Russian money game. Folk games and fun
), registered in the magazine for no joke. Folk games help to better understand the distant time and our ancestors who inhabited it. Today we play grandmas!
The history of this exciting game hidden in the darkness of millennia. In Egypt, archaeologists during excavations often find in layers dating back to the time of the pharaohs, tablets and stones depicting gods and people throwing grandmothers. The game is also recorded in ancient Greek myths. And in Rus' they began to play grandmas back in the pre-Mongolian period, there is evidence that the game was popular already in the 6th-8th centuries.
It is likely that Rurik also threw dice recklessly in Staraya Ladoga ...
Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin was delighted with the money game. And he even dedicated a poem to her - "On the statue of a money player." And the poet was inspired by an exhibition at the Imperial Academy of Arts in September 1836. Seeing the work of the young sculptor Nikolai Pimenov "The guy playing money", Pushkin said: "Thank God, finally, the sculpture in Rus' was popular." And, as the sculptor later recalled, he immediately sketched in a notebook:
The young man stepped three times
bent over, hand on knee
he leaned briskly, the other raised a well-aimed bone.
Here's the aim...
Away! Reach out, curious people,
part apart; don't interfere with the Russian
good game."
And in " Captain's daughter", in the sixth chapter, describing the actions of the defenders of the Belogorsk fortress, fearfully awaiting the Pugachev assault, Alexander Sergeevich remembered his favorite game and found an expressive detail: "The next day, returning from mass, she ("commandant Vasilisa Yegorovna. - Ed.) I saw Ivan Ignatich pulling rags, pebbles, wood chips, money and rubbish of all kinds stuffed into it by the children from the cannon.
In 1870, the artist Vladimir Makovsky, a connoisseur and great lover of folk games, painted the picture "Playing Grandmas", and it became his first painting, immediately bought by P. M. Tretyakov for the now world-famous gallery.
Well, in the Modern Encyclopedic Dictionary F.A. Brockhaus and I.A. Efron (St. Petersburg: Brockhaus-Efron, 1890-1907) explains the unexpected name of the game: "Grandma (phalanx prima) - is the first joint or phalanx of the finger of ruminants (bull, sheep, goat, etc.). This bone serves for the game of "grandmothers", which is common among the children of the common people throughout Russia, both in villages and in cities.
Rules of the game
There are dozens of game options. But all of them are subordinated to the main task - to knock down the grandma standing on the line of the horse. Babka, the same hoof joint according to Brockhaus-Efron, was usually found among the bones after boiling jelly. When mass slaughter of livestock began in the villages, teenagers stocked up on grandmas for the future. The cue ball was made from the largest headstock, which was also filled with lead for weight.
The players are divided into two teams, say, 3-4 people each. In front of each team, behind the line of the horse, in a certain order and sequence, figures from attendants are placed - "fence" and "goose".
The "fence" is placed along the horse line, the "goose" - perpendicular to it.
Players knock out grandmas from a distance of 2-3 meters.
Grandmas can also be knocked out from a distance of 7-8 m, while knocking out half of the attendants will move 2-3 m forward.
Complicating the game, they hit the horse from various positions - standing, kneeling, sideways. You can also diversify the arrangement of grandmas - put them in a circle, rhombus, square.
The task of each side is to bring down the grandmas with a smaller number of cue balls.
Nuances
In the old days, sophisticated players distinguished several options for the position of the bones after a strike. If the grandmother fell with the convex side up, then in the Simbirsk, Vyatka, Tobolsk provinces this position gave an advantage in the game. But in the Tver, Kursk and Astrakhan provinces, preference was given to the lateral, wide and flat sides of the bone. Why this happened is unknown. Tastes, as they say, don't argue...
ADVICE TO PLAYERS
Use ruffles!
AT modern conditions bone pasterns can be successfully replaced with small wooden chocks, choosing a larger and heavier chock for the cue ball (for heaviness, you can hammer a nail into it). Many successfully use goroshny ryukhi.
However, even today, in the meat aisle of any market, you will definitely be met halfway, if you tell the meat cutter: you need bones to play money.
Murzilka, 1936, No. 6
Grandmas - the rules of the game
One of the most loved folk amusements. There is evidence that Peter I, Suvorov, Pushkin loved to play money. The popularity of the game is explained not only by gambling, sportiness, but also by the fact that getting the attributes of the game did not amount to old village no labor.
Grandmas are prepared from hoof bones; they are scalded in hot water, and the largest, heaviest, is poured with lead: this is a cue ball. Each player comes to the game with his own stock of dibs and with his cue ball. As a result of the game, he can either lose all his stocks, or replenish them, becoming the owner of a fortune from mosl. It happened that grandmas and especially cue balls were traded. But they still played not for the sake of profit, but for the sake of sporting interest. The proof of this is that they played not only one-on-one, but also in teams: everyone had their own cue balls, and grandmothers were “collectivized”.
They played like this. In a certain place, grandmothers were lined up in one row, their number was agreed in advance. The same number of grandmothers was exhibited on both sides - whether the rivals were individual or collective.
Grandmas standing in pairs are called a nest, and the whole nest is called a horse. The dream of every player is to knock out a nest with one blow, or even two. They determined the distance from which it was supposed to hit: usually it is 7-8 meters; those who knocked out half of the grandmas moved to another line of battle - 2-3 meters forward.
Then they decided in what order to beat, that is, throw the cue balls at the grandmas. For this purpose - from one place and in one direction - they threw cue balls: whoever throws the farthest - to start, who is closer - to be second, etc.
Each in turn was allowed one throw. Grandmas knocked out of the horse were considered won - how much you knock out, so much you win; if you don’t hit, it means that you will not only not win, but you will also lose the money that you put out of your pocket.
When the whole horse is knocked out, trophies and losses are counted, and a new row of grandmothers is put up - all equally. Whoever does not have the required number of grandmothers is out of the game: he is bankrupt. And so they play until someone collects all the money in their pocket (if they played on one round) or in the common cauldron of one team (if they played in two teams).
Playing grandma (goats)- an old folk game, which owes its origin to modern dice. Game process lies in the dexterity of throwing bones ("grandmothers") that gave the name to the game.
The game has a large number of options that were invented at different times, in different countries and which use different game items(mostly small leg bones of ungulates).
As grandmothers, either the talus of the hoof joint of animals (cows, sheep, goats, wild animals), or their first joint or phalanx of the finger (lat. phalanx prime), or their metacarpal bones were used.
The tetrahedral shape of the attendants became the first form dice in history, and the material used for manufacturing gave the name that is still used today - "bone". In historical annals, dice and money games are often confused, but each of them has gone its own way from ancient times and is still popular today.
In the Russian version of the game, as a rule, cow talus were used. Lead could be poured into the grandmother, which was beaten, and then it was called "cast" or "mumps".
Modern desktop version The game uses plastic or metal six-pointed "hedgehogs" (stars) and a rubber ball.
Ancient Egyptian figurines and drawings on stones have been found depicting people or gods throwing money. The latter were also found in excavations of prehistoric human sites.
AT Ancient Rome the game was called the word lat. tali.
Varieties of the game
Kon, katoshki and more; grandmothers are placed in them different ways.
P.s. As I understand it, modern expressions, where "grandmothers" mean money from this game and gone? Lost grandmas, threw on grandmas, was left without grandmas and so on.
Do you know where the expression to knock money comes from? Now I'll tell...
Practically on any village plowing there are bones of cattle, and this is not surprising. But sometimes an unremarkable bone gives rise to a clear metallic signal of a search device, which is absolutely not expected from it. Most likely, this means that under the detector coil there is a so-called “headstock”, or rather, a lead-filled cue ball for old game whose roots go all the way back to Ancient Egypt.
The money game is similar to the game of towns: the players put money on the line - individually or in various combinations, and take turns knocking them down with a cue ball from a certain distance. There are many varieties and variants of the rules of the grandma game. In Russia, cow bones were traditionally used for the game, and to get a cue ball they were driven into a nail or poured with lead.
Money game in the village, 1890.
Here is one of the options for the game, according to I. Pankeev's book "Russian Holidays and Games" (1999):
CON FOR CON
Players bet out of the blue on the nest on the cue ball. Then they determine the conditional distance - horses. Whom to beat first and who after, they cast lots about. To do this, players throw money up with special tricks - lining. If the grandmother, who fell to the ground, lies on her right side, then it will be plock - the oldest in the game; if he lies on his back, then there will be a burn - the second in the game; if the grandmother lies on her left side, then it will be a niche, the youngest of all. Players, standing on the line, beat with cue balls according to seniority. If the grandmas that are at stake are knocked down, then they are considered their winnings. When they all break through, then each one goes over to his cue ball and beats from the place where his cue ball lies; whoever lies further, he first starts and beats, and the rest finish the game according to the distance of their cue balls.
It is interesting that in the same book such variants of the game as "On the wall (wall)" and "Kudachok (shaking)" are mentioned. I remember these games well, only in my school years, instead of dice, we played with coins - a full-fledged Soviet trifle. These were very exciting money games which were conducted in secret from teachers and parents. In addition to the "wall" and "shaking" there was another similar game- “Mongolian” (when a column of coins was thrown from the palm to the back of the hand, sometimes “on the cam” and “with interception”), but it is unlikely to have anything to do with the game of money.
A group of peasant boys. Knucklebones. Photographer W. Carrick. 1860s
The money game in the old days was so popular that painters depicted it on their canvases. There is also a poem by A.S. Pushkin "At the statue of the money player":
The young man took three steps, bent over, hand on knee
Cheerfully leaned on, the other raised a well-aimed bone.
That's really aimed ... away! break out, curious people,
Separate part; do not interfere with the Russian daring game.
V.E. Makovsky "Playing money" (1870).
Probably, in our time it is unlikely to meet people playing money in the village. At least I've never seen one, and haven't heard anything about it. But in the open spaces of LiveJournal, one person recalls how he played this game several decades ago, and not even in a village, but in a city. True, not lead-filled bones were used as cue balls, but “tiles” - “metal figovins ... from banal pieces of reinforcement to hand-polished flat “chibyshs”.
A.I. Korzukhin "Playing money" (2nd half of the 19th century).
Although the money game has practically disappeared as a popular entertainment, the memory of it has remained in Russian dictionaries. The expressions "kicking money" and "knocking money" did not come from the slang "grandmother-money", but go back to the described game. The origin of the word "grandmother" in the sense of "money" is vague: some produce it from women (grandmothers) on large imperial banknotes :), others - from the old name for the method of laying sheaves. It turns out that two different etymological lines just successfully converged in the expressions "kicking money" and "knocking money".
Original taken from metalchemist in Babki
Do you know where the expression "knock out money" comes from? Now I'll tell...
Favorite folk game, representing various modifications: horse, katoshki, etc., and the most B. of the hoof bones are placed in various ways. B., which is beaten if it is filled with lead, is called a cast or lead ... encyclopedic Dictionary F. Brockhaus and I.A. Efron
Fiti miti, manyukhi, peti meti, grannies, pennies, money, beans, bashli, finance, penny, cabbage, mani, money, goats, money, loot, crunches, money, capital, despicable metal Dictionary of Russian synonyms. grandmas see money Synonym dictionary ... ... Synonym dictionary
Fun, fun, prank, joke; play. Wed… Synonym dictionary
Wiktionary has an entry for "grandmother" Grandmother ambiguous term: Contents ... Wikipedia
Side; pl. Jarg. Money. To pound, to nail b. ◊ Beat off (your) money. Return invested in what l. money; recoup the costs. * * * BABKI BABKI, an old Russian national game of a sporting nature, such as a game of gorodki, only instead of “ryukh” or ... encyclopedic Dictionary
money- BABKI, side, pl A game in which other similar bones are knocked out of a circle with a bone, arranged in a certain order. On the outskirts of a distant Siberian village, noisy children are cut into grandmas from early morning (Shuksh.) ... Dictionary Russian nouns
money- ok, many; BA / BKA, and, f. The hoof joint of the foot in animals. To the right they led the lean beauty Fru Frou, who, as if on springs, stepped over on her elastic and rather long pasterns. // Lev Tolstoy. Anna Karenina //* BUTTERFLY, ◘… … Dictionary of forgotten and difficult words from the works of Russian literature of the 18th-19th centuries
Knucklebones- popular. in antiquity, playing with astragalus (grandmothers) ... Ancient world. encyclopedic Dictionary
Knucklebones- a game popular in antiquity with astragals (grandmothers); was especially popular among women ... Dictionary of antiquity
Books
- Vitezslav Nezval. Lyrica, . The collection of the Czech poet includes lyrical poems from the books: "Little Rose Garden", "Playing Money", "Five Fingers", "Glass Cloak", "Return Ticket", "Fifty-Two Bitter Ballads...
grandmother
(Other names for this game are Kozny, Shugai, Punks, Ankles)
In Rus', "Babki" were widespread already in the 6th-8th centuries. and were my favorite game. They have been preserved in some places until our time. Consequently, this game exists among Russians for about one and a half thousand years. Attempts to again widely disseminate "Grandma" are being made by some schools, Pioneer Houses, pioneer camps, etc.
This game is also known among other peoples of the USSR - under equal names and with some changes in the rules.
For the game, grandmas are taken - specially processed bones of the lower ungulate joints of the legs of cows, pigs, sheep. Russians have the highest respect for cow headstock: they are larger and can be hit from a long distance (up to 40 m), while they usually hit small headstock and, especially, alchiks from 3-10 m. Usually teenagers, boys and young people play , from 2 to 10 people. Previously, people of mature age sometimes played. Each has its own bit and 3-10 grandmas (by agreement). The largest and heaviest headstock is taken as a bit (its inner cavity is often filled with lead or tin). The game requires a platform up to 60-70 m in size for men and up to 30-40 m for teenagers. If they play against the wall (so that the grandmas do not fly too far from the blow), then the court can be 15-20 m shorter.
Description. Approximately in the middle of the site, a horse line is drawn, on which they put the grandmas collected from all players in one or two rows or in nests of 2, 3, 5 pieces (Fig. 10, A, a, c, d). Sometimes the build of pasterns is perpendicular to the horse's line (Fig. 10, A, b). Occasionally, intricate figures are built from grandmothers, for example, a “fish” with an open mouth (Fig. 10, A, e) or, having scattered the grandmothers, then each one is placed in the place where it lay down.
Determining the order of the players itself already represents an interesting period of the game. Usually everyone lines up along the horse and throws their bits in the direction from which they agreed to hit the horse. Two or three meters from the horse, a line is drawn - “lard”. Each one throws his bat behind the "lard" at such a distance as he considers most suitable for himself. At the same time, they take into account that the right to beat first will be given to the one whose bat lies farthest from the horse. Therefore, those who rely on their strength and accuracy tend to throw the bat away. Often a “gon” (“race”) is arranged, that is, it is allowed to transfer your bat even further, and the most determined players begin to transfer it one farther than the other - based on their own strength. The one who is cunning and throws the bat closer (in the expectation that others will miss from afar and he will get to hit close) may not get the desired result if his comrades are accurate, but it happens that he is punished: if his bat falls closer than "fat" , he will have to throw the horse not only last, but also with eyes closed. When determining the sequence of blows, the position of the bit that fell to the ground is relatively rarely taken into account (Players can agree, for example, that the right to hit first is given to those whose grandmother lies on the “back”, i.e., “belly” up (“zhok”, “sack "", "Eagle" and other names) (see Fig. 10, B, b). Of these, the very first one is the one whose bat lay further than the others lying in the same position. Whoever she lays down closer, he beats the second and etc. Then the places of those whose bit lay on a flat “side” (“plotska”, “alcha”, “chik”) are distributed (see Fig. 10, B, d), etc. Sometimes they have an advantage other positions of the grandmother (Fig. 10, B, a, c)), and thus a smaller role in the Russian varieties of "Babok" is given to chance, luck, and a larger one - to the players' own achievements.
Sometimes the order of the players is determined more simple ways: by lot, by rhyme, by agreement, etc.
The one who has won the right to beat first comes to the place where his bat lies, and throws it from there at the grandmas that are on the line. If he knocks (tumbles down) a grandmother on a horse with his bat, then he wins this grandmother or the whole nest into which she enters (depending on the agreement). After that, the next one in turn hits. When there are no money left on the line, the game ends. If everyone has broken through, and there are still grandmas at stake, then the players agree to either repeat the game with the grandmas remaining at stake, or put an additional certain number of grandmas from each participant on the line. The game is usually repeated many times. The one who wins the most money wins.
The rules differed significantly in certain types of "Babok". In the type of game described above, the following rules were followed: 1. Throw a bat at the horse each time from the place where the bat lay, taking no more than 1-3 steps forward. 2. If the grandmother on the horse is hit by a bat, but does not fall, it is not considered knocked out. 3. Knocked-out grandmothers of the phase are taken from the horse by the player who knocked them out. 4. You can throw 1-3 bits in a row on the horse (by agreement). 5. Sometimes a rule is introduced: it is possible to start knocking down grandmothers standing in single file only from the last pair, and in the event of other grandmothers falling, they are not considered to be brought down.
Variety games in "Grandma" - "Through the con"(She is also known under the names “From horse to horse”, “From field to field”, etc.). Everyone hits the horse from one line, called "lard". It is held 10-15 meters from the horse or further - by agreement. The order is determined by lot. When everyone hits on one side, they go to the other side of the horse to their bits that have flown over the horse. Now everyone throws his bat at the grandmas on the line from the place where his bat lies, and the first to throw is the one whose bat lies farthest from the horse. Whoever’s bit, when thrown from the “fat”, did not reach the horse, he hits the last and, moreover, blindfolded. The rest of the game is the same as the previous one.
Another variation of the game of "Grandma". A “city” line is drawn on the site, and a horse line is drawn parallel to it 6-8 m from it. Grandmas are wagered in one or two rows (see Fig. 10, A).
All players stand behind the "city" line. In any way known to them, they determine the order in the game.
Each player takes turns making one hit on the grandmas. His task is to knock down as many grandmas as possible. Each knocked down grandmother gives him a winning point. When the first piece is captured, the second is placed, then the third, and so on (see Fig. 10, A). When everyone throws a bat one time, but not all grandmothers are knocked down in the established figures, they play a second time. When all grandmothers are knocked down, points are counted. The game is repeated several times. Each time, the turn to hit the grandmas is played out. The one with the most points wins.
The rules are the same as in the previous varieties, but there is a difference: you must beat without stepping over the line of the "city". Otherwise, the knocked-out headstock is put in its original place.
