Rules of Skittles

Skittles are wooden pins identical in shape to bowling pins. They stand three inches or so in length. They are approximately 2 cm in diameter at the base. Four are white and one is black.

The skittles are set up in a cross with each white skittle equidistant from the black skittle, which sits on the pink spot. The distance between each skittle and the black skittle is the length of a skittle. Number 1 is on the blue side, number 4 on the black side and 2 and 3 sit either side of the pink spot. Black sits in the centre of the cross. Any number of players then play normal billiards. Player order is decided by a test of skill…up and down the table to get closest to the baulk cushion. When a white skittle is knocked over in the course of a shot, the player adds the value of the skittle knocked to his score. The skittle is then righted on its original location in the cross. The skittles should be set up so that a skittle which falls in the direction of the black should knock it over. Should a player knock the black, his overall score is wiped to zero. The game is timed…half an hour or an hour is customary. The player with the highest score at the end is the winner.

As an incentive, anyone who knocks the black is fined a sum of money and this money is placed in a tin. The overall winner pockets the contents of the tin.

In the latter stages of the game, the players replace the white/black skittle where they land…thus they could be anywhere on the table. To stop someone winning who has stayed away from the skittles, a rule is enforced which compels each player to knock over a set number of white skittles during the course of the game.