Elizabethan+Indoor+Sports

= Elizabethan Indoor Sports By Noah Walker =
 * Table games**-Sports in the Elizabethan Era included table games. Table games consisted of many games such as chess, cards, dice, and shovelboard. Among table games chess was the most pretigious. Its rules were essentially the same as today. But chess was unusual in table games because it did not involve betting of any kind. For those who wanted a simpler game, the chess board could be combined with "table men" for the game of checkers(Singman 158). A checkered board was used for chess and checkers. Chess was fundamentally the same as today, but checkers was still evolving. Untill about 1535 there was no rule that forced a player to take and opponent's playing piece(Olson 310).


 * Cards-C**ards were widely popular throughout society, and they were inexpensive block printed decks were readily available. The cards were divided according to the "French" system, essentially the same one used in English speaking countries today(Singman 158). The deck of cards was not nearly as ancient as the cup of dice. They were usually blank, not patterned, on the back, with suit spots and face- card pictures but no numerals. Cards were used for several popular games, including cent or sant, the ancestor of piquet. Primero was populat in two-forms, one played with face cards, the other with no cards higher than seven(Olson 310).


 * Dice-**Dice were cheap, highly portable, and very effective at whiling away idle time. Dice games were played by the aristocracy as well, Elizabeth herself was known to indulge in them. Dice were typically made of bone(Singman 159) Some of the most portable games were those played with dice and cards. Dice had been around for centuries, starting with the knuckle- bones thrown for sport or divination by our ancient ancestors.Shakespeare's characters were fond of dice. Shakespeare's time were perfectly willing to gamble on anything, from an archery contest, to a fight, to a fenching match, but dice were especially associated with betting(Olson 309).


 * Shovelboard**- Shovelboard was an indoor game in which metal discs were pushed across a table to land as close as possible to the other end without falling off. Various horizontal lines were laid out on the board(Singman 159).

Works Cited “Elizabethan Card Games.” //Tattershall//. N.p., 2010. Web. 13 Apr. 2010. jousting. N.d. //blog.syracuse//. Web. 15 Apr. 2010. Olson, Kirsten, ed. //All things Shakespeare//. Vol. 1. Westport: Greenwood, 2002. Print. Singman, Jeffrey L. //Daily life in Elizabethan era//. Westport: Greenwood, n.d. Print