Knucklebone , Ropes , Fivestones , or Jacks , are ancient games, usually played with five small objects, or ten in jack case. Initially "knucklebones" (actually astragalus, ankle bone, or hock) are those of the sheep, who are thrown and caught in various ways. Modern Knucklebones consist of six points, or buttons, moving from a common base, and are usually made of metal or plastic. The winner is the first player to successfully complete a set series of throws, which, although similar, are very different in detail. The simplest throw is to throw a rock, jack, or reflect the ball, and pick up one or more stones or knucklebones from the table while in the air. This continues until all five stones or knucklebones have been picked up. Another throw is to throw the first stone, then two, then three and so on, and catch it on the back of the hand. Different throws have received different names, such as "riding elephants", "peas", "horses in cages", and "frogs in the well".
Video Knucklebones
History
The origin of knucklebones is closely related to the dice, where knucklebones may be a more primitive form. Sophocles, in a written fragment of one of his works, is considered the invention of the knucklebones to the mythical figure of Palamedes, which taught him to the Greeks during the Trojan War. Both Iliad and Odyssey contain satire for similar games in characters for knucklebones. Pausanius in his Description of Greece (2.20.3) tells of a Temple of Luck at Corinth where Palamedes makes offerings of his newfound game. Children's games are public offerings at several temples.
According to a more ancient tradition, Zeus, understands that Ganymede missed his playmate on Mount Ida, giving him Eros for a companion and gold that can be played. He even demeaned to occasionally join in the game (Apollonius). However, it is important that Herodotus and Plato regard foreign origin for the game. Plato, in Phaedrus, the name of the Egyptian god Thoth as its discoverer, while Herodotus recounts that Lidia, during the period of the famine in the time of King Atys, derived this game and indeed almost all other games, with the exception of the draft.
There are two methods of playing in ancient times. The first, and perhaps primitive method, consists of throwing and catching bones on the back of the hand, just like the games played today. In ancient Rome, it was called a string (knucklebones): a painting unearthed from Pompeii, presently preserved at the National Archaeological Museum of Naples, depicting the Latona, Niobe, Phoebe goddesses , Aglaia and Hileaera, with the latter two involved in playing the knucklebones game. According to the Asclepiodotus epigram, astragali is given as a gift to schoolchildren, and we are reminded of Plutarch's anecdotes from the young Alcibiades, who, when a team worker threatens to ride some of his knucklebones that fall into the carriage, bravely throw himself. in front of an advanced team. The simplest form of the game is generally only played by women and children, and is called litha penta or five-stone. There are several types of these games in addition to regular throws and catches; called tropa , or a hole game, whose goal is to throw a bone into a hole in the earth. Others are odd or even games.
The second form, possibly derivative, of the game is one of pure chance, the stones are thrown on the table, either from the hands or from the cup, and the values ​​from the side where they fall are counted. The forms of the pastern bones used for astragaloi and also for Roman ropes, with whom knucklebones are also popular, determine how to count.
The spine of a sheep, a goat or a calf has two rounded edges that can not stand and two broad sides and two narrow sides, one of each pair of concave and one convex. The narrow convex side, called chios or "dog", is calculated as 1, the side of the convex width as 3, the concave width side as 4, and the narrow side concave as 6.
Four astragalum were used and 35 different scores were possible in a single throw. Many of these throws received typical names such as: Aphrodite, Midas, Solon, and Alexander. Among the Romans, some names are: Venus, King, and Vulture. The highest throw in Greece reaches 40, and is called Euripides. It may be a combination throw, because more than four numbers can not be thrown at a time. The lowest throwing, both in Greece and Rome, is the Dog.
Maps Knucklebones
Modern games
Modern games can use rubber balls, and knucklebones (jack), usually a set of ten, made of metal or plastic. There is a variant of how the players decide who comes first: usually through "flipping," (set of jacks placed in clasped hands, reversed to back of hand, and then back to hand cupped again, the player who keeps most of the first fall) , but perhaps through ip dip, or eeny, meeny, miny, moe, or its variants. To set the game, the jack is loosely spread to the play area. The players in turn bounce the ball off the ground, pick up the jack, and then catch the ball before bouncing for a second time.
The number of jacks to be taken is predetermined and consecutive; at first you have to take one ("onesies"), the next two ("twosies"), and so on, depending on the total number of jacks included. The amount may not be evenly distributed, and there may be remaining jacks. If the player chooses to take the remaining jack first, one variation will announce this by saying "horse before train" or "queen before king". The play area should be decided among the players as there is no official game rule regarding it.
The winning player is the one who takes the most jack, and the game can be made more challenging by playing with fifteen or twenty jacks (two sets). Regardless of the total number of jacks being played, the player who wins the highest match will win. Game one is usually single bounce (onesies through tensies); game two is selected by whoever "graduates" from the first game, and so on. Some options for the next game are "double bounces," "pig in a pen," "over the fence," "egg in a basket" (or "cherries in the basket,") "flying Dutchman," "worldwide," etc.. Some games, such as "Jack becomes agile," are short games that are not played in the oneies-to-tensies format.
Variations
This variation of the game known as "gobs" was played in Cork, Ireland, in the 1950s using five pebbles (often quartz) found on the beach.
A similar game is played in many African countries using gravel without rubber balls.
Other variations are played in Australia and New Zealand using five knucklebones of sheepskin or colored plastic objects that resemble knucklebones. The player throws five jacks in the air, catches as much as possible on the back of his hand, then throws the jack behind his hands, turns his hands over, and catches as much as possible in the palm of his hand. The player then puts all but one jack he catches and throws the last jack in the air and tries to take every remaining jack that is lying on the ground before catching the jack thrown in the same hand. In the first half, the jack is taken one by one, in two seconds at a time, and so on. Variations include swapping hands, playing with closed eyes, clapping quickly before taking the jack, "catching flies" (where the jackhammer being thrown into the air is overtaken after the one in the ground has been lifted), and playing with the second set of jacks placed in between the fingers - first, then two etc.
Another variation, played by Israeli school-aged children, is known as kugelach or Chamesh Avanim (???????, "five stones"). Instead of jacks and rubber balls, five large metal cubes are used. Game cubes are thrown in the air rather than bounced.
In Northeast England, a game with five cubes (non-metal) is called "chucks". A similar game to the Israeli game above used to be played in the Midlands and called "pretentious".
A very similar variation is called being? ta? (or "five more stones"), played by children in Turkey with five pebbles. One pebble is thrown into the air and players try to take them on the ground one by one, then two by two, and so on, before catching the gravel in the air.
In Brazil, there are two general variations of the game. The first is similar to the Turkish version and is played with gravel. In the second, the gravel is replaced with a small cloth bag filled with grain (the most popular rice), or sand, and sewn closed.
In modern Korea, similar jack shapes called gonggi (pronounced, gong-gee) are played by children. The difference is that they use five weighted plastic "stones" called gonggi and the game is played without a rubber ball. The purpose of the game is to throw one gonggie into the air, pick up the other on the ground, and catch the first gonggie before touching the floor. The game takes place in this mode, similar to a jack, until all the gonggi has been picked up. Then the gonggie is placed in the palm of the hand, then flips to the back of the hand. Depending on how much land is in the hands of players, players add several years. At the beginning of the game, players will decide how many years they play.
"Chinese Jacks" was a popular version of the jack in the United States in the 1980s. They are made of small, colored, and connectable plastic rings that can also be used to make friendship jewelry, chains, hopscotch, dive toys, etc. To play the game, the player first makes five jacks by connecting nine rings around one central ring. Then the game is very similar to gonggi.
The "taba game" ( Jogo do Osso , in Portuguese) is an alternative name for knucklebones. This is a very popular game played by Argentine gauchos of the 19th century and Rio Grande do Sul. The game comes from Greece. The game is played in a field where taba or talus bone is thrown into the air. After the fall, the people who make the bet guess whether it will fall up ( suerte ) or retreat ( culo ).
See also
- Shagai
References
- This article incorporates text from publications now in the public domain: Ã, Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Knucklebones". EncyclopÃÆ'Â|dia Britannica (issue 11). Cambridge University Press.
External links
- Media related to Knucklebones on Wikimedia Commons
- Media related to Jacks on Wikimedia Commons
- Statistical analysis of knucklebone throws
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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