“THE POOR MAN’S BILLIARDS”

Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 97, 15 July 1927, Page 7

“THE POOR MAN’S BILLIARDS”

SHOVE HALFPENNY IS POPULAR GAME IN ENGLISH TOWNS

halfpenny, which has been called the “poor man’s billiards,” is extensively played in many parts of England. A writer in an Engish journal gives the following entertaining description of the game.

A man who once played at football for his university has given in a work of reference, his present recreations as “darts and shove halfpenny.” The entry has been met with undue scepticism. The dart is familiar in the less fashionable public-houses of Manchester. But shove halfpenny, a far superior pastime, is not only little known, but despised, misunderstood, or denounced as a gamble (writes “P.J.M.’ in the Manchester “Guardian.”) In the knowledge of this ancient and elegant game the South excels the North. Myself, I learned the game in Oxford, and in my biased regard the Oxford City Shove Halfpenny Association will always be, as it were, the M.C.C. of the game. I have enjoyed a good game in the Itoyal Oak at Marlborough, and I am told that one of the finest players now living is a fat landlady in Berks. The early history of the sport is unknown. DETAILS OF THE GAME The shove halfpenny board is of oak; slate boards, once common, have almost disappeared. Many boards began their career as doors; I have seen traces of lock or bolt on the underside. The board should be a good two feet long and a foot or more wide, and the upper surface is unbelievably polished. A line is drawn, usually by incision, parallel with and some four inches from the bottom of the board. This line is called “the bottom line.” Nine similar parallel lines are cut at intervals of about the width of a penny piece. The nine spaces are known as “beds,” and are reckoned from the top end, like oarsmen—“top bed, second bed . . . eighth bed, bottom bed.” A line down the whole length of either side of the board, about an inch from the edge, is called the “bedstead.” Polish for six months, and the board is ready for play. T.he halfpennies used are five in number, but are not halfpennies. One side of them is rubbed quite smooth, and to do this to our own currency would be a felony. I know not whether high treason or forgery. The coins traditionally used are Louis Napoleons, just about the size of a halfpenny. Whether they should be all of one weight and thickness, or various, is a nice point, later discussed. Each coin in turn is laid on the bottom edge of the board, clear of the bedstead, and is propelled by a push of the hand, usually by the ball of the thumb. The object is to leave the coin lying in a bed. clear of any line. Obviously a solitary coin, careering unhampered, is not likely to stop so obligingly, and the chief art of the game is to play one halfpenny upon another so as to leave as many as possible safely embedded when the full live have been shoved.

THE PLAY Each player, then, shoves the five halfpennies in turn, and at the end of

his turn he marks the beds in which he has scored with a chalk mark on the bedstead. His opponent then takes back the coins, shoves them afresh, and records his score. He wins who first has had three halfpennies in every bed —27 chalks in all. But if, with three chalks already made in a bed, you leave in a fourth halfpenny, your opponent can claim the point from you for his own, unless he too has filled the bed. The first player opens with only three coins, else the start would be too great an advantage. When the halfpenny rests in a bed without having touched any other halfpenny, it is said to have been “drawn”; to “draw the top bed” is reckoned the height of felicity. You cannot, of course, count on drawing; but a skilful player controls length well enough to land a coin somewhere near the bed which he wants to fill. A coin just short of the bed is “on the doorstep.” If it cuts, but has not passed, the far limiting line of the bed, it “gives a lay.” Another halfpenny can then be played to fill the bed, either by stopping short in contact with the “lay,” or by “edging” the first coin in—a delicate shot—or by some more recondite method. Often two or three coins are needed and used to build up the lay for an important bed. REQUIRES EXTREME ACCURACY The straightforward game needs length and extreme accuracy of direction; even an easy lay “in top” is not a simple matter to score off. Where the board is fast and the halfpennies much of the same weight—conditions which purists think needful for the correct game—length and accuracy, with a knowledge of angles, are the chief matter. But on most boards two coins will be heavier than the average and one—the “kicker” —a good deal lighter. Now, on an ordinary board a coin played straight on to another of like weight will stop dead. But a heavier coin played on to a lighter will slide on, and a light coin played on a heavy will actually recoil. Obviously the differing halfpennies make possible trick shots which increase the variety of the game. On a really fast board, however, the fancy shots are almost impossible (though a nice discrimination must be shown in picking a halfpenny for the next shot) and the expert studies and uses the grain of the board. Such is the “poor man’s billiards,” widely played in the South with enjoyment, sportsmanship, and no taint of gambling: a rich and well-varied game, changing from board to board and from day to day—many boards will play faster on a hot day. Darts, played in Alanchester with astonishing accuracy, is a comparatively cold pastime. Darts and discs differ little.