PUSH PIN.
The game of Push Pin is certainly a game that does not require a vast amount of ingenuity or intelligence to indulge in with success. It is very contemptuously described in Strutt's "Sports and Pastimes" in the following language:—"Push Pin is a very silly sport, being nothing more than simply pushing one pin across another." But as this description is somewhat vague, it is well to enlarge a little on the simple, but yet to many amusing and interesting, game of Push Pin.
The game is usually played by two players only, and each player puts down on the table one, two, three, or more pins, as may be decided upon. At starting the pins are to be placed in couples, head to head, one pin of each couple being placed by each player. Each player then alternately pushes his pin with his finger-nail, endeavouring to push it across his opponent's pin, and should he succeed both pins become his, but if he fail his opponent plays. The push is not to be a continued push, but a sort of a shove with the finger-nail, by bending it on the table and letting it fly up to hit the pin in the required direction.