Shove-Groat

[James Crouchet]

Well, as you know, the loser in an evenly matched game of shove groat is
likely to lose much more than the looser in a game where the winner is
much better than his oponent. So I am SURE you will be able to recoup 
your funds. That is, if you would care for a rematch...


   ---------------------------------------
  |                                      |   SHOVE GROAT BOARD
  |  ----------------------------------  |
  | |                                  | |
  | |                                  | |   <----- Out area
  |_|__________________________________|_|
  |                                      |   <----- Bed (1 of 9)
  |______________________________________|
  |                                      |   <----- Another Bed...
  |______________________________________|
  |                                      |
  |______________________________________|
  |                                     O| <---- Coins that have scored
  |______________________________________|
  |                                     O|
  |______________________________________|
  |O                                     |
  |______________________________________|
  |                                     O|
  |______________________________________|
  |                                      |
  |______________________________________|
  |                                      |
  |______________________________________|
  |                                      |
  |                                      |
  |                                      |  <---- Shooting area
  |                                      |
  |--------------------O-----------------|
   
   ^                   ^                ^
   |                   |                |
 His Side      Coin ready to shoot   My side


A simple game, the basic idea is to be the first to get three coins in
each bed. Each player gets five shots (coins) per turn. To shoot a player
puts a coin on the edge of the shooting area and wacks it with their palm 
to make it slide down the board, hopefuly into one of the beds.

 - Coins on a line don't count. After a player's five shots, any coins
   still on a line are removed.

 - Any coin that goes into the Out area is removed at once.

 - A player may strike coins he has shot with his following shots 
   (to try and get them off a line for instance)

 - After a player has shot his five coins any that are in a bed are
   stacked up on his side of the board in that bed. Until he reaches
   three, that is. After that the coins go into his opponent's side.

 - Play alternates kinda like darts. 5 shots for one player, 5 for
   the next, and so on.


There are 9 beds, and at 3 coins each you need 27 scores to win. That 
means you could have 26 coins on the board when you lose. Or even more 
if you have over filled some beds and ended up with some coins on your 
opponent's side. A skilled and crafty opponent will let you do this by 
avoiding the areas you have already filled.

You can play for the coins on the board, winner take all, or you can 
wager on the outcome before starting. You can also play in teams of two 
with alternating turns, and split the winnings. This game is much more 
fun with gambling invloved, so if you plan to play be sure to bring some 
fake-o coin-of-the-relm to play with and be prepared to lose big. <g>

One more thing, this simple little game is real addictive and an amazing 
time eater. I guess you don't need CPUs, LEDs and Active Matrix Color 
Displays to find entertainment after all.


Savian


On Mon, 22 May 1995, Chris Walden wrote:

> Last night I had the misfortune of losing over thirty-five pistoles against
> an excellent opponent of Shove-Groat.  It is my understanding that this
> gentlemanly game is to be banned from the court of England and I fear that
> this trend shall carry over into the courts of other countries as my
> original home of Italy, and my current home of France.
> 
> Shove-Groat is obviously a game of skill, unlike many of the games played
> with cards or dice that are simply trusting one's money to blind and fickle
> luck.  Though I shall certainly feel the loss of my thirty-five pistoles, I
> must bow to the greater skill of my opponent who won them from me.  Given
> time I shall return the favour to him.  I heard rumour that the censure was
> begun as the result of an unfortunate game between a Royal and a more
> skilled player.  The official story, however, is that the game is too
> distracting from the business of court.
> 
> I remain Yours, etc.
> Antonio Bastiano
> or cmwalden at bga.com
> 
>