Many of the games we play today are the same or similiar to the games played centuries ago. The activities listed here are just a few of the many games played and provides a sense of just how old some of today's pastimes are.
Hoops Children played with hoops and raced against each other across fields, down hills, around corners and in circles. Hoops from old barrels were most commonly used but wooden hoops were lighter and traveled faster. The hoop was rolled with a stick or an iron crook. Today we play a similar game with a hoop called hula hoop.
Jackstraws In order to play Jackstraws you only needed pieces of straw or twigs each about 6 inches long. Players took turns picking up the straw pieces or twigs. If a straw or twig in the pile moved while being picked up that player's turn would be over. The winner of the game was the player who had picked up the most straws. Today we play a similar game called pickup sticks.
Ninepins Ninepins was a game brought to the colonies by Dutch settlers. It was also called skittles. You needed nine pins, a long board and a wooden ball to play the game. You could also play the game without the board. The pins were set up in a diamond shape with one point facing the player. Each player rolled the ball ten times from behind a line to see how many pins they could knock down. Today bowling is very similar to the game of ninepins.
Quiots Quoits was a very popular game. To play you needed four rings and two stakes. The rings could be made out of leather, rope, willow branches, or iron, and two rings were one color and the other two were another color. Quoits was played by tossing the rings onto a stake called a hob. There were two players or two teams with two players on each team. If your ring went onto the hob it was worth two points and it was called a ringer. You got one point for getting your ring the closest to the hob. The first player or team with 21 points won. The game of quoits became the game of horseshoes that we still play today.
Marbles To play marbles you only needed a hoop, marbles and one larger marble called a "shooter." To play one player drew a large circle using a hoop and placed a marble inside the circle. Everyone playing would take turns trying to hit the marble in the middle. Whoever hit the marble in the middle won all of the marbles in the circle. There were other ways to play too. In one game each player placed a marble in the circle and tried to shoot marbles out of the circle to win them. Sometimes the marbles were made out of clay, but marbles made out of glass were the most desirable. Today we still play with marbles and most are made out of glass.
Tag One player is "it" and chases the other players. If the player who is "it" tags one of the other players he or she is now "it." And the game continues changing "its" many times. Sometimes there is a "base" where you are safe, for a short time, and cannot get tagged. This game may have developed from the idea of fleeing an evil spirit.
Many of the games we play today are the same or similiar to the games played centuries ago. The activities listed here are just a few of the many games played and provides a sense of just how old some of today's pastimes are. 