the number which is attached to the peg; but should more than one ring fall on the same peg, the score goes to the opponent.

In this, as in all games where a ring has to be thrown, the ring should be held just like a quoit (see p. 57), so that a spin may be communicated to it, and make it fly steadily to its mark.

RULES.

1. The game of ringolette is adapted for two or more players.

2. The first player being decided upon, he places the board in the centre of the table, and standing about three feet or more from the board, commences his play.

3. Each player takes the eight rings, and plays by pitching the rings on the pegs.

4. Each ring that is fairly on the pegs counts according to the number indicated on the board.

5. Should a player place more than one ring on each peg, it scores to the opposition.

6. Threescore and one is a medium game; fivescore and one a long game. These rules may be modified by agreement among the players, but not otherwise.

SCHIMMEL.

This is an amusing game and full of interest, though it is merely a matter of chance. The rules, as furnished to us by Mr. Cremer, Jun., are as follow:

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RULES.-Any number of persons may play. Begin by throwing the numbered squares: whoever throws the highest number takes the office of Cashier.

The cashier distributes an equal number of counters to each player; he then takes the hammer in his hand, and having called silence, puts up for sale the five cards separately, and disposes of them to the highest bidder: the produce is to be put into the pool, to which each player must pay four counters.

The cashier has the privilege of first throw, and also of choosing who shall be the second, third, and fourth players, always allowing the ladies to play before the gentlemen.

When all blanks are thrown, each player pays one to the holder of the white horse.

If with the blanks the bell or hammer, or both, are thrown, the possessor of such cards pays one to the holder of the white horse.

When numbers are thrown with the bell or hammer, the cashier is to pay from the pool the amount of such numbers to the holder of the card.

When numbers and blanks are thrown, the cashier pays the amount of such numbers to the player from the pool.

When the pool is nearly empty, there arises an advantage to the inn; for if the amount of the numbers thrown exceeds what is in the pool, the player pays the overplus to the owner of the inn.

If all blanks are thrown after the inn begins to receive, the player pays nothing, but the owner of the white horse pays one to the inn; and should the bell or hammer be thrown with blanks, the holder of such card pays one to the inn; and if numbers accompany the bell or hammer, the owner of such card must pay to the inn the number thrown above those remaining in the pool.

The game is won by one of the players throwing exactly the same number as what is remaining in the pool, who takes the contents thereof, and is cashier for the next game.

DUTCH RACKETS.

This toy exercises both eye and hand. It consists of a top and a racket, with one face plain and the other furnished with several little numbered cups. There is also a cup at the end of the racket. To play this game, wind up the top exactly like a humming-top, place it against the upright peg, as shown in the illustration, and draw the string smartly, so as to make the top spin.

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Change the racket quickly from the left to the right hand, throw the top in the air, and reverse the racket so as to catch it on the other side.

Now throw the top from one cup into the other as fast as possible, and add together, as you do so, the numbers of the cups into which the top is received. He who can count the highest number before the top falls, wins the game.

When the players are proficient in this mode of playing, which is really very casy, they ought to complicate it by catching the top in the cup on the end of the racket between each throw into the numbered cups. Should the top fall to the ground, the player gives up the racket.

SUCKER.

The sucker is rather a scientific toy than such a plaything as English boys love. For an hour or two, or in extreme cases for a day or two, it may afford some pleasure; but when its possessor has lifted with it everything there is to

lift, and fitted it on to every practicable place, his interest in it is apt to come suddenly to an end.

A sucker, however, is very easily made, and even though its interest lasts only for an hour or two, it is quite worth the small amount of trouble that must be expended in its construction.

Get a piece of stout leather, cut it into as perfect a circle as you can achieve, bore a hole in the centre, and through this pass a piece of stout string with a large knot, or, better still, a small button of leather, at one extremity, to prevent it passing through the hole; steep the whole concern thoroughly in water, and your sucker is ready for use.

Apply your sucker while still wet to any stone or brick you may find with a tolerably smooth surface. press it down firmly with your foot so as to exclude all the air between the leather and the stone; then, supposing your sucker to be about three inches in diameter, and well made, the stone must be heavy indeed that will defy its powers.

The scientific explanation of th.s would take too long suffice it to say that the lifting, or rather adhesive power, of the sucker is due to the pressure of the atmosphere, which presses it and the stone together with a force of about fourteen pounds weight for every square inch of its surface.

SQUAILS.

This game is a kind of table bowls, or, perhaps, rather a cross between bowls and curling.

It is like the latter in that the squails are discs instead of balls, and are slid along a smooth surface instead of rolled along over turf; in all other respects the game is exactly like bowls.

It is by no means a bad gaine, and promised to achieve no little popularity: but the Fates willed it otherwise.

For about one season it seemed as though, like croquet, it would take the world by storm; but in some way or other it soon lost its hold upon society, and even its most enthusiastic votaries grew cooler and cooler in their attachment, until now it is only ranked amongst the rank and file of table games, instead of holding, as it once promised to do, a leading place amongst them. This is owing chiefly, in our belief, not to any inherent defects in the game itself, but-for, as we have before said, it is a good game, a very good gameto a mistaken attempt to make the game amusing by a forced jocularity of technical phrases. The terms "process," "swoggle," "ex-squeezle," and the like, are not very funny in themselves and add but little to the amusement to be derived from the game; but they give it an appearance of being a mere childish pastime, instead of, as it in reality is, a game of real skill, and thus keep off many who would otherwise have taken it up and made a thoroughly good game of it.

We are afraid the only chance now of making it a success is to change its name and bring it out again with some slight alterations and a perfectly new and simple set of technical terms.

We have such a good opinion of the game that we would gladly devote some time to it, did the other demands upon our space permit. We must content ourselves with a few short directions.

The squails are discs of wood about the size of a crown piece, and marked or numbered in pairs like bowls.

The players, who should be at least four or six, and may be eight or ten, in number, are provided each with a pair and sit round a table- -a round one with straight-cut edges is the best; the "process," which is a stumpy cylinder of white metal and answers to the "Jack," is placed in the centre, and each player plays one squail up for first turn; the squail nearest the process leads off.

The players are divided into two sides, and sit one of each side alternately, and the turn goes round from right to left.

The squails are played by placing them so that they project slightly over the edge of the table, and then striking them with the palm of the hand. The player may play with either hand, and so long as he remains fairly seated may reach along the edge of the table on either side to the full extent of his arms. The game is played exactly as in bowls, the same rules holding good throughout.

There is generally a penalty of two points to the opponents for knocking the process off the table, or, what counts as such, within three inches of the edge; and a squail that, after being played, goes off the table, or within three inches of the edge, is dead for that round.

We can confidently recommend this game to our young readers as one that will afford them a very pleasant indoor amusement, and one, too, that will, by its constant variety, retain its freshness for months.

BAGATELLE.

Like billiards, Bagatelle is played with a cue and ivory balls, but there are nine balls instead of three, and instead of pockets there are small cups sunk in the board.

The game is a very simple one, and consists in playing as many of the balls as possible into the cups. When the board is levelled, which may easily be done by pushing two or three small wedges under it, the first player takes the black ball and places it on the ivory spot just in front of the cups. He then takes one of the other balls, places it either on or anywhere behind the ivory spot at the end of the board, and with the cue aims it so as to strike the black ball.

Should he miss, the white ball is called "dead," and is removed from the board. Should he strike the black ball, he plays all the other seven in succession, trying to get them into the cups; and when he has played all the balls he counts up the number of points indicated by figures painted in the bottom of each cup, and adds them to his score.

The great point of this game is to get the black ball into the central cup, because it counts double the number painted on the cup, so that if it goes into 8 it scores sixteen, and if it goes into 5 it scores ten; whereas if, as is often the case, it drops into 1, it only scores two, and hinders play with the other balls besides.

The numbers 8 and 7 are best got by playing the ball against the side of the board just opposite the 4 and 6 cups, so that it comes off at an angle and falls into the cup. It must be played with only just strength enough to reach the cup, or it will roll out again. The best way to get the black ball into the 9 is to strike it with one of the other balls against the top of the board, so as to make it recoil either between the 5 and 3 or the 5 and 2, and come somewhere between the 4 and 9 or the 6 and 9, when a very gentle touch will drop it into the desired cup.

It is hardly possible to play too gently at this game. In the first place, if a ball be played so hard that it comes back beyond the middle of the board, it is called dead, and is taken off the board. The middle is indicated in those boards which fold up by the two hinges, and in those that stand on legs by a spot on each side, and a line of fine stitches on the cloth.

Moreover, with hard play, the balls may get into the cups, but will not stay

in them.

There is only one case where hard play can do good. Sometimes the balls are very obstinate, and utterly refuse to go into the cups. They roll round them, they stop short on the edges, they roll in and out again, and when the last ball has to be played there is a whole assemblage of balls gathered_together at the top of the board. The only chance then is to drive the last ball among them, so as to cause a general scattering, and take your chance of some of them falling into the cups. If you played the last ball gently ever so well, you would at best get the 8 or 7; but by scattering them you have a good chance of getting four or five of them into the cups.

Never lose temper at bagatelle. There is a vast amount of luck as well as of play, and it is very mortifying to a good player to score only six or eight each turn, while his antagonist, who can scarcely play a stroke, scores his thirty or even forty. But in the long run luck is tolerably sure to equalize itself, and then the superior skill begins to tell, so that towards the end of the game the score of the better player creeps quietly on, while that of his opponent decreases in proportion.

SPILLIKINS.

This is a game of pure manual dexterity, and is rare practice for cultivating steadiness of hand and delicacy of touch.

Its worst fault is that in the very nature of the game a constant series of dead-locks are inevitable, only to be overcome by the self-sacrifice of one or other of the players.

This is a great drawback to its popularity; it is, we are afraid, however, inherent in its very constitution, and therefore beyond the power of reform. The spillikins, or "jack-straws" as they are made familiarly and vulgarly