. . The trevit is, in fact, the trap itself, and the trevit-stick the stick with which the trap is struck. The tribbit-stick is elsewhere called primstick, gelstick, buckstick, trippit, and trevit. Atkinson says that spell is O.N., spill meaning a play or game, and the probability is that the game is a lineal descendant from the Ball-play of the Old Danes, or Northmen, and Icelanders. Spell and knor is a corruption of spell a knor, the play at ball. Nurspel is simply ball-play, therefore which name, taken in connection with the fact that the game is elsewhere called Spell and Knor, and not Knor and Spell, is significant. There is one day in the year, Shrove Tuesday, when the play is customarily practised, though not quite exclusively.
In Wales, the custom known as bundling allowed the betrothing parties to go to bed in their clothes (Brand, ii. 98). In Yorkshire, the bridal cake was always made by the bride. The rudeness of the dialogue seems to be remarkably noticeable in this game. See Mary mixed a Pudding up, Oliver, Oliver, follow the King. [1] Miss Chase says, I think the order of verses is right; the children hesitated a little. [2] Mr. Hardy says, This was sung to me by a girl at Earls Heaton or Soothill Nether. Another version commences with the last verse, continues with the first, and concludes with the second. The last two lines inserted here belong to that version.
B. Gomme. In Ellesmere, Miss Burne says, Snap-tongs, called in other circles Magic Music or Musical Chairs, is thus played. Five players take part; four chairs are set in the middle, and one of the players, who holds a pair of tongs, desires the others to dance round them till the clock strikes a certain hour, which is done by snapping the tongs together so many times. While they dance, a chair is taken away, and the player who cannot find a seat has to become the snap-tongs next time.--_Shropshire Folk-lore_, p. 525. Nacks A game in which pegs of wood play a similar part to the well-known object Aunt Sally. --Robinson s _Mid Yorkshire Glossary_. Namers and Guessers Any number of players can play this game.
Buhle. 1888. Scatspiel. (Anon.) Von Posert, Quedlinburg. 1879. Encyclopædia der Spiele, by Fr. Anton. 1889. Skat, by F.
_=Backgammon=_ cannot be traced to its origin. Several authorities have fallen into the error of ascribing the game to a certain country because the name is derived from a certain language, forgetting that in ancient times every country invented its own names for games. Chess is called Choke-choo-hong-ki in China, and Shogi in Japan; but that does not make it either a Chinese or a Japanese game. Either of these names might be used for Backgammon, as they have exactly the same meaning. The Welsh words, bach, and cammen; or the Saxon bac, and gamen, signify “a little battle;” while the Chinese and Japanese names for Chess signify “mimic warfare.” The Welsh and Saxons undoubtedly got Backgammon from the Romans, who played it under the name of Scripta Duodecimo. They seemed to have got it from the Greeks, who are known to have used a table called Abacus, very much like a backgammon board in form, with lines drawn upon it, and the men were moved from one line to another according to the throws of the dice. There is no trace of Backgammon among the games of the Egyptians or the Hebrews, although the chief factors in the game, the dice, have been known to all nations, and are probably the oldest gaming instruments in the world. As to the respective merits of these table games, there is little to be said. Curiously enough they are played by entirely different classes of people.
He puts out his force over the field on his own side, anywhere up to the distance of one move off the middle line--that is to say, he must not put any man within one move of the middle line, but he may do so anywhere on his own side of that limit--and then the loser of the toss becomes first player, and sets out his men a move from his back line. The defender may open fire forthwith; he need not wait until after the second move of the first player, as the second player has to do. COMPOSITION OF FORCES Except in the above cases, or when otherwise agreed upon, the forces engaged shall be equal in number and similar in composition. The methods of handicapping are obvious. A slight inequality (chances of war) may be arranged between equal players by leaving out 12 men on each side and tossing with a pair of dice to see how many each player shall take of these. The best arrangement and proportion of the forces is in small bodies of about 20 to 25 infantry-men and 12 to 15 cavalry to a gun. Such a force can maneuver comfortably on a front of 4 or 5 feet. Most of our games have been played with about 80 infantry, 50 cavalry, 3 or 4 naval guns, and a field gun on either side, or with smaller proportional forces. We have played excellent games on an eighteen-foot battlefield with over two hundred men and six guns a side. A player may, of course, rearrange his forces to suit his own convenience; brigade all or most of his cavalry into a powerful striking force, or what not.