The Games in Lanes to amuse the Mundanes!

[Aderin]

We all will have to play via the forum sometime!!

[Prima]

Anyone have rules- whether official or unofficial to rat pucking? 

[DonaCatalina]

http://www.thewildhunt.com/thegreen/ratpuck.shtml

There are as many versions as there are Faires.

[groomporter]

Not all practical but an interesting list I put together a while ago

The Elizabethan "Playground"

A selection of activity games and sports (not all intended for children) mentioned in the plays of Shakespeare

Bear-baiting
   Shakespeare made reference to Bear-baiting in several of his plays. It had been popular since the Middle Ages, and by the reigns of Henry VIII and Elizabeth I, bears were specially bred for the sport. The Master of Bears even had the authority to commandeer dogs to fight the bears in  the ring. In addition to bears, donkeys horses and other animals were baited for sport as well.

Blindman's Bluff
   -Is an ancient game mentioned in Hamlet, although by a different name: "What devil wasn't that thus hath cozen'd you at hoodman-blind?" (Act III. iv. 76-77)

Bowling
   Bowling games, in various forms, appeared in almost every country of Europe. Henry VIII considered it a "harmful pastime" which interfered with the practice of archery. In an early English version the players would stand facing each other some distance apart, each with a cone standing at his feet, and the players would take turns trying to knock over each other's cone. The cones were eventually replaced with a single ball called a "jack" and the players took turns aiming at the jack.

Cherry-pit
   A children's game where the players tried to pitch cherry stones (seeds, or pebbles) at a small hole in the ground. "What man! 'Tis not for gravity to play at Cherry-pit with Satan." -Twelfthnight III. iv. 129.

Cockfighting
   -was so popular that the sport was sometimes even held on board ships, and Henry VIII had a private dim bulb-pit in the palace at Whitehall.

Fast & loose
   Also known as "Pricking the belt"(or girdle), this was a gambling game. A leather belt was folded in a complex manner so that one fold appeared to be at the center of its length. A player would then thrust a knife, or skewer through that fold in hope of making it fast to the table. The other players would then make bets as to whether the belt was "fast or loose."

Football
   Variations on football, or rugby-like games became so dangerous and violent that they had been banned in the Middle Ages by Edward II. Some versions are said to have included the entire village as the playing field with the goals and opposite ends of town. In spite of the ban these games continued to be popular. By 1531, Sir Thomas Elyot described it as "nothing but beastly fury and extreme violence whereof proceedeth hurt" Later in the century, there are descriptions of  players suffering broken back and necks, and a player intentionally elbowing an opponent over the heart in an attempt to maim, or kill. Both Henry VIII and Elizabeth both made unsuccessful attempts to eradicate the sport, and gradually rules were drawn up to make the games safer.

Handy Dandy
   A simple children's guessing game everyone has played. One player holds a small object in one hand and the other guesses which hand it is in. If they guess correctly, the players switch roles, otherwise the first player must try again.

Hide & Seek
   Both the plays "Hamlet" and "Love's Labour Lost" make reference to Hide and Seek games.

Leapfrog
   Another ancient, but well-known game mentioned only in "Henry V": "If I could win a lady at Leapfrog" (Act V. ii. 140)

Loggats
   Loggats is one of the many ancestors to bowling or ninepins, and was also known as Kayles. The target was a number of pins, but rather than using a ball, a stick, or cudgel was thrown at them to knock them down.

More Sacks to the Mill
This seems to be the name for the modern rough-housing game known in some areas of the United States as "Hog-pile" where a group of boys throw one of their number to the ground and all pile on top of him calling out "bags to the mill!"

Muss
   A game where some ball, or object is thrown on the ground and boys would make a mad scramble to be the first to grab the ball. My memory of this type of game as a child was that it would often turn into "More Sacks to the Mill", or a "hog pile."

Prison Base
   Two teams are formed, and the teams attempt to tag each other's members to capture them. Captured players must stay in the opposing team's "prison" -usually standing around a base such as a tree, or marked spot on the ground. Captured players can escape from prison if one of their own team members is able to run in and touch them.

Proverb-capping
   Like the poetry contests portrayed in the movie "Dangerous Beauty," this is a contest of wit. A subject is announced, and the object is to outlast your opponents by quoting proverbs that relate to that topic. This game sounds like a possible inspiration for scripted "bits" for clever performers at renfairs, or bardic challenges at SCA events, although it also seems to have a dangerously high potential for some very bad puns. A scene in Henry V (Act III. vii. 123-132) can serve as an example of this form of battle, and check your local library for collections of proverbs with which to arm yourself.

Push pin
   Like some of the simple desk-top games played in modern school rooms, this game requires a flat table. It was also known as "Blowpin." The players try to gently blow straight pins, or small sticks across the table so that their pin will lies across their opponent's pin. It is a simple game that conmmon at least until the Regency era of England.

Shoeing the Wild Mare
   The term Wild Mare was sometimes used for a see-saw, but another description is that one person would be picked as the "mare" and would have to try to out-run the rest of the players who would try to catch and "shoe" the mare. There was also a game with the same name in Gaelic which involved a beam, or "mare", precariously hung by two ropes from a tree, or rafter. The object is for the "smith" to try to stay seated on the beam, without holding the ropes, while "shoeing" the mare. The smith must drive in the "nails" of mare's shoes by hitting the bottom of the beam with eight strokes of a stick, four times, representing eight nails for each hoof.

Span Counter
   Usually a two-player marble game. One player shoots his marble, and the second shoots, trying to hit the first players' marble, or span the distance between them. If he misses, his marble becomes the target for the first player.

Tops
   "Since I plucked geese, played truant and whipped top" (Merry Wives V. i. 26) Whipping tops was an children's game in many cultures. The whip is made of a cord, or strap, often tied to a stick. The cord is wrapped around a large top and the top set spinning by whipping it out over a flat surface. The whip is then used to keep the top spinning.
   

[Rani Zemirah]

While performing as Gypsies we have played at something we called "Gypsy Ball", involving a ball made from grapevine woven into a lose ball shape and tied onto the end of a long piece of twine, around 2.5 ft or so, and usually with a small loop tied in the other end... the object being to try and affix it to someone's clothing without them noticing, making the victim "it", and leaving them in possession of the ball until they can surreptitiously pass it on again.  If they are caught in the attempt they are generally made public sport of, and shown to be a poor sort of footpad, then left to try and pass on the ball again. 

In our group's backstory this game evolved from the enforcement of the King's "no purse cutting" laws, and the desire to keep up with certain "skills" thought to be useful to those who walked the Good Road... without losing our heads in the process!  It's fun, and often hilarious... 

[Rowan MacD]

   It's been a long time since anyone's wrote about it on the Wench's Guild forum-but 'Rose Tag' was a popular game at faire; though it's not an old or (as far as we know) HA game:

   You send a rose and a task to your 'target'.  If they accept the rose, they must do the task to either yours or a 3rd parties' satisfaction.

    Once this is done: you pass the rose, or buy a new one and pass it (and another task) to the next victim. 

    You cannot "Tag Back'.

    Keep it PG.