Boy's fun

I have just read Ken Peck's comments in the guest book and judging by what he said he must have such a lot he could tell us from when he was a boy. I am sure he would be given a warm welcome by all the 'boys' on this Forum. Girls too of course

Thanks for reminding me Dreamtime, I always forget to check the new 'Guest Book' posts. As you say, they are very interesting to read.

So what is this old game of 'tippit' (mentioned in guest book)?

For tippet two pieces of wood are required. One shaped like a pencil sharpened at both ends (size dependant on what is available) is put on the ground. A second piece, again size doesn't really matter, is used to hit the tapered piece so it flies into the air when it is hopefully hit by the second stick. Does that make sense?

Yes it does make sense, heritage, one could get quite expert at it after a few goes, it depended how hard you hit it, I found a soft hit was best and you kind of got used to where it was going to go, so more often than not you were able to hit it again.

Good game, when you think of the hours of pleasure we got from just hitting a small stick with a big stick and it cost nothing. You are right Norm, there was a bit of skill to it and when you got it right you did not want to be in the way of the little stick whizzing off.

In God's Own County we call it 'piggy stick', but we use three pieces of wood instead of two. It must be the only case of a Yorkshireman using more than is necessary???? One small piece of wood rests flat on the ground, the second small sharpened piece is placed across the one on the ground at right angles, so that one end projects into the air, the other end resting on the ground. With the long stick, the second stick is walloped on the end which is off the ground. It should fly up into the air and is then struck a second time for distance, the winner being the stick which travels the furthest. The 'official' game is called 'knur and spell', with standardised equipment and an annual world championships, usually at one of the shows up in the Dales at the end of the summer!!!!! There is a stack of stuff on the internet, although there is no mention of it being called 'piggy stick'.

Well, thank you for that 'boys' I think I may have scored five out of ten for that because I vaguely remember now when 'sticks' was mentioned. Now I know, thank you for the response. It did not take a lot to please the children in those days!!!!

I played knur and spell growing up when I visted my brother in Yorkshire. The thing that always struck me was how serious all the adults took it. I was always being told of for "larking about"

Er. What's knur and spell? I haven't heard of it.

Hi NormK, see Harriers posting above, he describes it better than I could.

My Dad played a slightly more complex game of "Tippit". If I recall, he explained it as follows... The game was played with one small stick (sharpened at each end) and a larger stick used to wallop the first (as described previously). Three circles were then chalked on the ground, one inside the other, of a pre-agreed size. The centre one had a value 3, the next larger 2, and the largest (outer circle) 1. Each player took it in turn to stand around six feet away from the circles and throw the smaller stick into the circles in an attempt to get as higher score as possible. This indicated the number of "goes" that player would get striking the smaller stick. Starting at the circle, the player would then hit the end of the smaller stick, sending it into the air, then hitting it as far as possible. The difference at this point was that the player would then get to strike it again (subject to his score in the circle) up to a maximum of three times. Now the real difference - the player who had just finished striking the stick would then have to pick a number that he thought the stick COULDN'T be reached in that number of paces. So lets say the stick ended up 25 yards away in total (we wouldn't have gone decimal at this point in time ) if he picked 10, and another player couldn't reach the stick in 10 paces, he would score that amount. It was important to pick a high enough number in order to gain maximum points, but low enough so that it couldn't be reached. If the another player succeeded in reaching the stick within the chosen number he would get no points. I'm sure there are lots of variations on the theme, but anybody else play by these rules?

To quote another member on this forum, 'Brill' TonyS. Reading your new post above it's a wonder it's not included in the Olympics. It sounds very complex now. Do you think it is still played anywhere today? So if I understand correctly the art is depending on how hard or lightly you 'wallop' the stick. Could catch on here (if it hasn't already)

Instead of drawing the circles we would use the sewer manhole in the middle of the road. If the tippit was to be caught by a opposing team member then the hitter was out. Also if after the tippit was airborne it was possible to keep it up by continuously hitting it then the score was multiplied by the number of hits. e.g. hit twice, a double, hit three times a treble etc. If by mischance it went through a window then it was a leggit.

Ahh, yes! I had completely forgotten that aspect, thanks for reminding me!