Pub games
Encyclopedia
Bar (establishment)
A bar is a business establishment that serves alcoholic drinks — beer, wine, liquor, and cocktails — for consumption on the premises.Bars provide stools or chairs that are placed at tables or counters for their patrons. Some bars have entertainment on a stage, such as a live band, comedians, go-go...
, inns, and tavern
Tavern
A tavern is a place of business where people gather to drink alcoholic beverages and be served food, and in some cases, where travelers receive lodging....
s, particularly traditional games played in English
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
pubs. Most are indoor games, though some are played outdoors (e.g. in the pub garden).
History of pub games
From Roman taverns which offered games such as DraughtsDraughts
Draughts is a group of abstract strategy board games between two players which involve diagonal moves of uniform pieces and mandatory captures by jumping over the enemy's pieces. Draughts developed from alquerque...
(a common pub sign) to the modern pubs of the 21st century with electronic quiz machine
Quiz machine
Quiz machine is a term used in the UK for commercial coin-operated video quiz games that offer cash prizes for winning performances. These machines are usually found sited in pubs, bars and other places of entertainment...
s, games have long been associated with drinking establishments. Richard Boston
Richard Boston
Richard Boston was an English journalist and author, he was a rigorous dissenter and a belligerent pacifist...
in Beer and Skittles reveals that the first regulation for national control of pubs was about pub games. Henry VII
Henry VII of England
Henry VII was King of England and Lord of Ireland from his seizing the crown on 22 August 1485 until his death on 21 April 1509, as the first monarch of the House of Tudor....
's statute of 1495 restricted "the indoor games which were distracting Tudor pubmen from archery".
Gaming activities associated with pubs ranged from card game
Card game
A card game is any game using playing cards as the primary device with which the game is played, be they traditional or game-specific. Countless card games exist, including families of related games...
s such as cribbage
Cribbage
Cribbage, or crib, is a card game traditionally for two players, but commonly played with three, four or more, that involves playing and grouping cards in combinations which gain points...
and throwing games such as darts
Darts
Darts is a form of throwing game where darts are thrown at a circular target fixed to a wall. Though various boards and games have been used in the past, the term "darts" usually now refers to a standardised game involving a specific board design and set of rules...
, through physical sports such as cricket
Cricket
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...
to blood sports such as cock fighting
Cockfight
A cockfight is a blood sport between two roosters , held in a ring called a cockpit. Cockfighting is now illegal throughout all states in the United States, Brazil, Australia and in most of Europe. It is still legal in several U.S. territories....
. Balls Pond Road in Islington was named after an establishment run by Mr Ball that had a pond out the back filled with ducks, where drinkers could, for a certain fee, go out and take their chance at shooting the creatures.
Despite their higher popularity with young people, pinball
Pinball
Pinball is a type of arcade game, usually coin-operated, where a player attempts to score points by manipulating one or more metal balls on a playfield inside a glass-covered case called a pinball machine. The primary objective of the game is to score as many points as possible...
machines were common pub games
from the 1940s to the 1980s.
Since the 1970s, slot machine
Slot machine
A slot machine , informally fruit machine , the slots , poker machine or "pokies" or simply slot is a casino gambling machine with three or more reels which spin when a button is pushed...
s and video games (such as Space Invaders
Space Invaders
is an arcade video game designed by Tomohiro Nishikado, and released in 1978. It was originally manufactured and sold by Taito in Japan, and was later licensed for production in the United States by the Midway division of Bally. Space Invaders is one of the earliest shooting games and the aim is to...
) have become widespread in pubs, causing a decline in the traditional games. During the 1990s, especially in Britain, pub quiz
Pub quiz
A pub quiz is a quiz held in a public house. These events are also called Quiz Nights or Trivia Nights and may be held in other settings. Pub quizzes are still extremely popular and may attract people to a pub who are not found there on other days. The pub quiz is a modern example of a pub game...
zes and quiz machine
Quiz machine
Quiz machine is a term used in the UK for commercial coin-operated video quiz games that offer cash prizes for winning performances. These machines are usually found sited in pubs, bars and other places of entertainment...
s became very popular.
Traditional pub games
Traditional pub games include:- DartsDartsDarts is a form of throwing game where darts are thrown at a circular target fixed to a wall. Though various boards and games have been used in the past, the term "darts" usually now refers to a standardised game involving a specific board design and set of rules...
(various games) - BowlsBowlsBowls is a sport in which the objective is to roll slightly asymmetric balls so that they stop close to a smaller "jack" or "kitty". It is played on a pitch which may be flat or convex or uneven...
(various games) - Dice games, such as shut the boxShut the BoxShut the Box, also called Tric-Trac, Canoga, Klackers, Zoltan Box, Batten Down the Hatches, or High Rollers, is a game of dice for one or more players, commonly played in a group of two to four for stakes. Traditionally, a counting box is used with tiles numbered 1 to 9 where each can be covered...
- Card games, such as CribbageCribbageCribbage, or crib, is a card game traditionally for two players, but commonly played with three, four or more, that involves playing and grouping cards in combinations which gain points...
- Cue & ball games: BilliardsBilliardsCue sports , also known as billiard sports, are a wide variety of games of skill generally played with a cue stick which is used to strike billiard balls, moving them around a cloth-covered billiards table bounded by rubber .Historically, the umbrella term was billiards...
, Bar billiardsBar billiardsBar Billiards is a form of billiards which is often thought to be based on the traditional game of bagatelle. It is actually based on the French/Belgian Billard Russe game that preceded it....
, SnookerSnookerSnooker is a cue sport that is played on a green baize-covered table with pockets in each of the four corners and in the middle of each of the long side cushions. A regular table is . It is played using a cue and snooker balls: one white , 15 worth one point each, and six balls of different :...
, BagatelleBagatelleBagatelle is a billiards-derived indoor table game, the object of which is to get a number of balls past wooden pins into holes... - Bat & ball games: CricketCricketCricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...
, Knur and spell, Bat and trapBat and trapBat and trap, also known as knurl and spell is an English ball game related to cricket and played at country pubs in the county of Kent.... - SkittlesSkittles (sport)Skittles is an old European lawn game, a variety of bowling, from which ten-pin bowling, duckpin bowling, and candlepin bowling in the United States, and five-pin bowling in Canada are descended. In the United Kingdom, the game remains a popular pub game in England and Wales, though it tends to be...
- various games, such as Devil among the tailorsDevil among the tailorsDevil among the tailors is a pub game which is a form of table skittles.The game involves 9 small skittles arranged in a 3 x 3 square, usually within a shallow open-topped wooden box sitting on a table-top. The wooden ball hangs from a string or chain attached to the top of a vertical wooden post... - Board games: Nine Men's MorrisNine Men's MorrisNine Men's Morris is an abstract strategy board game for two players that emerged from the Roman Empire. The game is also known as Nine Man Morris, Mill, Mills, Merels, Merelles, and Merrills in English....
, backgammonBackgammonBackgammon is one of the oldest board games for two players. The playing pieces are moved according to the roll of dice, and players win by removing all of their pieces from the board. There are many variants of backgammon, most of which share common traits...
, draughtsDraughtsDraughts is a group of abstract strategy board games between two players which involve diagonal moves of uniform pieces and mandatory captures by jumping over the enemy's pieces. Draughts developed from alquerque...
, chessChessChess is a two-player board game played on a chessboard, a square-checkered board with 64 squares arranged in an eight-by-eight grid. It is one of the world's most popular games, played by millions of people worldwide at home, in clubs, online, by correspondence, and in tournaments.Each player... - Coin pushing/throwing games: Shove ha'pennyShove ha'pennyShove ha'penny , also known in ancestral form as shoffe-grote ['shove-groat' in Modern English], slype groat ['slip groat'], and slide-thrift, is a pub game in the shuffleboard family, played predominantly in the United Kingdom...
, Pitch pennyPitch pennyPitch penny is a pub game. It involves throwing coins across the room and into a hole carved in the seat of a wooden bench. Another version of the game is played in many western pubs...
, Toad in the holeToad in the hole (game)Toad in the hole is a pub game, involving throwing brass coins at a lead topped table with a hole in the middle. A variation of this game has been played in pubs in East Sussex, UK, the 'hole' being in the centre of the lead which is on top of a wooden table...
, Sporting coin. - Other throwing games: Ringing the bullRinging the bullRing the bull is a pub game. It involves swinging a bull's nose-ring, which is attached to a string, in an arc so as to hook it onto a bull's nose and hook...
, Aunt SallyAunt Sallythumb|right|312px|A drawing from the 1911 edition of Whiteley's General Catalogue.Aunt Sally is a traditional throwing game. The term is often used metaphorically to mean something that is a target for criticism...
, quoitsQuoitsQuoits is a traditional game which involves the throwing of metal, rope or rubber rings over a set distance, usually to land over or near a spike . The sport of quoits encompasses several distinct variations.-The history of quoits:The history of quoits is disputed...
(indoor or outdoor) - Other games: dominoesDominoesDominoes generally refers to the collective gaming pieces making up a domino set or to the subcategory of tile games played with domino pieces. In the area of mathematical tilings and polyominoes, the word domino often refers to any rectangle formed from joining two congruent squares edge to edge...
, Yard of ale, Dwyle flunking
Some of these, such as darts, dominoes and quoits, have developed into very popular activities. Others such as backgammon, chess, and dice games are often played in pubs, but are so widespread that they are not usually thought of specifically as pub games.
All of the above games were played in at least some English pubs in the 1970s, but many were in decline and some may since have died out.
Aunt Sally
Funfair
A funfair or simply "fair" is a small to medium sized travelling show primarily composed of stalls and other amusements. Larger fairs such as the permanent fairs of cities and seaside resorts might be called a fairground, although technically this should refer to the land where a fair is...
. An Aunt Sally was originally a figurine head of an old woman with a clay pipe in her mouth, or subsequently a ball on a stick. The object was for players to throw sticks at the head in order to break the pipe. The game bears some resemblance to a coconut shy
Coconut shy
A coconut shy is a traditional game, originally known as 'The love grove alley', frequently found as a sidestall at funfairs and fêtes. The game consists of throwing wooden balls at a row of coconuts balanced on posts. Typically a player buys three balls and wins each coconut successfully dislodged...
, or skittles
Skittles (sport)
Skittles is an old European lawn game, a variety of bowling, from which ten-pin bowling, duckpin bowling, and candlepin bowling in the United States, and five-pin bowling in Canada are descended. In the United Kingdom, the game remains a popular pub game in England and Wales, though it tends to be...
.
Today, the game of Aunt Sally is still played as a pub game in Oxfordshire
Oxfordshire
Oxfordshire is a county in the South East region of England, bordering on Warwickshire and Northamptonshire , Buckinghamshire , Berkshire , Wiltshire and Gloucestershire ....
. The ball is on a short plinth about 10 cm high, and is known as a 'dolly'. The dolly is placed on a dog-legged metal spike and players throw sticks or short battens at the dolly, trying to knock it off without hitting the spike.
Bar billiards
Bar billiards in its current form started in the United Kingdom in the 1930s and the tables were made by the Jelkes company of Holloway Road in London and sold to many pubs.The game is played mostly in southern England and Jersey
Jersey
Jersey, officially the Bailiwick of Jersey is a British Crown Dependency off the coast of Normandy, France. As well as the island of Jersey itself, the bailiwick includes two groups of small islands that are no longer permanently inhabited, the Minquiers and Écréhous, and the Pierres de Lecq and...
on a special table without side and corner pockets, but with 9 scoring holes in the playing surface. On the playfield are normally placed three skittles
Skittles (sport)
Skittles is an old European lawn game, a variety of bowling, from which ten-pin bowling, duckpin bowling, and candlepin bowling in the United States, and five-pin bowling in Canada are descended. In the United Kingdom, the game remains a popular pub game in England and Wales, though it tends to be...
--guarding the highest scoring holes (the two 50 point holes and the 200 point hole). The aim of the game is to score as many points as possible by potting balls down the holes before either the time runs out or a skittle is knocked over. The last ball can only be potted by getting it into the 100 or 200 point hole after bouncing off one cushion.
Devil among the tailors
Devil among the tailors is a form of table skittlesSkittles (sport)
Skittles is an old European lawn game, a variety of bowling, from which ten-pin bowling, duckpin bowling, and candlepin bowling in the United States, and five-pin bowling in Canada are descended. In the United Kingdom, the game remains a popular pub game in England and Wales, though it tends to be...
.
The game involves 9 small skittles arranged in a 3 x 3 square, usually within a shallow open-topped wooden box sitting on a table-top. The wooden ball (about the size of a golf ball) hangs from a string or chain attached to the top of a vertical wooden post rising from one corner of the box. The aim of the game is to knock down the skittles by swinging the ball in an arc round the post (rather than aiming directly at the skittles).
In the picturesque name, the 'devil' refers to the ball and the 'tailors' are the skittles.
Pitch penny
Pitch penny (also called Penny seat, Penny slot, Tossing the penny and Penny in the hole) involves throwing coins across the room and into a hole carved in the seat of a wooden bench.Ringing the bull
Ringing the bull involves swinging a bull's nose-ring, which is attached to a string, in an arc so as to hook it onto a bull's horn or hook attached to the wall.There is a vibrant and thriving tradition of playing this game at what is reputedly the oldest pub in England, Ye Olde Trip To Jerusalem
Ye Olde Trip To Jerusalem
Ye Olde Trip To Jerusalem in Nottingham is one of the 20 public houses which claim to be the oldest drinking establishment in England. Its painted sign states that it was established in 1189 AD...
in Nottingham
Nottingham
Nottingham is a city and unitary authority in the East Midlands of England. It is located in the ceremonial county of Nottinghamshire and represents one of eight members of the English Core Cities Group...
.
The game was adopted by the earlier settlers of the Caribbean islands, where it is also referred to as the Bimini Ring Game.
Ringthebull.com is the only place to buy Ring The Bull in the USA.
Shove ha'penny
Shove ha'penny (or shove halfpenny) is played by two players on a small, smooth board, normally made of slate. A number of parallel lines or grooves run horizontally across this board. Ha'penniesBritish Half Penny coin
The British decimal half penny was first issued on 15 February 1971, the day the British currency was decimalised. In practice it had been available from banks in bags for some weeks previously....
or similarly-sized coins or metal discs are placed at one end of the board and are shoved with a quick flick of the hand. The object is to shove the coin
Coin
A coin is a piece of hard material that is standardized in weight, is produced in large quantities in order to facilitate trade, and primarily can be used as a legal tender token for commerce in the designated country, region, or territory....
s so that a certain number of them (normally five) lie between the lines. The two players take alternate turns. In addition to shoving his own coin directly between the lines, a player may use his turn to knock his own coins into position.One set of coins are used by both players.
Toad in the hole
Toad in the hole involves throwing brass discs at a hole in a box. A variation of this game has been played in pubs in East Sussex, UK, the 'hole' being in the centre of a large wooden seat set against the wall, the back of the seat being a surface to rebound your shot off. Toad in the hole is a more refined version of the coin-throwing game Pitch penny.Yard of ale
A yard (or yard glass) is a one yardYard
A yard is a unit of length in several different systems including English units, Imperial units and United States customary units. It is equal to 3 feet or 36 inches...
long glass holding approximately 3 pint
Pint
The pint is a unit of volume or capacity that was once used across much of Europe with values varying from state to state from less than half a litre to over one litre. Within continental Europe, the pint was replaced with the metric system during the nineteenth century...
s of beer. Drinking a yard glass full of beer is effectively a traditional pub game. The object is to drink the entire glassful without pausing for breath, and/or to drink it as quickly as possible.
The glass most probably originated in 17th-century England. The diarist and Fellow of the Royal Society John Evelyn
John Evelyn
John Evelyn was an English writer, gardener and diarist.Evelyn's diaries or Memoirs are largely contemporaneous with those of the other noted diarist of the time, Samuel Pepys, and cast considerable light on the art, culture and politics of the time John Evelyn (31 October 1620 – 27 February...
records the formal yet festive drinking of a yard of ale toast to James II
James II of England
James II & VII was King of England and King of Ireland as James II and King of Scotland as James VII, from 6 February 1685. He was the last Catholic monarch to reign over the Kingdoms of England, Scotland, and Ireland...
at Bromley
Bromley
Bromley is a large suburban town in south east London, England and the administrative headquarters of the London Borough of Bromley. It was historically a market town, and prior to 1963 was in the county of Kent and formed the administrative centre of the Municipal Borough of Bromley...
in Kent, 1683.
It is a popular tradition to receive a yard glass as a gift for coming of age celebrations on one's 21st birthday in Australia and New Zealand, and consume the full glass during one's birthday party. This is usually timed for fun and comparison.
Similarly, in the United Kingdom some of the older Student's Union pubs will present yards of ale to those who graduating each year. The Glasgow University Union pub displays the names of the man who consumed his yard of ale in the fastest time of each year's graduates (though since Glasgow University has two Student's Unions not every graduate takes part, or is even invited).
Yard glasses can still be found hanging on the walls of some English pubs, though they are rarely used nowadays.
If used, they are used on special occasions, Like a century in cricket.
Pub sports
As a subset of pub games, pub sports include traditional pastimes such as dartsDarts
Darts is a form of throwing game where darts are thrown at a circular target fixed to a wall. Though various boards and games have been used in the past, the term "darts" usually now refers to a standardised game involving a specific board design and set of rules...
, billiards
Billiards
Cue sports , also known as billiard sports, are a wide variety of games of skill generally played with a cue stick which is used to strike billiard balls, moving them around a cloth-covered billiards table bounded by rubber .Historically, the umbrella term was billiards...
, and skittles
Skittles (sport)
Skittles is an old European lawn game, a variety of bowling, from which ten-pin bowling, duckpin bowling, and candlepin bowling in the United States, and five-pin bowling in Canada are descended. In the United Kingdom, the game remains a popular pub game in England and Wales, though it tends to be...
. Unlike parlour game
Parlour game
A parlour game is a group game played indoors. During the Victorian era in Great Britain and in the United States, these games were extremely popular among the upper and middle classes. They were often played in a parlour, hence the name....
s, or gambling games of chance like cards
Card game
A card game is any game using playing cards as the primary device with which the game is played, be they traditional or game-specific. Countless card games exist, including families of related games...
and dice
Dice game
Dice games are games that use or incorporate a die as their sole or central component, usually as a random device.-Collectible dice games:Patterned after the success of collectible card games, a number of collectible dice games have been published...
, all of which are also often played in bars, pubs, and taverns, Pub Sports require exertion, coordination, and dexterity in particular physical skills.
Many of these games owe their origins to older outdoor sports, adapted and transformed over time for indoor play.
List of pub sports
- DartsDartsDarts is a form of throwing game where darts are thrown at a circular target fixed to a wall. Though various boards and games have been used in the past, the term "darts" usually now refers to a standardised game involving a specific board design and set of rules...
- BilliardsBilliardsCue sports , also known as billiard sports, are a wide variety of games of skill generally played with a cue stick which is used to strike billiard balls, moving them around a cloth-covered billiards table bounded by rubber .Historically, the umbrella term was billiards...
- • Bar billiardsBar billiardsBar Billiards is a form of billiards which is often thought to be based on the traditional game of bagatelle. It is actually based on the French/Belgian Billard Russe game that preceded it....
- • SnookerSnookerSnooker is a cue sport that is played on a green baize-covered table with pockets in each of the four corners and in the middle of each of the long side cushions. A regular table is . It is played using a cue and snooker balls: one white , 15 worth one point each, and six balls of different :...
- • PoolPocket billiardsPool, also more formally known as pocket billiards or pool billiards , is the family of cue sports and games played on a pool table having six receptacles called pockets along the , into which balls are deposited as the main goal of play. Popular versions include eight-ball and nine-ball...
- • Bjureez
- • BagatelleBagatelleBagatelle is a billiards-derived indoor table game, the object of which is to get a number of balls past wooden pins into holes...
- BowlsBowlsBowls is a sport in which the objective is to roll slightly asymmetric balls so that they stop close to a smaller "jack" or "kitty". It is played on a pitch which may be flat or convex or uneven...
- QuoitsQuoitsQuoits is a traditional game which involves the throwing of metal, rope or rubber rings over a set distance, usually to land over or near a spike . The sport of quoits encompasses several distinct variations.-The history of quoits:The history of quoits is disputed...
- SkittlesSkittles (sport)Skittles is an old European lawn game, a variety of bowling, from which ten-pin bowling, duckpin bowling, and candlepin bowling in the United States, and five-pin bowling in Canada are descended. In the United Kingdom, the game remains a popular pub game in England and Wales, though it tends to be...
- ShuffleboardShuffleboardShuffleboard, more precisely deck shuffleboard, and also known as shuffle-board, shovelboard, shovel-board and shove-board [archaic], is a game in which players use broom-shaped paddles to push weighted pucks, sending them gliding down a narrow and elongated court, with the purpose of...
- Bowls
- • Sjoelbak
- • Shove ha'pennyShove ha'pennyShove ha'penny , also known in ancestral form as shoffe-grote ['shove-groat' in Modern English], slype groat ['slip groat'], and slide-thrift, is a pub game in the shuffleboard family, played predominantly in the United Kingdom...
- • ShuffleboardShuffleboardShuffleboard, more precisely deck shuffleboard, and also known as shuffle-board, shovelboard, shovel-board and shove-board [archaic], is a game in which players use broom-shaped paddles to push weighted pucks, sending them gliding down a narrow and elongated court, with the purpose of...
- Table footballTable footballTable football, also known as gitoni or foosball, is a table-top game and sport that is loosely based on association football.-Names:...
- Eclectic
- Table football
- • Pitch PennyPitch pennyPitch penny is a pub game. It involves throwing coins across the room and into a hole carved in the seat of a wooden bench. Another version of the game is played in many western pubs...
- • Aunt SallyAunt Sallythumb|right|312px|A drawing from the 1911 edition of Whiteley's General Catalogue.Aunt Sally is a traditional throwing game. The term is often used metaphorically to mean something that is a target for criticism...
- • Ringing the BullRinging the bullRing the bull is a pub game. It involves swinging a bull's nose-ring, which is attached to a string, in an arc so as to hook it onto a bull's nose and hook...
- • Pub rally
- • Goblin GameGoblin GameGoblin is a game first played by miners in Bristol and the surrounding South West regions of England and South Wales. In its most basic form, it consists of a game of three “legs” of four “ends” each. Each “end” consists of the throwing of “pegs” at two target receptacles over a distance of...