Bean-Bags.
A game of skill, the equivalent of parlor quoits. It is played with bean-bags and a board three feet long and two feet wide, elevated at one end by another board to an angle of thirty degrees, and having some six inches from the top an opening about five inches square. Station this board at one end of a long room and divide the company equally. Eight bean-bags are all that are required.
The leader of one side begins. Standing at a suitable distance from the board, he endeavors to throw the bags, one at a time, through the square opening. Every bag that reaches the goal counts ten, every one that lodges upon the board five, and every one that falls to the ground outside of the board a loss of ten.
Suppose A to have put two bags through the opening (twenty), and two upon the board (ten),—that is a gain of thirty—but the other four bags falling to the ground makes a loss of forty, so his real score is a loss of ten.
B puts four through the opening (forty), three upon the board (fifteen), and one upon the ground (ten), which gives him a gain of forty-five.
The sides play alternately, and after three rounds for each, the scores, which have been carefully kept by one member of the party, are balanced, and the side having the greatest gain declared winners.
A prize may be given for the highest individual score.