P, to put into the pool the same amount as the stakes were at first.
When this was done the next player spun the totum in his turn. When one player got T a fresh pool had to be collected.—London (A. B. Gomme).
Jamieson’s Dictionary says children lay up stores of pins to play at this game at Christmas time.
William Dunbar, the Scottish poet (James IV.), seems to refer to this game in the poem, Schir, ȝit remembir as of befoir, in the words—
“He playis with totum, and I with nichell” (l. 74).
Strutt (Sports and Pastimes, page 385) says the four sides were marked with letters, and describes the game as we now play it in London.
All tee-totums or whirligigs seem to have some reference to tops, except that the tee-totum is used principally for gambling.
Some have numbers on their sides like dice instead of letters, and some are of octagonal shape.
See “[Lang Larence],” “[Scop-peril],” “[Tops].”