[Ansteorra] The skittles game played at Lysts

[clternus]

Forwarded from Lady Debora.
Radegund


----- Original Message ----- 
From: Deboramarzec at aol.com 
To: clternus at sbcglobal.net 
Sent: Monday, June 02, 2008 2:28 PM

Devil among the Tailors -correction.
At Lysts I incorrectly dated the riot that gave rise to the name of this game. The London Tailor's riot took place in 1805 and the popular game of Bar skittles that was already in existence had its' name changed to reflect the similar effect the Guards had on the Tailors to the effect the 'ball' had on the skittles.

Skittles games have been around since Egyptian times and were very popular in England in period with many local variations. Some form of Bar skittles would have been played in period, with the earliest forms using the top of a barrel as the playing surface. Pepys mentions playing skittles on board ship and logistically it is easier to suppose he was playing a form of Bar skittles as opposed to Long skittles. 
As with most common games, references tend to be off hand, such as "we played at dice" or "we played at skittles" with little clue to the specific game played.

Lady Debora of Durham.





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