Skittles

Skittles, a game now much fallen into disuse, is played generally in a specially-arranged alley. It is played with a disk or ball one foot in diameter, which is hurled by the player at a set of nine pins, each one foot high, in a square each side of which contains three balls, while the ninth occupies the centre. He who upsets most pins wins. An American variety has ten pins, and the ball is rolled along a central plank. In some parts the game is called Kails. (Cf. German kegel, and French quilles.)