PARLOR OR CARPET BOWLS.
The materials of this game are one white ball, and a number of other balls, designated by four distinct colors. It is played as follows: Place the white ball on the floor near one end of the room with perhaps a row of books behind it, to protect the finish.
Divide the remaining balls equally among the players, or give an equal number of balls to each player. If four play, it is more interesting to form sides, the two players on one side taking the dark balls, and the other two the light ones. Blue and black are considered dark—red and yellow, light. The players, retiring to some part of the room more or less distant from the white ball, now bowl the colored balls, which they hold, at the white one, by turns. Each player bowls one ball at a time, the play passing around the company as many times as there are colored balls for each player. The first bowl goes by turn, as the last bowl is the most valuable. The object of each player is to have the balls that he bowls rest as near as possible to the white one, and also to drive his enemy’s balls away from the white one, or the white one away from them. When all the balls have been bowled, the ball that lies nearest the white one counts 4; the one next nearest, 2; and the third nearest, 1—to the person or side to which they belong. Thus, we will suppose that of the three balls lying nearest to the white ball, the nearest one belongs to the dark side, and the two next nearest belong to the light side. Then the dark side scores 4, and the light side 2 and 1, making 3. But if the three nearest balls had belonged to the dark side, they would have scored 7, and the light side nothing. The game may be 20, or any other number agreed upon by the players before commencing, and the player or side that gains that number first wins the game. Should the game be nearly equal, so that both sides gain 20 in the same hand, then the side that makes the greatest number wins. The white ball must remain wherever it is rolled by the playing of the balls during each hand and placed back on some designated spot at the commencement of each hand. If two balls belonging to opposite parties are equally distant from the white ball, it is a tie, and the two players who bowled those balls must try again, and the one whose ball is nearest will count 4, the other 3.
THE UNION GAME, OR RED, WHITE AND BLUE.
This is an excellent parlor game. Any person possessing a croquet board, by taking out the hoops, can use it for the Union game, although a square or round board is better; if square, the board should measure from three and a half to four feet each way; if round, from three and a half to four feet in diameter. The board should be firmly made of well seasoned wood, and covered with cloth or green baize. It should have a rim or fence around the edge, just sufficient to prevent the balls from rolling off the board. It is necessary to have three cubes made of some light wood, about an inch and a half each way; one should be painted red, one white, and one blue, with a star on each face.
Each player should have three balls, painted red, white and blue, and a mallet. The balls and mallets may be the same used in parlor croquet. If this game is played on a board, it is necessary, in order to avoid any disputes, to have a square marked in the centre in which to place the cubes. A croquet board can be adapted to the game by removing the central hoop.
All persons, who prefer not to use a board, can play the game on the floor, by placing the cubes on some central figure of the carpet. By using larger blocks and the croquet balls and mallets, this game can be played on a level spot of ground, in the open air.