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
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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.
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| 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:
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| 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.
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| 1804-04-05 The Morning Chronicle (London) |
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| 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.
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| p 246 of Castles In The Air vol III |
1854: The Handbook of Games...
