Cassell's Book of In-door Amusements, Card Games, and Fireside Fun

by Various

PARLOUR BOWLS.

This is an interesting game, adapted for any number of persons, and in principle is very similar to the game of Bowls, as described at large among the Lawn Games. The balls are, of course, very different in size to those used out of doors, and are made and adapted for in-door play. Each player is provided with two balls of the same colour, which he bowls towards a jack or die, the jack being placed at the side of the room opposite to that from which the players are stationed. The players decide the order in which they play, and then each one alternately bowls one of the balls towards the jack, and he who succeeds in placing his bowl nearest to the jack wins the game. When the players are more than three they may be divided into opposing sides, and it is then legitimate to play so as to knock an opponent's bowl away from, or a partner's bowl near to, the jack; scores should then be calculated after each round, according to the various distances that the bowls are from the jack. The game described in this book as German Balls is sometimes also known as Parlour Bowls.

PARLOUR CROQUET.

There are three versions of the lawn game of Croquet that are played in-doors, and are known as Carpet Croquet, Parlour Croquet, and Table Croquet respectively. These are all recently introduced games, and are deservedly popular. The mallets, balls, and arches are made of different sizes and shapes according to the game; they are all more or less similar to those used in the out-door game, and may be obtained, with the necessary rules, which are only adaptations of the rules of the out-door game, of the toy-dealers. Each version of the game may be played by eight or any less number of players. The peculiarity of Carpet Croquet is, as its name implies, that it is played on the carpet, and the hoops used are fitted into flat metal stands, so that the balls roll over the stand without hindrance. Parlour Croquet is played on a mahogany board lined with cloth, and which is made level by means of adjusting-screws fitted underneath. Table Croquet is played on an ordinary dining-table, and with the other materials for playing the game are supplied cloth cushions to place round the edge of the table to prevent the balls from rolling off.

PARLOUR QUOITS.

An in-door game played with rings very similar to those used in the lawn game of Quoits is known variously as Parlour Quoits, Annulette, and Ringolette. The game bears but slight resemblance to the out-door game of Quoits, but is more nearly allied to that of Skip or Ring the Nail, which will be found among the Minor Out-door Games.

The game is one of skill, and is adapted for any number of players; it is played on a round board, or sometimes on an inclined plane. On the board nine pins, pegs, standards, or skittles of various colours, or differently numbered, are fixed, and the game consists in the players endeavouring to throw each of nine rings—coloured or numbered, as the case may be, to correspond with the pegs—on to its appropriate peg, each player counting towards game the number of the rings successfully thrown upon the proper pegs. Penalties are incurred by lodging a ring on any peg other than that to which it is proper. Each player alternately should throw all the nine rings.

Patchesi.

PATCHESI, OR HOMEWARD BOUND.

This is one of the many varieties of the Race Game, described more in detail under that heading further on; the game of Homeward Bound differing in that it should be played by four persons instead of an indefinite number, as in the ordinary race game.

Each player is provided with dice and dice-box, or, if it be preferred, the game may be played with a common numbered teetotum. The board on which the game is played is arranged as shown in the accompanying diagram, and three pieces or men are allotted to each player, who—according to the throws of the dice, and subject to such laws as have been laid down, or as may be laid down, by the players—has to move these men first along the two outer rows of squares up towards home, returning the reverse way, and ultimately up the centre row to home. Whoever first reaches home wins the game.

PEGASUS IN FLIGHT.

This is one of the few balancing toys which may be readily made, and which will afford much amusement to all, and wonder to those who have not taken the pains to understand the principle on which it is constructed. It furnishes a solution of a popular mechanical problem or paradox, viz., "how to prevent a body, having a tendency to fall by its own weight, from falling, by adding to its weight on the same side on which its tendency is to fall."

Pegasus in Flight.

The Pegasus in Flight when complete is fairly represented in the accompanying illustration. It should be made out of a small toy figure of a horse in which the centre of gravity is found in, or very near to, the middle of the body. The wings, which are merely added for the sake of adornment, and to make the toy resemble in appearance the fabled charger after which it is named, should be attached to the figure at a point just behind the shoulders; the wings should be of equal weight and so adjusted as to keep the balance of the figure true. They may, however, if desired, be entirely dispensed with, or any other addition, according to fancy, may be put upon the horse's back. A wire bent to a curve, and to the end of which a small leaden ball has first to be attached, is to be fastened to the middle of the under part of the horse. Upon the hind feet of the horse being then set at rest on the edge of a table, and in such a position that the leaden ball is beneath the edge of the table, the animal may be made to rock to and fro without any fear of its being upset, and the longer the wire, provided only the proper curve is given to it, the longer will be the distance that the toy will sway upwards and downwards. This toy is also sometimes known by the name of the Mechanical Bucephalus, but it should then be made minus the wings, as is also the case when it is simply exhibited under the still more common description of the Prancing Horse.