Blind dice (6-sided dice with 5 blank faces); Bell & Hammer

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Jonas Richter

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Oct 30, 2020, 2:14:18 PM10/30/20
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Hi everybody,

below is some info on 6-sided dice with 5 blank faces, and pip markings
on the remaining face. Commonly they form a set of six, which one die
marked with a 1, another with a 2 etc. They are probably best known from
Bell & Hammer (Glocke & Hammer, Cloche & Marteau, Klok & Hamer/
Schimmelspel) which was a popular game in the 19th century, and which
expanded the dice set to include two extra dice marked with a ball and a
hammer, respectively (and otherwise blank faces).

In German these dice are called "blinde Würfel" (= blind dice), in
French "farinet", Italian "farinacci", Spanish "harenillas". All of
these terms are attested long before Bell & Hammer was invented, and
also long before its German/ Austrian precursor called "pachten" (=
"renting/ leasing").

Thanks to Greger Sundin's study of the games in Philip Hainhofer's art
cabinets in the 17th century I became aware of two surviving blind dice
in the Gustavus Adolphus art cabinet in Uppsala.

The earliest reference I could find for the German term was in a
"Rechenbuch" dated 1535, in an arithmetic problem. There's not much
detail about the game, aside from: a player who throws (supposedly: all
six "blinde Würfel") and gets not pips at all, pushes a certain number
of beer glasses to an opponent.

Blinde Würfel are also mentioned by Hans Sachs (1) and Fischart (2),
both in the 16th century.
1) Faßnachtsspiel “Der verspilt Reuter”, ed. A.v.Keller/E Götze, vol. 21
(1892), S. 78, line 12. [by the way, line 3 mentions the game "der
untrew", which in this context I assume to be the card game.]
https://books.google.de/books?id=9q4LAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA78&dq=%22blind+w%C3%BCrffel%22&hl=de&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjf4d6N5tzsAhXCx4UKHQCwD7MQ6AEwAXoECAMQAg#v=onepage&q=%22blind%20w%C3%BCrffel%22&f=false
2) Heinrich Rausch: Das Spielverzeichnis im 25. Kapitel von Fischarts
"Geschichtklitterung, 1908, S. LXI zu Fi 362 “der blinden würfel”.

Does anybody know more about games played with blind dice? What are the
oldest references we have? Are there other extant blind dice besides the
Hainhofer dice in Uppsala? (There are lots of these from the 19th
century, I'm sure.)

And can anybody explain the terms in the Romance languages to me?

By the way, I know there's is a monograph on Bell & Hammer (Klaus
Reisinger: Glocke & Hammer. Wien 2005) which I'm very curious about.
Unfortunately, according to the catalog entry in the Austrian national
library, only 44 copies were printed. Reisinger died in 2006. I would
love to know if Reisinger also covered the "prehistory" of Bell & Hammer
(Pachten, blind dice) and its various "cousins" (Spiel der Schwarzen;
Amorettenspiel; Schimmel, Totenkopf und Kanone...) or deals with Bell &
Hammer exclusively.

All the best
Jonas

eddie duggan

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Oct 30, 2020, 3:43:18 PM10/30/20
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Hi Jonas,

The Austrian National Library can supply a scanned copy of Hammer un Glocke. 


(I did it,but the reply with a price isn't instant)

According to this page, <https://www.onb.ac.at/news-einzelansicht/hammer-und-glocke>,Ulrich Schadler has a chapter, "Hammer & Glocke. Ein vergessenes Spiel", in Strouhal, E., Zollinger, M. und Felderer, B. (eds) Spiele der Stadt: Glück, Gewinn und Zeitvertreib  

 
Eddie

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Jonas Richter

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Oct 31, 2020, 3:00:09 AM10/31/20
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Thank you, Eddie! I had indeed overlooked the scanning service of the ÖNB!

I already know Ulrich's contribution on Hammer & Glocke. For those interested, it's a single page of text on p. 290, with five pages of images (six catalog entries) on pp. 291-295. It's a great introduction.

Malcolm asked about the Rechenbuch from 1535 I mentioned:

Erhard von Ellenbogen: Rechenbuch auff Preussische müntze mas und gewichte auff der linien und federn seer bequem mit wenig worten viel begriffen zu dem gmeinen handel und scharffer Rechnung verfertiget.

The title page says 1535, the bibliographic info in the library catalog adds: Gedruckt zu Wittemberg durch || Joseph Klug.|| 1536.

Identifiers: VD16 ZV 24230
https://nbn-resolving.org/urn/resolver.pl?urn=urn:nbn:de:bvb:12-bsb00028787-0

The arithmetic problem including blind dice is on f. 70v - 71r (there's no original pagination).

The same digitization is available via the Munich library and Google Books:
https://daten.digitale-sammlungen.de/bsb00028787/image_80
https://books.google.de/books?id=5a2QaqIsLz8C&pg=PP80&dq=%22blinde+w%C3%BCrffel%22&hl=de#v=onepage&q=%22blinde%20w%C3%BCrffel%22&f=false

The text of the problem reads:

Item es waren 4 bierseuffer im Nobis krug/ 3 meilen fur der Hellen/ vnd ein iglicher het ein hauffen voll biergleser fur im/ einer mehr denn der ander/ vnd hetten auch blinde würffel/ vnd spielten vmb die gleser/ ina solcher weis/ warff iglicher einen wurff/ vnd die andern setzten alle ire gleser auff/ Vnd wer kein aug het/ muste dem andern so viel gleser geweren/ als er zuuor hatte/ Vnd der erst hub an/ denn er het am meisten gleser/ vnd da iglicher einen wurff gethan hette/ hette keiner augen/ vnd hetten sich die gleser gleich vnter sie geteilet/ Ist die frage/ wie viel behilt iglicher gleser/ Du must von ersten wissen/ wie viel iglicher gehabt hat/ So addir die erste zal zu der letzten/ wird 5 der vierden hauff/ welche zal duplir/ und nim 1 wider weg/ wird 9 des dritten hauffen/ welche zal aber duplir/ vnd nim auch das 1 weg/ wird |7 des andern hauffen/ Vnd duplir auch die |7. vnd nim das eine weg/ wird 33 des ersten grausamen bierseuffers hauffen/

[page break]

Nu mustu nach des ersten verwerffen/ zu iglichen seuffer so viel addin/ als er zuuor hat/ vnd von des ersten sum subtrahirn etc.

Facit 1 1/3 last/ das ist 16 gleser nach bier recht.

Jonas

Thierry Depaulis

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Oct 31, 2020, 4:08:56 AM10/31/20
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Hello.

This is what I can say about ‘farinet’ and its possible Italian ancestor.

I have not found any evidence of a game called ‘farinet’ in French before the 18th century. Its earliest mention occurs in the new edition of Furetière’s Dictionnaire universel in 1701 as:
“FARINET. Espece de dé à joüer, qui n'a qu'une de ses faces marquée de point, quand on y joüe, on en prend ordinairement six.”
It is not in the first edition, 1690, of this dictionary.

For whatever reason (perhaps because dice are generally white), ‘farinet’ seems to be derived from ‘farine’ (flour).
Another name, at least to mean the game itself, is also ‘ferme’ (jeu de la ferme). There is a description of this game in Diderot’s Encyclopédie here:
Compare German 'pachten' (to rent, to farm out) and Spanish 'rentilla' (1737).

However, it is clear that the game was known in Italy much earlier.
I have references to ‘dadi di farina’ (‘flour dice’) from early 16th-century sources (e.g. I diarii di Marino Sanuto, for 1506; Lorenzo Lotto’s account books in 1542, etc.) but also to ‘farinazeorum’ (Latin plural genitive of a supposed ‘farinazeum’) in a list of prohibited games in Soncino in 1532.
Most 16th-century Italian sources say ‘farina’, ‘farine’ (plural), or ‘dadi di farina’. The earliest occurrence of ‘farinacci’ comes out in 1587 (in Scipione Bargagli, I trattenimenti, Venice, 1587). But it must be earlier.

Spanish sources, with ‘harinillas’, ‘harenillas’ or ‘arenillas’, are more or less contemporary to Italian sources. My first mention comes from López de Gómara, Istoria de las lndias, Zaragoza, 1552, where the author comments on some Aztec games (including ‘patolli’): “Y que se juega con hauas, o frisoles raiados como dados de harinillas que dizen Patolli.”
I have many 16th- and 17th-century sources in Spanish, including dictionaries (Percyvall 1591, Minsheu 1599, Oudin 1607, Covarrubias 1611, etc.).
For example, this is how César Oudin, Thresor des deux langues françoise et espagnolle..., 1607 presents the word: “harinilla, petite farine, farinette ; harinillas, une sorte de jeu de dez.”

All these words — Sp. ‘harinillas’, It. ‘dadi da farina’, ‘farinacci’, Fr. ‘farinet’ — clearly derive from Lat. ‘farina’ (flour). Littré’s own explanation (under FARINET) is:
"Sans doute farine, à cause que ce dé était blanc sur toutes ses faces excepté une."
Somewhat repeated by the Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, vol. 3, ‘farina mehl’, p. 420 left):
“farinet "garçon meunier qui va à domicile chercher le blé et porter la farine". Nfr. "esp. de dé à jouer, blanc sur toutes les faces, excepté une qui est marquée" (seit 1701)”

I have extensive notes on ‘farinet’, ‘farinacci’, ‘harenillas’...

Cheers.

Thierry


Malcolm J Watkins

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Oct 31, 2020, 7:14:15 AM10/31/20
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Dear Thierry,

Wow! There is some frightening knowledge in this group. I had not before appreciated that the English term for the collection of money in the centre of many of these games, 'pool' may have originated as 'chicken'. Mind, I don't quite get why a chicken was the French choice. Perhaps the French were interpreting the English term 'pool' which sounds like 'poule'. I think it more likely to be the other way round though.

This is certainly a game which may have been played by soldiers across the continent in the 16th and 17th centuries.

I don't completely accept the term Farinet as being due to the dice being mainly white - perhaps it is a British think but for whiteness I would think chalk.

This is really great stuff though.

Thanks Thierry and Jonas. Would you mind if I wrote something about this for the magazine of the Sealed Knot Society - Britain's largest re-enactment group - please? Are there images that come to mind?

Keep safe and well,

Malcolm

Malcolm J Watkins

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Oct 31, 2020, 7:16:33 AM10/31/20
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I have replied to Jonas separately, and thought also to here, but it seems not. This is all wonderful stuff.

Keep safe and well,

Malcolm

Jonas Richter

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Oct 31, 2020, 2:04:26 PM10/31/20
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Thank you very much, Thierry, this is informative (and delightful)!

I'm particularly happy about the description in the Encyclopédie. Do you know of any other descriptions of the gameplay, besides the German "pachten" rules from 1791?

Included in two collections, both published in the same year:
- Taschenbuch zum geselligen Vergnügen, Leipzig 1791, pp. 214-215.
https://books.google.de/books?id=-_V2s03MbUwC&pg=PA214
- Der angenehme Gesellschafter, Gräz 1791, pp. 72-75.
https://books.google.de/books?id=fygPiVhRZUoC&pg=PA72

There's a discussion of the probabilities with 6 "Schimmelwürfel" from 1792, but it contains no input on how a game with these dice would be played. https://books.google.de/books?id=SmxEAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA695 (pp. 695-700, the second half of the treatise starting on p. 689)

Yours
Jonas

Thierry Depaulis

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Oct 31, 2020, 4:49:22 PM10/31/20
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Hello Jonas.

Le 31 oct. 2020 à 19:04, Jonas Richter <jric...@gwdg.de> a écrit :

Thank you very much, Thierry, this is informative (and delightful)!

I'm particularly happy about the description in the Encyclopédie. Do you know of any other descriptions of the gameplay, besides the German "pachten" rules from 1791?

Before the Encyclopédie the Dictionnaire de Trévoux, 1752 edition, has this:
FERME, s.f. Il y a deux jeux qui portent le nom de ferme: l'un de cartes, l'autre de dés. (…) On se sert dans ce jeu de six dés, dont chacun n'est marqué que d'un côté, depuis un point jusqu'à six ; en sorte que le plus grand coup qu'on puisse faire après avoir jeté les six dés dehors du cornet, est de vingt-un points. (…) Le jeu de la ferme est un jeu de compagnie fort divertissant pour ceux qui ont le dé heureux. Il y a d’autres manières de jouer à ce jeu, comme quand un des joueurs devient fermier, c’est à dire se charge de la ferme ou poule.
Actually it is more or less the same text as in Diderot's Encyclopédie. This is not surprising, since the encyclopedic author, Louis de Jaucourt, has drawn heavily from the Dictionnaire de Trévoux. The FERME entry appeared in 1756, therefore four years after the Dictionnaire.

Also there is this description in Spanish as given under RENTILLA in the well-known Diccionario de Autoridades, here Tomo O-R (1737):
RENTILLA. Se llama tambien cierta especie de juego, que se hace con seis dados, los quales tienen cada uno, por sola una cara, su cifra ò señal, de uno, dos, tres, quatro, cinco y seis, en que cumplen todos juntos el número de veinte y un puntos. El modo de jugar se reduce à barajar los dados primero en la mano, y despues echarlos en la mesa, y segun el número que pinta, se saca de tantos de la polla; pero si la suerte saliere en blanco (que por zumba llaman camisa) se pone un tanto para aumento de la renta: y si llegasse el lance de descubrirse los veinte y un puntos, lo gana todo, y mas el premio que se condicionasse por razon del remáte, lo qual sucede cuando la mesa es rentéra : advirtiendo, que quando llegare el caso de ser mas los puntos que los tantos que han quedado, el excesso es en favor de la polla: y si echasse el dado preciso ò iguál à lo que hai en la polla, tambien la remáta. 

And the Camisa entry (in Tomo C, 1729) reads:
En el juego de la rentilla, es quando de todos los seis dados, que se echan (que con otros tantos se juega) salen todos sin pintar, porque no tienen pintas mas que por una de las caras. 
(Camisa's first meaning is "shirt".)

Surprisingly the same dictionary had to wait until its 1770 edition to offer a definition of 'arenillas'!
arenillas. antiq. Especie de dados, que solo tienen puntos por una cara, subiendo de uno hasta seis, como los que se usan en el juego de la rentilla. Tesserae lusoriae vel aleatoriae. covarr. Tes.
with reference to Sebastián de Covarrubias, Tesoro de la lengua castellana o española, 1611 (“covarr. Tes.”)
arenillas, son unos dados que no tienen puntos en más de una cara, y van por su orden : uno, dos, tres, etc. Y dixéronse assí, quasi arrenglillas, porque van a rengle en los puntos.    

Back to Blinde Würfel. 
I find this in my notes, from Grimm's Deutsches Wörterbuch, under WÜRFEL, m.:
e) eine besondere würfelart bildet der blinde würfel ‘ein nur auf einer seite beaugter würfel, von denen sechs ein spiel bilden’ (anders des zufalls blinde würfel, s. unter 3 b): darpei het man (im jahre 1469) ein spil mit 6 plinten würfeln (Nürnberg, ende d. 15. jhs.) städtechron. 11, 457; auff der rasselbanck, da man etwa um zinengefäsz oder anders mit blinden würffeln spielet theatrum diabol. (1569) 513b.

The 1469 reference can be found here:
I don't understand everything, but it seems to be an interesting (and early) reference to Blinde Würfel.

The Theatrum Diabolorum (1569) is a reprint of Eustachius Schildo's Spilteufel of 1557, where "blinden würffel" occurs twice.   
   
Thierry
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Schaedler, Ulrich

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Nov 2, 2020, 3:14:28 AM11/2/20
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The Swiss Museum of Games’ library has a copy of Reisinger’s book. I can check.

Ulrich

 

De : bgs4...@googlegroups.com <bgs4...@googlegroups.com> De la part de eddie duggan
Envoyé : vendredi 30 octobre 2020 20:43
À : bgs4...@googlegroups.com
Objet : Re: Blind dice (6-sided dice with 5 blank faces); Bell & Hammer

u.sch...@museedujeu.ch

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Nov 2, 2020, 4:16:57 AM11/2/20
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Hi,

 

Reisinger doesn’t say anything about the early history of these dice. He mainly illustrates the different dice he found in the Bell&Hammer games as well as the hammers and the cards.

 

Cheers

Ulrich

 

De : bgs4...@googlegroups.com <bgs4...@googlegroups.com> De la part de Thierry Depaulis
Envoyé : samedi 31 octobre 2020 21:49


À : bgs4...@googlegroups.com
Objet : Re: Blind dice (6-sided dice with 5 blank faces); Bell & Hammer

 

Hello Jonas.

Malcolm J Watkins

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Nov 19, 2020, 11:07:02 AM11/19/20
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I don't know whether shameless self-publicity is legitimate, but my second book on Roberts Bros the games-makers has now come out.

Games-Makers 2 the Empire: Roberts Bros. of Gloucester 1890 - 1957, volume II is not as large as volume I for obvious reasons, but still has some 340 pages including mostly images of products from the company and their associated companies.

Cover image for Games-Makers 2 the Empire

Volume I (Games-Makers to the Empire: Roberts Brothers of Gloucester, 1890 - 1957) (550 pages) is still available.

Cover of Games-Makers to the Empire volume I

Stela maris Ferrarese

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Nov 19, 2020, 11:54:21 AM11/19/20
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Congratulations!!!!!!!
How is it acquired?


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eddie duggan

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Nov 19, 2020, 11:58:59 AM11/19/20
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Hi Malcolm,

Members often bring items of interest to others' attention, with no shame on either side!

These look interesting and I shall ask the college library to add them to stock before real books are either banned in HE or go out of fashion! 

Best wishes

Eddie Duggan
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Malcolm J Watkins

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Nov 19, 2020, 12:02:04 PM11/19/20
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Thank you.

It should be available through decent bookshops and is online at the vendor I don't like to mention.

Keep safe,

Malcolm

Mark Hall

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Nov 19, 2020, 1:27:09 PM11/19/20
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Malcolm, surely an invaluable two volume guide,
Mark

Malcolm J Watkins

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Nov 19, 2020, 3:38:42 PM11/19/20
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Thank you Mark,

'Invaluable' may be a slight exaggeration, though.....

Keep safe,

Malcolm

Odile Perino

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Nov 20, 2020, 3:45:56 AM11/20/20
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Mark, please, could we get the table of contents ?

Thanks in advance

Odile (Lyon, France)

Malcolm J Watkins

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Nov 20, 2020, 9:05:13 AM11/20/20
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Dear Odile,

Hope this helps.

Volume I:

Chapter 1: Introduction 1

Chapter 2: Tips and Wrinkles for the Collector and Researcher 7

Chapter 3: Piladex 11

Chapter 4: Early History 18

Chapter 5: Card Games 23

Chapter 6: Ludo & Snakes and Ladders 33

Chapter 7: The Tiny Tot(s) Series 49

Chapter 8: Games Listing 55

Addenda: 195

Appendix 1: Text of the Article in ‘Industrial Gloucestershire’ (1904) 199

Appendix 2: Text of the Article in the Stationer, Printer and Fancy Goods

Trader (1908) 201

Appendix 3: Text of the Article in the Gloucestershire Chronicle (1910) 203

Appendix 4: Article in the Toy Trader and Exporter, 1947 207

Appendix 5: Alphabetical Listing of Known Products 211

Appendix 6: Avon Series 219

Appendix 7: Original Documentary Evidence and

Ephemera 219

Index

Select Bibliography

Games Rules Images

Colour Illustrations

Volume II:

Acknowledgements

Introduction

Chapter 1: Games Listing 1

Chapter 2: Motor Tour, Motor Racing and Motoring 197

Chapter 3: Avon Series 219

Chapter 4: Eclipse Series 225

Chapter 5: Faulkner & Co. Ltd. 227

Chapter 6: Ordish & Co. Ltd. 233

Chapter 7: Woolley & Co. Ltd. 237

Chapter 8: Uncertain Publishers.

Games possibly by Roberts Brothers 249

Chapter 9: Local Memories 259

Appendix 1: Article in The Gloucestershire Chronicle,

27 October, 1923, page 8 261

Appendix 2: Article in the Gloucester Journal,

28th October, 1948, page 14 265

Appendix 3: Gajra or Gejra Series 267

Appendix 4: Funeral of Harry Owen Roberts, 1929 269

Appendix 5: Funeral of John Owen Roberts, 1935 277

Appendix 6: Title Page and Informational Text from the

Catalogue thought to be 1950 293

Appendix 7: Some Items other than games from Catalogues 297

Appendix 8: Updated List of lines manufacture by Roberts Bros. 313

Appendix 9: Catalogue entries for ‘New Lines’ 325

Bibliography: 329

Corrigenda to 2013 Volume: 333

Addenda plates: 339

Index

I am also attaching a couple of sample page spreads, to give you an idea of what it looks like.

Keep safe,

Malcolm

Sample Page Spread 2020.jpg
Sample Page Spread 2020 plates.jpg

ofatihparlak

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Nov 20, 2020, 12:26:30 PM11/20/20
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Dear Malcolm,

Both of these fascinating books are of my interests. Is there a way I can buy them as pdf or in any other electronic format?

Thanks for the news.

Best,
Fatih.

Malcolm J Watkins

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Nov 20, 2020, 12:28:38 PM11/20/20
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I regret that I have not issued either book as a pdf or ebook.

Sorry, Fatih.

Keep safe,

Malcolm

Souvik Mukherjee

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Nov 25, 2020, 5:03:22 AM11/25/20
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Dear All,

I agree with Fatih. These books are indeed fascinating. I too want to know whether it is possible to buy them in electronic format.

Best regards,

Souvik

Dr Souvik Mukherjee
Presidency University, Kolkata


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