Other games suitable to be played when walking are "P's and Q's" ([p. 89]), "Suggestions" ([p. 91]), "Clumps" ([p. 93]), "How, When, and Where" ([p. 95]), "Coffee-Pot" ([p. 95]), "Throwing Light" ([p. 96]), and "Animal, Vegetable, and Mineral" ([p. 96]).
Hoops
Iron hoops are the best, but it is a matter of taste whether a stick or a hook is used for them. If the stick is a stout one you get rid of the skidding noise made by the hook, and there is more satisfaction in beating a thing along than in, as it were, pushing it. It should be every one's aim to make the hoop do as much as possible with as little treatment as possible. After a very fast run it is equally interesting to see how slowly a hoop can be made to travel. To make it keep as straight a course as may be is very absorbing. Bought hoops can be strong, but to get exactly what one wants it is necessary to go to a blacksmith. A hoop standing as high as its owner, through which he can run to and fro as it rolls, is a possession which only a blacksmith or working-ironmonger can supply.
Two in Hoop Games
Hoop games are few in number, and, with the exception of "Posting," not very exciting. With a large hoop and a small hoop two players can learn to time the pace of a hoop very exactly and then bowl the little one through the big one as it rolls.
There is also a game called "Turnpikes," in which several players and one hoop take part. The turnpikes, of which there are as many as the players, less the one who begins with the hoop, are two stones an inch or so apart, through which the hoop has to be bowled without touching, the faster the better. If it touches, or misses, the player who has been bowling it gives the hoop to the turnpike holder, who then tries his fortune with it, keeping it until he fails at any of the stones.
Hoop Posting
A very good hoop game for several players is "Posting." The idea is that a distance is to be covered (as in the old posting days) as quickly as possible by relays of riders, and the first thing to do is to station four posts at various points along the route. Then, when they are ready, each with hoop-stick or hook, the player with the hoop starts and bowls it as fast as he can to the first post. Immediately it reaches him that post takes it on, without stopping the hoop for an instant, to the next, while the first one takes the place left by him; and so on, as often round the ring as you like. When there is a time-keeper and you post against time it is even better fun. The advantage of standing in a large circle is that the hoop need never be checked; but if the circle is impossible, you can go up and down a long line, with checks only at each end.