Smite
Smite
is a game of Cornish invention based on the Finnish game of Mölkky.
Smite has a unique and interesting appeal due to the unusual rules. The key point is that if you knock over 2 or more pins, then your score is the number of pins toppled but if you knock over only one pin, your score is the value written on that pin.
An
exact score of 50 must be reached in order to win the game so there is
a fair amount of skill and strategy involved.
Designed primarily as a game for the garden, Smite works well all over the place - on the beach or in the park or even in the snow! Smite appeals to a wide range of ages and abilities and quickly becomes a central feature of parties and barbecues.
Product
includes 10 wooden pins, throwing stick (smiter), rules and the specially
designed, hand made wooden box. Made from Balinese pinewood from sustainable
sources.
Minimum playing area approx 6m by 2m. Box 25 x35 x 14cm. Pin 15cm high, stick 23cm long.
Change to $  Change to  |
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Typical ETA in wkg days |
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Smite |
£24.26 | £27.90 | 1 + transit time | ||
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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.