excerpt from the 1839 Swedish book Hand-bibliothek för sällskapsnöjen

The following tidbits of pinball ancestry were shared with me by user PaulKersey on the Gaming Alexandria Discord.

Booklet series name : Hand-bibliothek för sällskapsnöjen : eller systematiskt ordnande spel, lekar och konster
Edited by G. J. Billberg
Publisher : Stockholm : L. J. Hjerta, 1838-1839 

1839 Hand-bibliothek för sällskapsnöjen pages 86+87

1839 Hand-bibliothek för sällskapsnöjen p88

 

Transcription via Paul:

FORTUNA.

För detta spel erfordras ett vertikalt jemnt stående bord (a), som är rundadt i öfra ändan, i hvilken rundel är utmärkt plats för 9 käglor, deraf de 3 medlersta stå midt emellan båda sidorna (b). Omkring de 3 sidorna och hälften af nedra ändan löper en ränna för klotets lopp. Denna är betäckt från halfva långsidan till höger (c); äfvensom nedra ändan (dd) är betäckt, deraf likväl locket (dcee) är gångbart, till förvarande af käglor och klot. Början af rännan från (e) till (d) är långslut, och vid (d) har klotet sin vanliga plats, hvarifrån det utstötes med en kort mas (f), sådan som i Billard, men af rännans bredd. 

Spelsättet.
Spelarne kunna vara så många som hälst, och beräkningen sker såsom i vanligt kägelspel. Klotet stötes från (g); men om det ej hinner (c), omstötes. I öfrigt räknas bom, såsom i vanligt kägelspel.

 

Machine translation:

FORTUNA.

For this game a vertical, even table (a) is required, which is rounded at the upper end, in which round is a place for 9 skittles, of which the 3 middle ones stand midway between both sides (b). Around the 3 sides and half of the lower end runs a chute for the ball to run. This is covered from half the long side to the right (c); although the lower end (dd) is covered, the lid (dcee) is still operable, for the storage of skittles and balls. The beginning of the chute from (e) to (d) is the long end, and at (d) the ball has its usual place, from which it is ejected with a short mass (f), such as in Billiards, but of the width of the chute.

Method of play.

The players can be as many as desired, and the calculation is made as in ordinary skittles. The ball is ejected from (g); but if it does not have time (c), it is overturned. Otherwise, a miss is counted, as in ordinary skittles.

 

This game of fortuna is similar to 'naco' bowling tables. For me this highlights how the game names really shifted between countries and decades, so I am grateful for the diagram and description.

 

Another tidbit, this from a 1795 Swedish newspaper:

I was told Fortuna-spelet med des tillbehör = “The Fortuna game with its equipment.” so we do not know for sure what time of table this was, but it shows that Fortuna was a name used for tables like this going back to the 18th century. 

 

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

This blog stands in protest against the USA's horrific attempts to eliminate trans people from society. Trans people have always existed, in every society, but the administration has embraced a moral panic, declared a war against reality, and says that trans people can no longer be allowed to exist. This includes making their healthcare illegal, censoring books and school curriculum from university level down to elementary school, banning trans people from bathrooms, and declaring trans existence to be child abuse.

This blog stands in solidarity with all of the youth who are being terrorized by a fascist president that has declared them to be threats that must be eliminated.

The USA is disappearing random brown people off the streets via unidentified masked gestapo and shipping them off to concentration camps and notorious foreign prisons, all with no due process. The world witnessed ICE execute a mother and a nurse and then lie about what we saw. Solidarity for all who are in the gaze of this American Nazism terror campaign against its own people.

bagatelle notes: 19th century publications

Let's get some definitions and rules!  We're going to sift through 19th century game books here to trace the language around bagatelle and related games.

It's important to note that some of the dates for these books need to be eyed with skepticism as they might not be accurate to the edition.

1801 / 1810 / 1903 The Sports and Pastimes of the People of England from the Earliest Period: Including the Rural and Domestic Recreations, May Games, Mummeries, Pageants, Processions and Pompous Spectacles by Joseph Strutt

this was first published in 1801, but this edition is from 1903 and has had SUBSTANTIAL editing.  If you know where to locate a proper FIRST edition, please do let me know.

I am including this section on Nine-Holes as it seems potentially relevant.  There is an 1896 article in this prior bagatelle post that that also goes in to bumblepuppy.

excerpt from the 1903 edition, but this also is included in the 1810 edition

I am unsure if Troul In Madame is a corruption of Trou Madam or a variant name given specifically due to the play being done with cues/maces, and so a new name needed.

It says it is "not unlike our modern bagatelle, only played without a cue or mace", but while it's exciting that bagatelle is called "modern", note this from the preface:

this passage does not exist in the 1810 version, so we can't use that to date 'bagatelle'

I had forgotten about The Benefit of the Ancient Bathes of Buckstones, but yes that 1572 work did reference Troule in Madame.

Oh hey look it's that 1572 quote:

A friend offered this modern take on the above text,

The Ladies, Gentle Women, Wives and Maids may in one of the Galleries walk: and if the weather be not agreeable to their expectation, they may have in the end of the Bench eleven holes made, into which to "trowle pummetes" or Bowls of lead, big, little or mean [average], or also of Copper, Tin, Wood, either violent or soft, after their own discretion, the pastime Troule in Madame is termed.

Likewise, men feeble, the same may also practice in another Gallery of the new buildings, and this does not only strengthen the stomach and the upper parts above the midriff or waist: but also the middle parts beneath the sharp "Gristle" and the extreme parts, the the hands and legs, according to the weight of the thing "trouled", fast, soft or mean.

This next text might be the earliest description of what we refer to as "pin bagatelle".  All of the critical components are described: curved top, elevated, a channel to drive the ball up, and it falls down "interrupted in its descent by wires inserted at different distances upon the table, which alter its direction and often throw it entirely out of the proper track."  The 'wires' spoken of here probably refers to gates and/or pins.  It also describes the gates used in games like Mississippi for receiving the balls at the bottom.  While we know Trou Madam can be traced to the 16th century, I am unsure as to the origins of the name 'Mississippi'.

This would lend obvious weight to the idea that pin bagatelle arrived by tilting a trou madam / mississippi table so that balls fell down towards the numbered gates to score.

 

From what appears to be the original 1801 edition, a scan done by Google Books:

(the characters that look like a long "f" are actually pronounced as "s".)

2 other Rocks of Scilly references passed to me, which don't offer any real extra details but do give proof of existence.

1804-04-05 The Morning Chronicle (London)

1811-05-06 The Leeds Intelligencer and Yorkshire General Advertiser

Here is the entry on Mississippi from the 1810 edition, where it describes it as a billiard-like game where the balls are 'cast' (rolled) towards a set of arches for points.

I had previously thought Mississippi to be exclusively a cue/mace game, but I suppose it started out with just rolling the balls?  It's hard to tell for sure with just this description to go on.

The only real difference I can tell between Trou Madam and Mississippi is that Trou Madam lets you shoot straight into the scoring holes, while in Mississippi you have to bounce of the side bumper.

(James tells me in a chat, "Earlier tables were not smooth, uniform or level so knocking it straight into a hole was more of a challenge.  As table technology improved and maces changed to cues so accuracy also improved, it became too easy.  So then they added the rule that you had to bounce it off a cushion to make it suitably challenging.")

1847: Castles In The Air vol III by Catherine Grace Francis Gore

This is the earliest mention of the game cockamaroo that we've found so far.

p 246 of Castles In The Air vol III

1854: The Handbook of Games...

1854 Hand-Book of Games, edited by Henry G. Bohn