Summary

Game name (and type): 'Scittles' [Skittles] (play with props/equipment)
Alternative types: ball games, games with found objects

Handwritten description of 'Skittles', incorrectly spelt 'Scittles', written for Dr Dorothy Howard by an unidentified student at North Perth Primary School, circa 1955. The author describes 'Skittles' as a popular game played in the school yard by about sixteen players. Two captains select teams, whose players are known as the 'Captain's men'. One captain creates a pile of stones at which the opposing team bowls a ball from three strides away. Players accrue points for knocking stones from the pile.

One of a collection of letters describing a children's games written to children's Folklorist Dorothy Howard between 1954 and 1955. Dr Howard came to Australia in 1954-55 as an American Fulbright scholar to study Australian children's folklore. She travelled across Australia for 10 months collecting children's playground rhymes, games, play artefacts, etc. This letter, together with the other original fieldwork collected by Dr Howard during this period, is preserved in the Dorothy Howard Collection manuscript files, part of the Australian Children's Folklore Collection (ACFC), Archive Series 3. The ACFC is an extensive collection documenting children's folklore and related research.

Physical Description

Handwritten game description in pencil on lined paper. Features borders ruled in red pencil; text printed on one side only.

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