MOORISH FORT.
The game of Moorish Fort is a good round game of skill. It is a comparatively new game, and is supplied by the toy-dealers, with rules, at a reasonable price; but as the materials to play the game with may be found in any tolerably extensive collection of toys if supplemented by a fort and a few rods, which can easily be made, some readers of this book may, if unable to purchase the materials, feel inclined to practise their ingenuity in adapting the toys they possess to play the game.
Fig. 2.—Cue (a) and Rest (b).
A round fort, constructed in the manner shown in the accompanying woodcut (Fig. 1), is placed in the centre of an ordinary dining-room table. The players should number six or less, and be divided into two sides, each side taking opposite positions; each player should be provided with a small round ball (those supplied with nine-pins do admirably), and the player, armed with a cue about eighteen inches to two feet long (Fig. 2, A), should strike his ball towards the fort. A rest for the cue (Fig. 2, B), with x-piece at the end, of the same length as the cue should also be supplied, to facilitate the striking of the ball when at a distance from the player, as it is to be made a rule that no player may, when playing, place his hands or arms on the table. That side which first gets all its balls into the fort wins, but a code of rules may be drafted embodying these and other regulations at the pleasure of the players.
Navette.