Simple as it appears to the looker-on, it requires no little practice to spin a top. Only after a series of mortifying failures can a boy make sure of seeing his top successfully describe an arc through the air, disengage itself from the string, and then spin round triumphantly for some seconds upon its sharp iron point.
In order to spin a top of the common kind, the player should be provided with quite a stout piece of whip-cord, with a knot at about an inch from one end, and a large metal button attached to the other. Hold the top in the left hand, unravel the end of the whip-cord beyond the knot, and slightly wet it. Now lay the wet end along the top just above the peg, and hold it down with the thumb. Take the string in the right hand and wind it round the top, beginning at the upper part of the peg and winding gradually upward. When you have wound up all the string, put the button between the middle and third fingers; place the thumb under the peg and the fore and middle fingers on the top. Take care to keep the string tight, as otherwise it will become unwound, and all your labor will be lost.
To give the top a spinning motion, hold your hand high, and bring the arm down with a bold swing from the shoulder. It will then fly from the string with a kind of "swishing" sound, and come down on its peg with great force. A little practice will make you perfect in spinning the top, and if you know the length of your string, you can make it strike the ground exactly where you please, merely by measuring with your eye the distance from the point where you stand to the spot on which you want the top to strike.
Peg in the Ring. To play this game, first draw a circle five or six feet in diameter, and in the centre of this draw a smaller circle about a foot in diameter. The first player throws his top at the ring, allowing it to spin. If, when it falls, it remains within the large ring, it is called "dead," and the owner is obliged to lay it in the little ring, where any one may play on it. The same penalty is incurred if the top fails to spin, and in neither case can the owner have his top again until it has been knocked out of the ring by some other player, who thus counts to himself one point. The great object in this game is to split some other player's top and keep your own safe. In order to do this, skillful players have a way of throwing the top in such a manner that if it miss the object aimed at, it leaps out of the ring with a single bound, thus getting out of danger. This feat is performed by drawing the arm smartly toward the body just before the top reaches the ground. It is not an easy thing to do, but can be accomplished by practice.
Chip Stone is a game in which a wooden spoon is needed. Two lines are drawn on the ground five or six feet apart, and some smooth, flat stones about the size of a penny are placed between them at equal distance from each. The first player spins his top in the usual manner, slips the bowl of the spoon under it, and lifts it off the ground. He then drops it on one of the stones, and tries to drive it toward the boundary line. He may pick the top up in the spoon and drop it on the stones so long as it continues to spin, so that if a top be properly spun it may be dropped six or seven times on the stone, and drive it fairly across the boundary. When this is done, he holds the stone as a trophy of success, or wins a marble from each of the other players, as may be decided upon.
Whip-tops will spin better if the point is armed with a hollow-headed brass nail, such as are used for furniture. The whip may be made of leather shoe-lacings, but the best and most lasting is eel-skin, kept in a moist condition. To whip a top the stroke should never be a high one, but the real motion should come from the wrist rather than the arm. In playing the game, tuck the whip under the left arm, and take the point between the hands, the fingers pointing downward; then place the point on the ground, and give it a twirl from right to left, which will make it spin for a second or two. As soon as you have made it spin, snatch the whip from under the arm, and give it a smart lash at the top, drawing the hand toward you as you strike. If you hit the top fairly, this stroke will make it spin well, and then you can do what you like. A way of fighting whip-tops is for two boys to stand about twenty yards apart, and lash their tops toward each other, so as to make them come in contact. Of course each player tries to knock over his adversary's top with his own. If, however, he touches his opponent's top with his whip, he is adjudged to have lost. Racing tops is another very interesting way to show one's expertness in the game.
Humming-tops are so made now that it requires no skill to spin them, and since nothing in the way of games can be done with them, save to keep them humming, it is not necessary to speak of them at any length.