Sailor Skittles
From
Jaques, the venerable games company, Sailor Skittles is a feisty new fun
version of nine pin skittles geared towards children.
It is a beautifully made, brightly coloured product that is based on the uniform of British sailors from yesteryear, sometimes called Tars or Limeys after the practice of eating a lime every day to stave off scurvy!
The Giant versions of these pins are large at 29cm high and come with 3 natural wooden balls in an attractive natural storage case. A superb game for the family.
Click on the picture to enlarge.
These
beautiful skittles also come in the slightly smaller Magnum size which
are 23cm high.
Click on the picture to enlarge.
Change to $  Change to  |
UK pounds (ex.VAT) |
Pounds (incl. VAT) |
Typical ETA in wkg days |
Add to basket |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Giant Sailor Skittles |
£38.30 | £45.00 | 3 + transit time | ||
Magnum Sailor Skittles |
£29.79 | £35.00 | 3 + transit time | ||
For an immediate quote and ETA, add to the basket & select your location. |
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The Origin of Skittles
Skittles, or Nine Pins, as played in an alley has always been a popular pub game and is the ancestor of related games including ten-pin bowling and various indoor skittles variations. The origins of the game are uncertain but in Germany, in the 3rd or 4th century, monks played a game with a kegel which was a club carried for self defence. In the game, the kegel represented a sin or temptation and the monks would throw stones at it until they knocked it over. The modern German term for skittles is Kegelen. There are also two 14th century manuscripts that show a game called Kayles and depict throwers about to launch a long club-like object at eight pins and a kingpin.
The typical form of Skittles is wherein balls are thrown or rolled from one end of an alley in an effort to knock down nine pins at the other end. Over the years, Skittles developed regional variations in the size of equipment, the rules and so forth. In the East Midlands, people play Long Alley in which the projectiles are rough balls or small capsule shaped logs called "cheeses" and a score is only made if the cheeses bounce a single time just in front of the pins. Old English Skittles or London Skittles, as played at the famous Freemasons Arms in Hampstead, is a majestic game in which enormous discus-shaped cheeses are flung so that they hit the skittles directly without touching the floor first.
From these old games, various miniaturised versions appeared which were more convenient for many pubs with limited space. These include Northamptonshire Skittles and the extremely popular Table Skittles or Devil Amongst The Tailors.
The most popular version of skittles, however, is West Country Skittles wherein 9 skittles are arranged in a square at the end of an alley that might be 24 feet, sometimes much longer. Each turn starts with all the skittles standing and consists of three balls being rolled down the alley. If all the pins are knocked down, then they are reset. So the maximum score in one turn is 27.
You can learn more about the History of Skittles from The Online Guide to Traditional Games.