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

by Various

Fig. 2.—Cue (a) and Rest (b).

A round fort, constructed in the manner shown in the accompanying woodcut (Fig. 1), is placed in the centre of an ordinary dining-room table. The players should number six or less, and be divided into two sides, each side taking opposite positions; each player should be provided with a small round ball (those supplied with nine-pins do admirably), and the player, armed with a cue about eighteen inches to two feet long (Fig. 2, A), should strike his ball towards the fort. A rest for the cue (Fig. 2, B), with x-piece at the end, of the same length as the cue should also be supplied, to facilitate the striking of the ball when at a distance from the player, as it is to be made a rule that no player may, when playing, place his hands or arms on the table. That side which first gets all its balls into the fort wins, but a code of rules may be drafted embodying these and other regulations at the pleasure of the players.

Navette.

NAVETTE.

The game of Navette is played with a bridge having numerous arches, each one of which bears a distinctive number, higher or lower, according to the size of the arch and the difficulty of attaining the object of the game, which is bowling discs, or small balls, at the bridge when placed on the floor or on the table, so that the balls may pass under one or other of the arches of the bridge. The players bowl alternately at the bridge, and he who makes the highest score in an agreed number of bowls of the ball wins. The arch-board used in marble games may be utilised for this game.

Plan of Nine Pins.

NINE PINS.

The toy-box containing Nine Pins, for playing the game of that name, together with the requisite number of balls, is to be purchased for a very trifling sum. Inasmuch as both pins and balls have to be turned in a lathe, it is almost impossible for any lad with an ordinary chest of tools to make them for himself, and, indeed, the game of Nine Pins is not a game usually played at by lads of an age able to make their own toys—it is a very small child's game. The game is played in two ways, either by throwing or bowling the balls at the pins, or by attaching a ball to a rope or string suspended from the ceiling, and so swinging the ball at the pins.