reckoning should have followed the more roundabout method. Afterwards the game was begun de novo. E, who was last, having first pitch—the advantage of that place being meant to compensate him in a measure for his ill luck in the former game. The stakes were the plain horn or bone buttons—buttons with nicks were more valuable—a plain one being valued at two “scroggies,” or “scrogs,” the fancy ones, and especially livery buttons, commanding a higher price.—Rev. W. Gregor. See “Buttons.”
A game played by boys, who roll counters in a small hole. The exact description I have not been able to get.—Halliwell’s Dictionary.
A game at marbles. The favourite recreation with the young fishermen in West Cornwall. Forty years ago “Pits” and “Towns” were the common games, but the latter only is now played. Boys who hit their nails are looked on with great contempt, and are said “to fire Kibby.” When two are partners, and one in playing accidentally hits the other’s marble, he cries out, “No custance,” meaning that he has a right to put back the marble struck; should he fail to do so, he would be considered “out.”—Folk-lore Journal, v. 60. There is no description of the method of playing. It may be the same as “Cherry Pits,” played with marbles instead of cherry stones (vol. i. p. 66). Mr. Newell, Games and Songs of American Children, p. 187, says “The pits are thrown over the palm; they must fall so far apart that the fingers can be passed between them. Then with a fillip of the thumb the player makes his pit strike the enemy’s and wins both.”
Sides are picked; as, for example, six on one side and six on the other, and three or four marks or tuts are fixed in a field. Six go out to field, as in cricket, and one of these throws the ball to one of those who remain “at home,” and the one “at home” strikes or pizes it with his hand. After pizing it he runs to one of the “tuts,” but if before he can get to the “tut” he is struck with the ball by one of those in the field, he is said to be burnt, or out. In that case the other side go out to field.—Addy’s Sheffield Glossary.
See “Rounders.”
A game at marbles of two or more boys. Each puts an equal number of marbles in a row close together, a mark is made at some little distance called taw; the distance is varied according to the number of marbles in a row. The first boy tosses at the row in such a way as to pitch just on the marbles, and so strike as many as he can out of the line; all that he strikes out he takes; the rest are put close together again, and two other players take their turn in the same manner, till all the marbles are struck out of the line, when they all stake afresh and the game begins again.—Baker’s Northamptonshire Glossary.
Mentioned by Moor, Suffolk Words and Phrases, as the name of a game. Undescribed, but nearly the same as French and English.
A small mark is made on the wall. The one to point out the point, who must not know what is intended, is blindfolded, and is then sent to put the finger on the point or mark. Another player has taken a place in front of the point, and bites the finger of the blindfolded pointer.—Fraserburgh, Aberdeenshire (Rev. W. Gregor).
Name of a girl’s game the same as Cheeses.—Holland’s Cheshire Glossary. See “Turn Cheeses, Turn.”
An old game mentioned in Taylor’s Motto, sig. D, iv. London, 1622.
—Barnes, Surrey (A. B. Gomme).
—Upton-on-Severn, Worcestershire (Miss Broadwood).
—Dorsetshire (Folk-lore Journal, vii. 209).
—Sporle, Norfolk (Miss Matthews).
—Colchester (Miss G. M. Frances).
—(Suffolk County Folk-lore, pp. 66, 67.)
—Berkshire (Miss Thoyts, Antiquary, xxvii. 254).
—Winterton and Lincoln (Miss M. Peacock).
—Hanbury, Staffs. (Miss E. Hollis).
—Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire (Miss Matthews).
—Enborne School, Newbury, Berks. (Miss M. Kimber).
—Liphook, Hants. (Miss Fowler).
—Cambridge (Mrs. Haddon).
—Ogbourne, Wilts. (H. S. May).