Trucco, Galetti, shovelboard

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Jonas Richter

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Apr 17, 2025, 10:11:41 AMApr 17
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Hi everyone,

related to the shovelboard presentation James and I gave in Chemnitz,
I'd like to learn more about trucco, a game similar to billiards as far
as I can tell. German equivalents for "trucco" (Trockspiel etc.) can
refer both to the billiards game and the shovelboard game, hence my
interest.

I'm curious if someone can help me better understand the versions of
trucco, and the differences regarding billiards - and maybe even help me
find out if shovelboard was played in Italy.

The following will be a bit long, for which I apologize. I'm trying to
structure it a bit.

So far I only know that trucco (trocco) was a lawn game played with
sticks (similar to hockey sticks, maybe also hammer-shaped like in
pallamaglio) and heavy balls, with the goal of striking the ball through
a ring placed upright on the ground. The game was also adopted as a
table game, just like billiards. Both versions of trucco (lawn and
table) were also played in England. At least the table game was also
played in the Netherlands and in German countries. The "Compleat
Gamester", 1674, also mentions Spain and Ireland (for trucks as a table
game).

There are some pictures of trucco:
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Trucco_in_art
These are mostly images of the lawn game, but also showing a trucco
table at a Dutch factory in Japan.

The English Wikipedia mostly gives information dating from around 1900,
describing the English version of the lawn game at that time:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trucco

TRUCCO - BILLIARDS (differentiation, part 1)

I don't know whether trucco and bi(g)liardo were more or less the same
game before the 17th century.

Compare this reference I've taken from the Oxford English Dictionary:
1598
Truccare,..to play at billiards. Trucco, a kinde of play with balles
vpon a table called billiards, but properly a kinde of game vsed in
England with casting little bowles at a boord with thirteene holes in
it. - J. Florio, Worlde of Wordes

The latter half of the explanation for trucco ("a kinde of game vsed in
England with casting little bowles at a boord with thirteene holes in
it") seems to be a description of trou-madame. That could be a mistake
on Florio's part, or maybe "trucco" could be used for several games
played with balls on a table. But Florio definitely equates trucco with
billiards. (See also some younger dictionaries below.)

TRUCCO DA TAVOLA/ TRUCKS in England

Charles Cotton, The Compleat Gamester (1674) gives rules for both
billiards and trucks (as table games, each), so they were definitely
separate games in the second half of the 17th century in England.
https://books.google.de/books?id=FupmAAAAcAAJ&hl=de&pg=PA39

Strutt/Cox (1903) point out that the description of trucks in Cotton's
Compleat Gamester was dropped after 1710, so apparently trucks (the
table game) was no longer popular around then.
https://archive.org/details/cu31924029932575/page/n367/mode/2up

The lawn version of trucco either remained popular in England or saw a
renaissance later on, as evidenced by the Wikipedia article linked above.

TRUCCO - BILLIARDS (differentiation, part 2)

Although Cotton's Compleat Gamester shows that billiards and trucks were
different games, in some dictionaries around 1700 they appear to be
synonyms, e.g. Rädlein: Europäischer Sprachschatz (1711):
Trocktaffel-Spiel/ Trucktaffel-Spiel/ Billiard - il giucoo di trocco,
trucco, ò bigliardo - le jeu de billard
https://books.google.de/books?id=C7dRAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA890

Kramer's Italian-German dictionary (1693) even creates a link between
pall-mall and trucco, translating "palla-maglio da tavola" as
"Trocktafel" (p. 791) and pointing to trocco/trucco, which are
translated as Trocktafel and Biliard (p. 1217 and 1219).
Matthias Kramer: Neu-ausgefertigtes herrlich-grosses und allgemeines
Italianisch-Teutsches Sprach- und Worter-Buch. 1693.
https://books.google.de/books?id=kVfGn4JDS-oC&pg=PA791
https://books.google.de/books?id=kVfGn4JDS-oC&pg=PA1217

SHOVELBOARD

During my research on shovelboard I did not have the time to look for
information on the history and spread of billiards across Europe.
Disentangling trucco and billiards (if it's possible at all) seems
difficult with regard to the German sources I've seen, but obviously
this was outside of my focus.

German "Trucktafel/Trocktafel" in one sense refers to trucco di tavola,
and in a second sense means shovelboard (played with disks instead of
balls, without cue sticks, on long, narrow tables). This second sense
seems to be limited to German sources - James Masters knew of no English
example in which trucks or "trucco" in English sources refers to
shovelboard. I guessing that the Italian "trucco" also only referred to
the ball-and-stick game, not to shovelboard.

But shovelboard was played in France, Netherlands, England, and
German-speaking countries at the same time as billiards (and trucco), so
it's possible it was known in Italy (and elsewhere), too.

In a dictionary for French - German - Italian - Latin from 1639, there's
an entry for what we call shovelboard:
Iouer aux galets, auff der schieß oder bůlckentaffel spielen/ giuocar
alli galetti, tabula longa ludere.
Vn galet, ein stein/ schießstein/ vn galetto, globulus tabulae longae.
(Nathanaël Duëz: Le vray gvidon de la langue francoise, 1639, p. 144
https://books.google.de/books?id=5id9bL2f65YC&pg=RA1-PA144

A quick search for "giuocar' alli galetti" on Google Books doesn't yield
any results. Duëz might have simply converted the French "galet" into an
Italian-sounding word, without it actually being an existing gaming term.

"Giuocare alla piastrella. Mit Plattenstein nach dem Ziel spielen"
(Husius 1605) probably refers to a different game, but this is just me
guessing in the dark. Throwing something at a target is common for
dexterity games, so without specific mention of pushing pieces down a
long table or board, I'm assuming giuocare alla piastrella could be
similar to the French 'jeu de palet' or the German 'anmäuerln'.
Levinus Hulsius: Dictionarium Teutsch – Italiänisch und Italiänisch –
Teutsch. 1605. p. 127
https://books.google.de/books?id=kcxFAAAAcAAJ&hl=de&pg=RA1-PA127#v=onepage&q&f=false

Thanks for reading - or scrolling ;) - down to the very end!

Jonas

Thierry Depaulis

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Apr 18, 2025, 9:35:20 AMApr 18
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Hello.

This is a difficult, though exciting lexicographical situation, as you and Jacob showed in your Chemnitz presentations. 

 

We have first to be aware that billiards came first as a game played with balls and sticks on the ground. (Old French billard meaning the 'stick' or 'cue'.)

Then in the 15th century, perhaps in France, it was transfered to the top of a table, more or less like what we now have. The table had to have a carpet and edges, so to prevent the balls to fall on the ground. Many obstacles —rings, pins, 'doors', pockets— were added to the table.


So from c.1400, a distinction was made between ‘billard de terre’ (ground— not ‘lawn’!— billiards) and ‘billard de table’. The Italians had ‘trucco da terra’, and ‘trucco da tavola’ (sometimes also referred to ‘trucco del re’, ‘king’s billiards).

Trucco da terra is the game that is shown in Wikipedia. Raffaello Bisteghi, Il Giuoco pratico, Bologna, 1753, has rules for ‘Trucco da terra’, as well as ‘Trucco da re’ (table billiards). So the game was still played in the 18th century. (It is sometimes understood as similar to, though different from pallamaglio/pallemail/mail/maglio.)

Trucco da tavola and Spanish trucos are always glossed as table billiards. (But there were variations in this game, as today, snooker, pools, French billiards, etc.).

 

Although extinct, Trucco da terra was revived in Britain in the 19th century under the name ‘troco’ (sic).

Troco seems to be a corruption of Spanish truco/trucos (better in the plural), which is the same word as Italian trucco. But in Spain, trucos was always described (and translated) as ‘table billiards’. It is true that the game of argolla ('ring') was a Spanish competitor, although played with paddles, like the Flemish game beugelen, Dutch clossen (English closh).

 

In 2022, ‘il trucco da terra’ was included, with 26 other Italian traditional games (the Tocatì group), in the official List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.

Here is what it looks like (it seems to be a Ligurian game)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yuny9MlVJiQ

but, as is reported in the explanation, this game comes from Spain: it is Argolla, not the real ‘Trucco da terra’ (now extinct).

 

Trucks is an English rendering of Spanish trucos (rather than Italian trucco, which is always in the singular). It is amazing to see that the 19th-century English game of ‘troco’ uses words that come from Spanish: tacks < Sp. taco (‘cue’); argolis < Sp. argolla (‘ring’, also the name of a game)!

 

In Spanish (actually Argentinian Spanish…) truco (singular) is also the name of a card game (as explained in Chemnitz by Nicolás Martínez Sáez), although in Spain it was called truque. In Catalonia it is known as truch (pronounced /truk/), but truch is also the same as Spanish trucos (but seems to mean ground billards)! Portuguese truque is (table) billiards; ground billards is called ‘truque de pe’ (foot billards…).


All these games have nothing to do with shovelboard, Pilkentafel, or Trou-madame.


Cheers.


Thierry

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Marco Tibaldini

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Apr 18, 2025, 9:54:20 AMApr 18
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Dear Thierry, I can’t avoid to express my admiration for the knowledge you have in this field.
I’m speechless: I would have never imagined such a complex story, that you admirably explained in such a clear and concise way.

Warmly,
Marco  

Jonas Richter

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Apr 18, 2025, 10:19:17 AMApr 18
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Replying to my own email like a total pro... ;)

I think I could solve one of the questions that puzzled me:

> Compare this reference I've taken from the Oxford English Dictionary:
> 1598
> Truccare,..to play at billiards. Trucco, a kinde of play with balles
> vpon a table called billiards, but properly a kinde of game vsed in
> England with casting little bowles at a boord with thirteene holes in
> it. - J. Florio, Worlde of Wordes
>
> The latter half of the explanation for trucco ("a kinde of game vsed in
> England with casting little bowles at a boord with thirteene holes in
> it") seems to be a description of trou-madame.

This is probably due to the combinations of game elements people
experimented with - when the trucco da terra or some other lawn game
played with mallet and balls was adapted for the table, the targets used
on the lawn (e.g. a metal ring or arch, or a wooden pin) could be ported
to the table, too, but there are cases in which for instance a
trou-madame was placed on the table.

There is a trucco da tavola from the Pallazzo Chigi (Ariccia), built
between 1669 and 1671 according to F. Petrucci.
Francesco Petrucci (2020): Il gioco del «Trucco» nel Palazzo Chigi di
Ariccia. Una rarità da Wunderkammer nella dimora barocca.
https://www.ilgiornaledellarte.com/Articolo/il-gioco-del-trucco-nel-palazzo-chigi-di-ariccia

Modern photos show it with a troumadame and pins/skittles on top,
elements which might date back to the 17th century.
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:PALAZZO_CHIGI_4.jpg
http://web.tiscali.it/palazzochigiariccia/sala_del_trucco.htm
https://citynews-romatoday.stgy.ovh/~media/original-hi/23822015581006/la-sala-del-trucco.jpg

Petrucci cites an inventory from 1744 that mentions, after a description
of the table and the mallets, "Trè Porte, due di ebano, et una di noce.
/ Undici Rè p. d.o Trucco."

I have to rely on the help of translation tools, but I assume the "trè
porte" (2 ebony, 1 walnut) could be three troumadames that could be
placed on the table, and the "Undici Rè" could refer to eleven "king" pins.

Whether they were used together for a (probably pretty wild) mash-up of
a skittles-troumadame billiard game, or used separately to play
different games on the table, I don't know.

But at least the trucco table from the Palazzo Chigi reminded me that I
was to rash in wondering if Florio in his 1598 dictionary made a mistake
when he connected the trucco table game with a troumadame. So that's at
least one of my questions put to rest.

Jonas

Jonas Richter

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Apr 18, 2025, 11:35:21 AMApr 18
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Thank you for you valuable input, Thierry! Interesting point about the
English borrowings from Spanish.

> So from c.1400, a distinction was made between ‘billard de terre’
> (ground— not ‘lawn’!— billiards) and ‘billard de table’. The Italians
> had ‘trucco da terra’, and ‘trucco da tavola’ (sometimes also referred
> to ‘trucco del re’, ‘king’s billiards).

Do we know of any significant differences between trucco and
billiards/biliardo? Are there sources mentioning them as either synonyms
or as separate games? Or do we just not have enough information to
advance in this regard?

> In Spanish (actually Argentinian Spanish…) /truco/(singular) is also the
> name of a card game (as explained in Chemnitz by Nicolás Martínez Sáez),
> although in Spain it was called /truque/. In Catalonia it is known as
> /truch/(pronounced /truk/), but /truch/is also the same as Spanish
> /trucos/(but seems to mean ground billards)! Portuguese /truque/is
> (table) billiards; ground billards is called ‘truque de pe’ (foot
> billards…).

While I find these ludonymic practices fascinating, they also make my
head swim. :)

> All these games have nothing to do with shovelboard, Pilkentafel, or
> Trou-madame.

I agree with regard to the games, but beg to differ regarding the game
*names* in German. As games, trucco/billiards and shovelboard can be
easily told apart. That is why it's so puzzling to see German
"Trocktafel/ Trockspiel" as terms for both the trucco or billiards
table/game, and for shovelboard. And the same also happens with
"Peilke", pretty clearly a term for shovelboard, being applied to
trucco/billiards in Stieler's dictionary (1691) and in Das königliche
L'ombre... (1697). There's also a sentence in Schotanus' Vade-Mecum
Iuridicum (1683) that possibly uses Pilkentafel and Drucktafel as
synonyms, although it is not certain.
In the 18th cent. Popowitsch writes in his lexicographical collections
that in Vienna "Trucktafel" is used in the sense of "Schießtafel" (which
Popowitsch nicely describes as shovelboard). At the same time, his entry
for "Truckspiel" explains it as trucco da terra. Popowitsch apparently
knew both games, therefore I don't think his Trucktafel = shovelboard is
an error.

My impression is that Trucktafel in the sense of shovelboard is
relatively rare compared to the sense of trucco da tavola. Conversely,
Peilke/Pilkentafel etc. in the sense of billiards is rare, while
shovelboard is the standard meaning. Still, (versions of) these games
must have been viewed as similar enough to occasionally use the name of
one for the other.

All the best
Jonas

CosimoCardelliccchio

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Apr 18, 2025, 1:16:20 PMApr 18
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Dear Jonas, dear friends,

I can add my own experience to this discussion. In 2002, I published on the Italian journal Tangram a paper dedicated to “Livoria”, a Trucco da terra, that was peculiar of my town, Taranto, in southern Italy.

You can find a copy of that paper, without pictures, at the following address

http://web.tiscali.it/favolare/tangram/livoria.htm

Please, pay attention if you use common translator to read the Italian, because Italian is mixed with the peculiar dialect from Taranto.

It is strictly connected with the Spanish Argolla (“argolla” means ”ring”). I attached also a picture by the distinguished Spanish painter Bartolomé Esteban Murillo (1617-1682). In the lower right part of the image you can see the ring, the balls and the paddle that were used, very similar to the equipment that I saw in Taranto. The goal of the game is to pass your ball through the ring (the Livoria). You can also score points also by knocking the opponent's ball far away. More details in my paper. I remember pictures of a game played some 50 years ago, but I have not them in Bari, in which I live. I will look for them, as soon as I return to Taranto.

Happy Easter

Cosimo

Bartolomé_Esteban_Murillo_-_Invitación_a_un_Juego_de_Argolla_(Dulwich_Picture_Gallery).jpg

Wim van Mourik

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Apr 18, 2025, 1:46:58 PMApr 18
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Hi Jonas and James,

 

James asked me if the picture from the Spanish Robinson, with a monkey playing chess, could also be a kind of trucco-table.

 

It is strange that the game board seems to be a two-piece backgammon board. That the pieces are of a uniform type (?), but should be seen as chess pieces?

 

So if anyone has an idea what kind of game is being played, please let me know.

 

 

https://www.google.nl/books/edition/De_Spaansche_Robinson_ofte_De_zeldzame_l/s_BaAAAAcAAJ?hl=nl&gbpv=1&dq=De+Spaanschen+Robinson&pg=RA1-PP1&printsec=frontcover

 

p. 42

 

Afbeelding met schets, tekening, Drukkunst, tekst

Door AI gegenereerde inhoud is mogelijk onjuist.

 

 

Wim van Mourik

 

-----Oorspronkelijk bericht-----
Van: bgs4...@googlegroups.com <bgs4...@googlegroups.com> Namens Jonas Richter
Verzonden: donderdag 17 april 2025 16:12
Aan: bgs4ever <bgs4...@googlegroups.com>
Onderwerp: Trucco, Galetti, shovelboard

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Bert Vertommen

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Apr 18, 2025, 6:10:05 PMApr 18
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Hi Jonas 

very little time still, but there is one source from 1642 in the Netherlands, which has a record of a sum of money paid of the wearing out of the cloth of the troktafel (in dutch: trok- or Taroktafel), so this name was used for a kind of billiards table. A shovelboard would not have a cloth.

In 1642 splitste Ellegoot zijn bezittingen in een voor- en achtertuin met elk een huis; bij de voorste tuin behoorde de doolhof en bij de achterste een fontein en het ‘kyckwerck’, de mechanische beelden. In het voorste gedeelte plaatste hij een truktafel, een voorganger van het biljart. Ellegoot verhuurde beide panden als vermaaksherberg en kreeg per seizoen betaald: ’s zomers ontving hij twaalf gulden per week en in de wintermaanden, wanneer het onaantrekkelijk was een pleziertuin te bezoeken, slechts de helft. Aan huur van de truktafel en vanwege het slijten van het laken betaalden de uitbaters hem een vergoeding van zes stuivers per week.

1156 SAA, NA 925/172v, nots. B.J. Verbeeck. 1-12-1643; NA 2135-74, nots. N. van Born, 28-5-1649; De Roever, Amstelstad, 


Met vriendelijke groeten,

Bert Vertommen

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Thierry Depaulis

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Apr 19, 2025, 5:30:42 AMApr 19
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Good morning Jonas.

Le 18 avr. 2025 à 17:35, Jonas Richter <jonas....@adwgoe.de> a écrit :

Thank you for you valuable input, Thierry! Interesting point about the English borrowings from Spanish.

So from c.1400, a distinction was made between ‘billard de terre’ (ground— not ‘lawn’!— billiards) and ‘billard de table’. The Italians had ‘trucco da terra’, and ‘trucco da tavola’ (sometimes also referred to ‘trucco del re’, ‘king’s billiards).

Do we know of any significant differences between trucco and billiards/biliardo? Are there sources mentioning them as either synonyms or as separate games? Or do we just not have enough information to advance in this regard?

According to Il Giuoco pratico (1753 and later reprints), 'trucco do re' is billiards (17th-century billiards, with pockets, rings, doors, etc.). However, there are variations between the games called (table) billiards: for example the 1654 French rules ("Regles pour le jeu du billard") mention a small bell ('sonnette') which does not appear in the other, Italian or Spanish accounts. From 1700, a new form of billiards appears (in Spain first?), called carambola, with only three balls and no pockets: it's the modern "French" game (also called 'billard carambole').

All these games have nothing to do with shovelboard, Pilkentafel, or Trou-madame.

I agree with regard to the games, but beg to differ regarding the game *names* in German. As games, trucco/billiards and shovelboard can be easily told apart. That is why it's so puzzling to see German "Trocktafel/ Trockspiel" as terms for both the trucco or billiards table/game, and for shovelboard. And the same also happens with "Peilke", pretty clearly a term for shovelboard, being applied to trucco/billiards in Stieler's dictionary (1691) and in Das königliche L'ombre... (1697). There's also a sentence in Schotanus' Vade-Mecum Iuridicum (1683) that possibly uses Pilkentafel and Drucktafel as synonyms, although it is not certain.

In the 18th cent. Popowitsch writes in his lexicographical collections that in Vienna "Trucktafel" is used in the sense of "Schießtafel" (which Popowitsch nicely describes as shovelboard). At the same time, his entry for "Truckspiel" explains it as trucco da terra. Popowitsch apparently knew both games, therefore I don't think his Trucktafel = shovelboard is an error.

You are right. Popowitsch seems to know what he is talking about, and his account of some rare card games (e.g. Brandln) is particularly accurate.
So, here, yes, it seems Trucktafel sometimes was used for a shovelboard, although it clearly is a misunderstanding (for Truck is trucco).

My impression is that Trucktafel in the sense of shovelboard is relatively rare compared to the sense of trucco da tavola. Conversely, Peilke/Pilkentafel etc. in the sense of billiards is rare, while shovelboard is the standard meaning. Still, (versions of) these games must have been viewed as similar enough to occasionally use the name of one for the other.

Just to add more confusion😁, the Dutch word trocktafel is sometimes spelled tarocktafel ('tarot table'!!), particularly in the "Indies" (i.e. Indonesia)…
Yes, dictionaries may be confusing. I don't trust them entirely: lexicographers cannot know everything, and some have poor information about games, which they rarely check.

Cheers.

Thierry

Thierry Depaulis

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Apr 20, 2025, 4:14:14 AMApr 20
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Dear friends, 
a long time ago, Ulrich Schädler and I were wondering about this curious game as seen on this quatrefoiled glass window kept in the Kunstgewerbemuseum in Berlin. Its design is attributed to Hans von Kulmbach.

Three games are easy to identify, chess (or draughts?), cards, backgammon (rather Puffspiel), but what is the game shown on the top section??
As you will see, the glass window is dated c.1508.
 
There are two other very similar glass windows, one in Thomas Thomsen's collection, the other was lost during WWII, but a photograph still exists.
They are dated to the end of the 15th cnetury and assigned to a design by the Hausbuch Meister
The same games are represented, also with the same mysterious two-storey round board.

For those who want to go deeper in an art-history detailed study, they may consult this volume:
Frank Martin et al., Corpus Vitrearum Medii Aevi, Deutschland, Bd XXII : Die mittelalterlichen Glasmalereien in Berlin und Brandenburg, 1 : Katalog, Berlin : Akademie Verlag, 2010
Go to pp. 232-244, Kat. Nr. 118-121, particularly Nr. 119, p. 237-238 (entry by Götz J. Pfeiffer).

Happy Easter!
 
Thierry 


Wim van Mourik

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Apr 20, 2025, 4:26:28 AMApr 20
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My first idea was:  It looks like the Tower of Pisa.

 

The balancing game where players take turns placing a figure on a colored edge of the tower. If the tower falls, the player who caused it must take all the fallen figures. The goal is to be the first to place all of your figures on the tower without it falling.

 

 

I wonder who will come up with the next idea

 

Wim van Mourik

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Thierry Depaulis

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Apr 20, 2025, 2:48:57 PMApr 20
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A fine early 17th-century representation of 'standard"' table billiards can be seen here:

I think the lady on the left that points toward a 'port' also shows a small bell on top of the arch.
On the right we can see the "Sprigg which stands for the King at Billiards" (Cotton, Compleat gamester, 1674, "Of TRUCKS").

Enjoy.

Thierry

Jonas Richter

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Apr 23, 2025, 11:14:18 AMApr 23
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Dear all,

could this be a dice funnel/fritillus over a board with areas (numbered
or checkered) on which players could bet? That is, a Brentenspiel oder
dringuet as explained during our recent queckboard discussion?

Compare the dice funnel above a round board as shown by Comenius:
https://de.wikisource.org/wiki/Orbis_sensualium_pictus/CXXXIV._Ludus_Aleae_%E2%80%93_Das_Bretspiel


The structure is also reminiscent of a Kakelorum, but that given the
dating of the glass window that seems highly unlikely.

The round shape might also let us speculate that it was a game with a
spinning arrow. Spinners were usually flat, though.

Neither of those suggestions can explain the (pawn-shaped?) pieces visible.

Jonas

Jacob Schmidt-Madsen

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Apr 24, 2025, 5:19:22 PMApr 24
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If there is any accuracy to the depiction, it seems to be a game of alternate placement. Each player has two pawns left and the man on the right is about to place one of his. The women on the left seems to be warning him, or at least making him think twice about the placement.

I have no idea what the game might be. A dexterity game, perhaps? The device looks as if it might be made to spin, so perhaps a new pawn is added each turn and the player has to spin the device without knocking the pawns over. Pure speculation, of course, but it does look like something my brother and I might have invented from a multi-tier cake stand in our childhood kitchen!

Cheers,
Jacob

ulrich schädler

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Apr 25, 2025, 3:50:23 AMApr 25
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Here you find a discussion of the window:
U. Schädler, Vierpass-Scheibe mit Spielszenen, in: Von der Schönheit der Präzision, Ausstellungskatalog Draiflessen Collection, Bielefeld 2012, 254.

Best,
Ulrich




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