2) says, The game was very generally played in the midland counties under the name of Merrilpeg or Merelles. The twelve pieces I have never seen used, though I have often played with nine. We generally used marbles or draught pieces, and not pegs. The following are the accounts of this game given by the commentators on Shakespeare:-- In that part of Warwickshire where Shakespeare was educated, and the neighbouring parts of Northamptonshire, the shepherds and other boys dig up the turf with their knives to represent a sort of imperfect chess-board. It consists of a square, sometimes only a foot diameter, sometimes three or four yards. Within this is another square, every side of which is parallel to the external square; and these squares are joined by lines drawn from each corner of both squares, and the middle of each line. One party, or player, has wooden pegs, the other stones, which they move in such a manner as to take up each other s men, as they are called, and the area of the inner square is called the pound, in which the men taken up are impounded. These figures are by the country people called _nine men s morris_, or _merrils_; and are so called because each party has nine men. These figures are always cut upon the green turf, or leys as they are called, or upon the grass at the end of ploughed lands, and in rainy seasons never fail to be choked up with mud (Farmer). _Nine men s morris_ is a game still played by the shepherds, cow-keepers, &c.
, we have a description of this game: There is a game also that is played with the posterne bone in the hinder foote of a sheepe, oxe, gote, fallow, or redde dere, whiche in Latin is called _talus_. It hath foure chaunces: the ace point, that is named Canis, or Canicula, was one of the sides; he that cast it leyed doune a peny, or so muche as the gamers were agreed on; the other side was called Venus, that signifieth seven. He that cast the chaunce wan sixe and all that was layd doune for the castyng of Canis. The two other sides were called Chius and Senio. He that did throwe Chius wan three. And he that cast Senio gained four. This game (as I take it) _is used of children in Northfolke_, and they cal it the Chaunce Bone; they playe with three or foure of those bones together; it is either the same or very lyke to it. See Dibs, Hucklebones. Change Seats, the King s Come In this game as many seats are placed round a room as will serve all the company save one. The want of a seat falls on an individual by a kind of lot, regulated, as in many other games, by the repetition of an old rhythm.
If the player fails to get either a strike or a spare, it is a _=Break=_, marked with a horizontal line, under which is written the actual number of pins down. After each ball is rolled any pins that have fallen on the alley are called _=deadwood=_, and must be removed before the second ball is rolled. _=Counting.=_ If a player makes a strike in one inning, all that he makes on the next two balls rolled, whether in one inning or not, counts also on the strike, so as to give him the total score on three balls for the frame. Three successive strikes would give him 30 points on the first frame, with a ball still to roll to complete the second frame, and two balls to roll to complete the third. If he got two strikes in succession, and 5 pins on the first ball of the third frame, 4 on the second ball, the first frame would be worth 25, the second frame 19, and the break on the third frame 9; making his total score 53 for the three frames. If the player makes a spare in one inning, all the pins knocked down by the first ball of the next inning count also on the spare. Suppose a spare to be followed by a strike, the frame in which the spare was made would be worth 20. If he made 5 pins only, the spare would be worth 15. Although the player is supposed to have three balls in each inning, and is allowed to count all he makes on three balls if he gets a strike or a spare, he is not allowed to roll three balls on a break.
H.” It is said that he learned the game from a friend, who had been taught it by a Wendish coachman in his employ. The game spread rapidly, and soon became popular all over Germany, but with many minor variations in the details of play. To settle these, a Skat congress was finally held in Altenburg in 1886. This was succeeded by others in Leipzic and Dresden, and the result of these meetings has been to weed out all the minor differences in play, and to settle upon a universal code of laws for the game, which is called Reichs-Skat. In America, Reichs-Skat is no longer played; the value of some of the games is changed, and all the bidding is by Zahlen-reizen. In all the text-books on Skat which we have examined, this fact has been entirely overlooked. SKAT. The etymology of the word Skat, sometimes spelt Scat, is a matter of doubt, but the most plausible explanation is that it is a corruption of one of the terms in the parent game of Taroc; “scart,” from “scarto,” what is left; or “scartare,” to discard or reject. “Matadore” is another word from the game of Taroc, still retained in Skat.
--Huloet, 1572. See Hide and Seek. King Cæsar One player is chosen to be King Cæsar by lot or naming. All the others stand in two rows, one row at each end of the ground. A line is drawn on the ground in front of them to mark dens. All the players must keep within this line. King Cæsar stands in the middle of the ground. Any number of the players can then rush across the ground from one den to another. King Cæsar tries to catch one as they run. When he catches a boy he must count from one to ten in succession before he leaves hold of the boy, that boy in the meantime trying to get away.
| | 5.| -- | | 6.|Catch the bride. | | 7.| -- | | 8.| -- | | 9.|Girl makes a pudding. | |10.|Asks boy to taste. | |11.